For this edition of article corner I am posting this piece about how transgender youth are more likely to have an eating disorder than their cisgender female counterparts. This finding is significant and worth sharing for a couple reasons. First of all, because it debunks a prevailing belief that eating disorders only (or mostly) affect young, white, heterosexual, cisgender women. For over six years I have been treating clients with eating disorders and body image issues in my practice. My clients have always been diverse in terms of their race, age, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Eating disorders impact people of all identities, not just young, white, cisgender women. The article does not mention socioeconomics, but many people also assume that eating disorders only strike individuals from wealthy families. This is also not true. Eating disorders do not discriminate when it comes to class background either.
This article is also important because it expands the understanding of why eating disorders are prevalent in the trans community. Some studies suggest that trans teens develop eating disorders due to a desire to shape their body to be more in line with their gender identity. In other words, the idea is that trans folks with eating disorders are trying to gain or lose weight in order to change the gendered appearance of their body. However, the article explains that this is a limiting conception of why trans individuals develop eating disorders. The article quotes Don Maldonado, a coordinator at T-FFED, a Los Angeles-based collective that promotes awareness about eating disorders in the trans and gender-diverse community. Maldonado says “a lot of times there's this arrogance or conflation of gender dysphoria with body dysmorphia…. People think that once you're able to transition that your eating disorder will disappear. This is not the case.” What Maldonado is saying holds true to my experience in my practice. People develop eating disorders for multiple reasons. (There are almost as many different reasons for the why of an eating disorder as there are people with eating disorders.) However, for many people their eating disorder started as a way to cope with a difficult situation. Coping mechanisms help us manage painful feelings and circumstances (so can be positive) but some coping mechanisms, such as eating disorders, can also be dangerous to our health. Some individuals develop eating disorders to cope with the pain of trauma. We often think of trauma as interpersonal in nature, such as in the case of abuse. However, there is also societal trauma, such as discrimination, oppression and marginalization and this kind of trauma can factor into the development of an eating disorder. I have worked with a number of clients whose eating disorders developed as a way to deal with the societal traumas of sexism, classism, racism, and homophobia. Eating disorders among trans and gender-variant individuals might be connected to their experience coping with transphobia (or other types of oppression such as racism, sexism, and classism that a trans individual with intersecting identities might face).
The article states that: “eating disorders are most common among those who we have selectively ignored.” This is a profound statement, but doesn’t go far enough. It seems that eating disorders are most common among those whose bodies have been oppressed and systematically marginalized such as women, people of color, queer folks, people of size, poor people, and trans and gender-variant individuals. This is why eating disorders are a social justice issue. Eliminating eating disorders on a societal level will therefore require ending oppression in multiple forms.
This article is also important because it expands the understanding of why eating disorders are prevalent in the trans community. Some studies suggest that trans teens develop eating disorders due to a desire to shape their body to be more in line with their gender identity. In other words, the idea is that trans folks with eating disorders are trying to gain or lose weight in order to change the gendered appearance of their body. However, the article explains that this is a limiting conception of why trans individuals develop eating disorders. The article quotes Don Maldonado, a coordinator at T-FFED, a Los Angeles-based collective that promotes awareness about eating disorders in the trans and gender-diverse community. Maldonado says “a lot of times there's this arrogance or conflation of gender dysphoria with body dysmorphia…. People think that once you're able to transition that your eating disorder will disappear. This is not the case.” What Maldonado is saying holds true to my experience in my practice. People develop eating disorders for multiple reasons. (There are almost as many different reasons for the why of an eating disorder as there are people with eating disorders.) However, for many people their eating disorder started as a way to cope with a difficult situation. Coping mechanisms help us manage painful feelings and circumstances (so can be positive) but some coping mechanisms, such as eating disorders, can also be dangerous to our health. Some individuals develop eating disorders to cope with the pain of trauma. We often think of trauma as interpersonal in nature, such as in the case of abuse. However, there is also societal trauma, such as discrimination, oppression and marginalization and this kind of trauma can factor into the development of an eating disorder. I have worked with a number of clients whose eating disorders developed as a way to deal with the societal traumas of sexism, classism, racism, and homophobia. Eating disorders among trans and gender-variant individuals might be connected to their experience coping with transphobia (or other types of oppression such as racism, sexism, and classism that a trans individual with intersecting identities might face).
The article states that: “eating disorders are most common among those who we have selectively ignored.” This is a profound statement, but doesn’t go far enough. It seems that eating disorders are most common among those whose bodies have been oppressed and systematically marginalized such as women, people of color, queer folks, people of size, poor people, and trans and gender-variant individuals. This is why eating disorders are a social justice issue. Eliminating eating disorders on a societal level will therefore require ending oppression in multiple forms.
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