Disordered Eating Is Widespread Among U.S. Women

[lady amarant]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/25/AR2008042501895.html

FRIDAY, April 25 (HealthDay News) Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of young American women report disordered eating behaviors, and 10 percent report symptoms of eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder, a new survey finds.

I wonder if the stats are similar amongst TS women. I know I have problems with food, having been an exercise bulemic once upon a time, and still finding myself binging all too regularly ... only to try and starve myself back into submission for the next two or three days. I am most definitely an emotional eater.

~Simone.

[Just Mandy]

I saw that article this weekend... I never realized I might have an eating disorder
until I read it

Amanda

[NickSister]

Part of being an American?

[Lokaeign]

I often wonder if EDs among assigned females aren't connected to gender issues in some cases.

I would say that a HUGE part of my ED has been down to my problems with my gender, a way of seizing control of an increasingly "wrong-shaped" body, reducing my female characteristics and creating a more androgynous look.  I've also noticed that on the rare occasions when the media deigns to portray androgynous people, they are usually unbelievably waifish and skinny: slender females with tops that hardly need binding, svelte males with narrow shoulders and little muscle.  Unthreatening.  These kinds of images still have a huge hold over me: they present a kind of fantasy, the fantasy of acceptance as an androgyne in society.  I could fit right in--all I have to do is get my weight down to 90 pounds.  If I can't do that then my lack of acceptability is All My Fault.

I've had this battle with EDs that's been ongoing since I was 8 or 9.  I have never had a formal diagnosis, but by 17 I fulfilled all the medical criteria for anorexia nervosa.  I returned to that low weight several times throughout my adult life.   (Before anyone makes the obvious comment--yeah, I know I look "normal" in the picture.  Years of alternate starving and binging have shot my metabolism so now I'm huge.)  I can well imagine that a lot of transpeople of all genders must go through similar disorders.  I can only imagine the horrendous pressure that transwomen must feel to conform to current stereotypes of female attractiveness, and that surely must manifest in EDs in many TS women.  My heart goes out to anyone in that situation.

[Just Mandy]

I've had this body image thing for a long time, long before I tied it to GID. Although I know it's always
been about GID. I had this image in my mind of what I should look like and what I did and the "should" was always
skinny and feminine. Probably for the same reasons so many woman have the same issue... the media's portrayal
of what woman should look like.

Eating habits that some women think are normal -- such as skipping meals, avoiding carbohydrates and, in some cases, extreme dieting -- may actually be signs of disordered eating, which is often linked with emotional and physical distress.

What I did not realize until I read that article is that skipping meals, avoiding carbs and extreme dieting is not normal. I've
even purged at times... well... just because... and I knew that was bad and I don't really do that much anymore.

Amanda

[Lokaeign]

I'm sorry you've experienced this, Amanda, but glad that you are recognising it as a problem.  I really hope you get the help and support you need to develop a healthy relationship with food.