TRIGGER WARNING: This article contains graphic discussions of eating disorders, ‘pro-eating disorder’ communities, body dysmorphia, and mentions of suicide and self-harm – please read with discretion and do not continue if you find discussions around these topics triggering. If you are struggling with any of the things discussed, please seek help and don’t suffer in silence. https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/get-information-and-support/get-help-for-myself/i-need-support-now/helplines/
There is nothing glamorous about an eating disorder. Anyone who has encountered this complicated and lethal illness will tell you that it is, by far, the least glamorous thing you could possibly experience — myself included. Thinning hair, amenorrhea (loss of menstrual cycle), muscle weakness and permanent damage to internal organs are only some of the consequences of long-term disordered eating, let alone the mental isolation, depression and social anxiety that come along with it; so, why has the glamorisation of eating disorders, especially anorexia, been rife across social media, and embedded in our culture for years?
It’s important to note that whilst the most arguably well-known eating disorder – and certainly the most glamorised – anorexia, is not the only type of eating disorder, and it is not actually the most common. According to Beat, the UK’s leading eating disorder charity, “a 2017 study by Hay et al found that anorexia accounted for 8% of cases, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) 5%, binge eating disorder 22%, bulimia 19%, and other specified feeding or eating disorder (OSFED) 47%.” One of the reasons anorexia is the most common eating disorder glamorised online, I would argue, is because restriction of food intake is hugely normalised in our society and is widely seen as something to be applauded. We are constantly shown before and after pictures of people having lost weight, hearing of extreme celebrity diets and seeing “What I Eat in a Day” videos on our TikTok “For You Page” where the video creator consumes – or at least portrays that they do – the number of calories suitable for a toddler. Whilst these sorts of things are extremely damaging to see, it is not always obvious to most people that they glorify disordered eating. Alongside these more commonly seen examples, a far darker world of glamorising eating disorders lurks on the internet.
Pro-eating disorder communities, coining themselves as ‘pro-ana’ (pro-anorexia) and ‘pro-mia’ (pro-bulimia), have been a huge problem on the internet for decades. According to TIME, in 2001 Yahoo! had already been called to implement monitoring of these pro-ED websites and eventually removed 21 of the estimated 115 pro-anorexia sites from their servers. That was twenty-one years ago, and pro-eating disorder content has only increased in popularity and reach since then. Tumblr is well known to have historically been a hub for these sorts of communities, pages emerging which encouraged twisted support groups to keep one another ‘committed’ to their eating disorders, posting ‘thinspiration’ (photos of extremely slim, or anorexic, people as a goal to reach) and sharing tips and quotes to sickeningly push people suffering with an eating disorder to not recover. In 2012, Tumblr was forced to implement a new policy against the rise in pro-eating disorder, self-harm and suicide communities and pages on their platform. Arguably, TikTok has become the new breeding ground for these sorts of posts, not only in the obvious ‘pro-ana’ sense but also in a far more subtle way. The line between directly obvious pro-ED content and more subtly disordered representations of eating is becoming increasingly blurred, and subsequently the glamorisation of disordered eating is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid.
As well as this surge of online content, films and TV shows – especially from the 2000s – glamorise eating disorders and tend to use them as the basis of characters’ personalities. One of the most notable examples is Cassie from the TV show ‘Skins’. Her entire character is centred around her struggle with anorexia; in one episode, Cassie shows another character, Sid, the method she uses to get away with not eating and says things like, “I didn’t eat for three days so I could be lovely“. Pictures of Cassie, as well as quotes, appeared across ‘pro-ana’ pages on Tumblr and begs the question of whether featuring such graphic depictions of eating disorders online can be considered representation, or whether they become a source of inspiration.
In light of this overwhelming and seemingly unavoidable glamorisation of eating disorders present in our society, here are some extremely useful tips on avoiding and counteracting the impact it has on you.
Set boundaries with the people around you.
We all know someone who will openly talk about how little they’ve eaten that day. Sometimes the glamorisation of disordered eating doesn’t come from the internet but, instead, from the people around you, which can be especially tricky to navigate. In my experience, the best way to deal with this is to, if you can, say to the person in question that you would appreciate it if they didn’t make comments about food or eating around you and that you find it triggering. If that fails, or you don’t feel like you can speak to them about it, the best thing you can do is to remind yourself that your body is not their body, and how they choose to fuel their body does not impact how you should fuel yours. Whilst you can never completely protect yourself from the comments, attitudes and behaviour of the people you spend your time with, you can try your best to limit the damage it causes to you. By no means is the journey towards achieving this linear, and some days these comments will be really difficult to ignore and put in their rightful place, but setting initial boundaries can be helpful in limiting the influence of other people’s attitudes towards disordered eating on you. There is nothing wrong with being honest with the people around you – and most people will be incredibly understanding and accommodating.
Delete triggering or unhelpful people from your social media — even if they are people you know.
Your mental health always takes priority, and there’s no shame in looking after yourself by muting or unfollowing people online. Again, sometimes it’s not just celebrities and influencers posting online that can cause you to be triggered. People we know personally can also have the same impact on us, and it doesn’t make you a bad person if you choose to remove them from your socials. Instagram even has a ‘Mute’ feature, which allows you to not see the person’s posts anymore but doesn’t unfollow them completely, which can be really useful.
Use the ‘not interested’ feature on TikTok and Instagram.
If triggering or glamorising content is being pushed onto your social media feeds, the best thing you can do is use the ‘Not Interested’ feature to stop yourself from seeing similar content. Essentially, it lets the algorithm know that you want to see less of that particular type of content. If the post you have encountered is especially triggering, don’t be afraid to report the post. Reporting posts is the first step in helping yourself, and others, to not be exposed to content that glamorises eating disorders in the first place.
Remind yourself of the LoNG-TERM DAMAGE eating disorders can cause.
Sometimes it’s not enough to implement the preventative steps of trying to control what you interact with on social media or in real life; sometimes the glamorisation can come from within ourselves. From experience, I know that picturing your eating disorder in a romanticised, glamorised way is a very real coping mechanism to convince yourself that what you’re experiencing is normal or even becomes a way to try and place yourself on a pedestal above the people around you and make yourself feel superior in some way. We all need a wake-up call every now and then, and reminding yourself of the real physical damage that eating disorders can cause in the long-term can help us awaken to the facts. For every body check you see online, there is an adverse outcome and worst case scenario, such as someone whose heart just stopped as they lost their life to an eating disorder. For every ‘What I Eat in a Day’ filled with food restrictions, someone just got told they cannot conceive a child because of the physical damage caused by an eating disorder. Around 60% of deaths relating to anorexia are attributed to sudden cardiac arrest, organ failure or suicide. We’ve all heard the toxic phrase “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”; well, for most people, skinny often manifests through feeling faint, being cold and getting heart palpitations at night when you’re trying to sleep. People online, showing you their ‘perfect’ bodies that line up with the beauty standards of our society, won’t tell you that. People aren’t honest about the very real and terrifying sacrifices they unknowingly make, which will impact their health for the rest of their lives.
By no means am I belittling struggling with an eating disorder, or being impacted by the glamorisation of them, down to being solved by these simple actions and suggesting that doing these things will immediately fix your struggle. I, for one, understand that struggling with food and your body is a far more complex issue than that. It is a ruthless disease, and so utterly complicated. These actions are just the first step in helping minimise your exposure to the so widely accepted glamorisation of eating disorders.
It’s far too easy to become complacent when scrolling online, allowing yourself to mindlessly absorb the damaging culture of the internet. Truthfully, I feel like a bit of a hypocrite writing this article — I need to listen to my own advice, too. We are all such advocates for other people’s mental health and well-being, but the online narratives surrounding eating disorders make it heartbreakingly difficult to begin our own recovery process. I’ve had enough of the world pretending that the general attitude towards disordered eating is in any way normal. You and me, let’s do this together. Let’s help ourselves, and help each other in the process. Eating disorders are complicated, insidious and destructive — they’re not glamorous in any way.