Eating Disorder Awareness Week is a really important time for educating people on these mental illnesses. Posts pop up on timelines everywhere as patients come forward, whether they are suffering right now or have successfully completed their recovery, to courageously share their stories with the world. I applaud them and their bravery, but what many of them don’t realize is that they are inadvertently reinforcing stigma and stereotypes.
Before and after photos, showing an emaciated body versus a nourished curvy one, contribute to the body shaming myths that skinny is unhealthy and such people need only eat a burger in order to be ‘normal’. Some people are naturally thin and seriously struggle with gaining weight – they may be uncomfortable with the way they look, and having depictions shared such as these only further ingrain the idea that ‘THIS IS WHAT AN ANOREXIC LOOKS LIKE’ and that they, through merely looking a certain way, are sick. In turn this undermines the struggles of those suffering who do not look a certain way, meaning those around them may question if they are even ill at all.
There is no simple answer to what the ‘correct’ way of looking is. Eating disorders are mental illnesses that manifest themselves in so many ways. Whilst anorexia is the most commonly talked about and well known, you no longer need to be underweight to be diagnosed as such. In addition, one of the characterizing symptoms is dramatic weight loss, meaning you could technically still be overweight and have anorexia.
In addition, an increasing number of patients are being diagnosed with EDNOS (eating disorder not otherwise specified), meaning they do not meet all the criteria of any one illness, but they are still sick and require help.
Widespread media depictions continue to parade skeletal celebs on their front pages as journalists take it upon themselves to diagnose them from afar, encouraging others to do the same in their daily lives with medical terms flippantly thrown around without adequate knowledge or cause. Before and after photos incorrectly reinforce this societal view of eating disorders being thin young women and teens with lonely eyes and baggy clothing; something Netflix’s To The Bone movie only furthered, no matter the various useful and valid points it otherwise made, with its inclusion of a male sufferer (whilst painfully tick-box-y in its execution and used primarily as a plot device for romance) being well overdue.
I want to stress, again, that I am so proud of anyone who is putting themselves out there this week to share their struggle and possibly help those suffering in silence. However I just ask that you leave the ‘before’ photos off your posts – in fact, delete them from your library as they’ll only hold you back as a tempting, niggling reminder of ‘what you once were’ that the receding voice in your head still clings onto – and start new conversations that will open society’s eyes even wider to the realities of eating disorders, because they really do come in all shapes and sizes.
If you or someone you care about is suffering from an eating disorder, please visit one of the links below for more information and to seek help:
https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/
https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/eating-disorders/
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