You may or may not know that Eating Disorder Awareness Week has just come to a close, allowing us to open up conversations about eating disorders and the stigma and various struggles surrounding them. Most people are relatively aware of what eating disorders are, and that they affect a large demographic of people. However, people seem less aware of the way eating disorders are normalized in college culture.
The normalization of eating disorders in college may not be apparent if you aren’t looking for it. This is mainly because this variety of ED culture often doesn’t take the form we are familiar with. It often isn’t the vanity-centric issue we (for better or worse) typically associate with eating disorders. Often, these instances are written off as someone being a workaholic, or as a way to have more fun while partying. It’s simply an accepted part of college life to hear people talk about how little they ate in a day because they were working so hard, or to hear about not eating all day as a valid method to get drunk faster. It is also incredibly common to hear about the ominous “freshman 15” or “sorority 40” as a looming threat to avoid at all costs. This type of dialogue is everywhere, and it is incredibly difficult to not get sucked in and experience the need to prove how successful you are with more or more extreme evidence.
Eating disorders are somewhat unique due to their competitive nature. Many people feel the need to demonstrate that they are “succeeding” at their disorder, and to have their “results” seen and acknowledged by others. Comments on how dangerous a person’s ED tendencies are, or on how dramatically someone’s behavior or appearance has changed are often not seen as concern, but rather as validation. This cycle is often reflected in college life, as many people also feel the need to demonstrate how hard they are working with comments about how little they are eating or sleeping, and how much time they are spending on work. These two attitudes in the same environment can become a dangerous competition, where taking care of yourself is viewed as falling behind, allowing eating disorder rhetoric to simply blend in with the life of an average college student.
Though these tendencies may be relatively normalized in college life, it is important to acknowledge their danger, and seek help if necessary. Even if you are not personally struggling with an eating disorder, it is important to be mindful of how you play into their normalization in college life. The things we say can have a much greater impact than we realize, and may actually be contributing to this toxic mindset towards taking care of yourself. Taking time to take care of yourself is not selfish, and it doesn’t mean you are falling behind at all. On the contrary, choosing to take care of yourself can help prevent future burnout. At the end of the day, the only person we need to monitor is ourselves, and it doesn’t matter how well we are keeping up with other people, regardless of how much of a workaholic we may believe ourselves to be. If you do find yourself struggling with an eating disorder, or any type of difficult relationship with food, please remember that it is always worth it to seek help. Keep in mind that wondering if you are sick enough to get help is a surefire sign that you are.