I think when people think of an eating disorder, the image that pops into their mind is a teenage girl whose been called “fat” by the kids at school. In a way there is a stereotype around eating disorders, we always associate them with females. Just like everything else in this world, eating disorders can effect EVERYONE, not just females. I’m not sure if it’s because we think of men loving food, always eating a lot, going out for wings and beers for the game, but in reality that isn’t the case for all males.
According to The Journal of Treatment & Prevention males are under diagnosed and under treated in the scheme of eating disorders. One of the challenges for treating males with eating disorders first comes from the fact that many treatment plans and programs have been geared towards females. The research of eating disorders in males needs massive amounts of improvements in order to treat males that are diagnosed successfully. I think the reason that there hasn’t been much research done on males with these disorders is because of the stereotype that only females suffer from these diagnosis’s. We think a lot of time that men don’t care about their appearance as much as females do therefore why would they care if they didn’t look perfect all the time. But a man’s brain can be just as sensitive as a female’s when thinking about these things.
Not only is the stigma of eating disorders in men seen throughout society, a lot of men think that way in their own minds. They believe that they either don’t have an eating disorder, or that it wouldn’t be “manly” enough to seek help if they are having an issue. This stems from the fact that as far back as anyone can remember, boys weren’t supposed to cry, they weren’t supposed to get hurt, they weren’t supposed to ask for help, even if they needed it. It’s horrible that people have to suffer alone because they wouldn’t want someone to judge them and have negatives comments towards them because of something they might not even be able to control themselves.
Recent studies have shown that eating disorders are in fact becoming more sex-neutral, meaning that both males and females are suffering from them. According to Current Opinion in Psychiatry there has been research that has shown other major factors have played a part in the development in these eating disorders. Things such as social status and prenatal influences play a part in the diagnosis of an eating disorder. From that research we can tell that it’s not only effecting the girls who are being called fat in school and are trying everything they can to loose the weight to look like everyone else. It is also affecting the boys in school who might not be experiencing the “bullying” aspect that causes them to develop these disorders, it might come from other aspects of their life or even the negative thoughts they have about themselves in their own head.
I think it’s really important for us as a society to realize that pretty much anything can affect anyone. We should stop thinking about certain illnesses and disorders only affecting one group of people, because if we aren’t diagnosing the other portion of the population because they are male, we really aren’t even certain who is affected.
Love Your Food 