Eating Disorders and Body Disphoria

Pro-Ana Sanctuary

  • online communities where those struggling with anorexia can find sanctuary from surveillance in the public sphere and support one another in their quest to refrain from eating.
  • medical and psychiatric community see this as irrational
  • narratives prove otherwise
    • dominant cultural scripts about their bodies are reproduced, negotiated and resisted
    •  body as a site fpr struggle and resistance
    • express abnormal behavior and attitudes about their bodies in a public context
    • provide support for one another with a dysphoria that is usually isolating
  • Backlash against feminism has caused a focus on women's bodies
    • female control and agency alongside unattainable female beauty standards (conflict)
Pro-Ana narratives
WEBSITE "Thin Commandments"
  • Causes of anorexia gleaned from online women's narratives
    • unrealistic body images in media
    • abuse
    • oppression
    • discrimination
    • harassment
    • violence
    • trauma
  • common themes
    • not understood
    • out of control
    • isolated and in pain
    • ED as a coping and security mechanism
    • aware of dangers of ED
    • needing support and connection
    • feeling ambivalent towards recovery
    • resisting dominant interpretations of their experience
  • See recovery as more successful outside of medical establishment
ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE BODY:Eating Disorders
  • anthropology of the body and body modifications
    • all bodily alterations that attempt to change the natural state of the human body to a body which is desired by the culture in which one lives
    • ED as an "ethnic psychosis"
    • pro-ana define their disease as a LIFESTYLE , in which they excel at control of their bodies
    • Aesthetic surgery: men more likely to alter face, women whole body
  • Body image and anorexia
    • All women drew themselves "fatter" than they were but pronounced with those with ED
  • Disciplining the Body
    • human beings subordinate their bodies and their functions to cultural and social expectations
    • slim figure in the West equals high social status and healthy lifestyle
    • we see these disciplinary changes as cultural expectations about the body changes
  • Semiotics of the Body
    • human body is attributed all its meaning through culture
    • differ through time, are culturally specific and inter-culturally diverse
    • Barbie: a representation of aspirations for prosperity, domesticity, and rigid gender roles
      • American Dream (began in the 1960s)
      • utter self discipline and high sexual attractiveness
      • Ken's measurements approximate real men, but not Barbie's
Men's Bodies and the Meaning of Masculinity
  • what do men's bodies mean with respect to masculine identity?
    • 5-10% of all eating disorders are men
    • fear of being non-muscular, weak, un-masculine
    • use of sport to get ideal body and lose weight
      • product of manual labor?
      • muscularity is men's biggest concern
      • decrease in physical labor have changed notions of the ideal male body
        • conscious forms of exercise
        • dieting
        • today: should be muscular AND devoid of fat
    • How does this all vary with age sexuality and sexual orientation?
  • Themes
    • muscularity
      • heightened concern for adolescent males
      • older men: more concerned with not being able to do the physical tasks implied by muscularity (although bodies no longer meet expectations)
    • fat consciousness
      • most pronounced among gay men and youth
  • The media and Men's Bodies
    • Gay men: images a source of frustration with regard to body exhibition
    • young heterosexual males also strongly influenced by these images. Felt they directly influenced their body perceptions
  • Contextualizing Masculinity
    • heterosexual males have more trouble defining masculinity than gay men
      • double vision (know where they fall short and are acutely aware of rules for masculine identity)
      • defined in the negative-absence of feminine traits (heteros)
      • younger adolescent males are most critical of their bodies-in the process of establishing their masculine identity
      • aging men relaxed notions of muscularity and masculinity
THE ENIGMA OF MALE ED
  • men are seen as not suffering from ED
    • stigmatization increased in males especially in seeking and getting traetment
    • medical complexities greater
    • symptom presentations differ markedly from females with ED
  • mostly defined based on white middle class females
  • males are underestimated because they present different symptoms
    • 1 in 4 preadolescences?
    • greater number of psychiatric comorbitities
    • later age of onset
    • history of being overweight
    • experience of weight related teasing
anorexia  (AN)
  • women-loss of menstruation, men-loss of sexual desire
  • women-emaciation, males -thinness (goal)
  • women-seek treatment, men-unlikely
  • compulsive exercise more prevalent among males (most difficult symptom)
Bulimia (BN)
  • women-sweets binge, men-high protein and fat
  • women-distress eating, men-just eating a lot
  • men less likely to purge than women
    • meant to throw the body into ketosis when mandatory restraint follows
Binge ED and Avoidant and restrictive food intake
  • binge eating is similar among men and women
  • avoidant behavior (texture, , sensory aversion, tactile problems, narrow tastes)
IMPACTS
  • muscular dysphoria
  • sexual orientation and risk
    • much higher in gay and bisexual males
      • objectification
      • drive for thinness
      • body dissatisfaction
      • weight misconception
  • Age and ethnicity and risk
    • young men more at risk, but diminishes less quickly with age (unlike women)
    • 99% white, but evidence suggests that non-whites males show higher body concerns (minority)
    • more positive attitudes toward large body size among men of color
    • Asian males most likely to engage in extreme weight loss strategies
      • significant of sub-cultural body standards and meanings
Men's Body Related Practices and Masculinity
  • VANITY and NARCISSISM as primary constructs by which men understand their bodies-police masculine behavior through tghis
    • accounts for gay men's preoccupation?
  • male body image with increased objectification in the media
  • male body is more idealized and eroticized
  • celebrities seen to embody these ideals
  • weight, muscularity, body hair and penis size all important
meaning of masculinity and male bodies
  • men use clothing to alter their body appearance
  • flexible nature of mens bodily experiences compared to women who mostly were concerned with shape
    • importance of individualism
      • other men sheep-like
      • narratives of self sufficiency 
      • right to choose
      • rejection of vanity as a reason for concern with body
      • "don't care' (but do)
      • don't "let yourself go"-taking responsibility
      • police non-normative masculinities in order to assert their own (not just females)
        • gay men's bodies
    • IMPACT
      • the heterosexual self
      • the un-traditionally masculine self
      • the self conscious self
      • the well-balanced self
      • the non-consumer
      • the ideally disembodied self

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