Around 28.8 million (you read that figure right!) Americans are struggling with an eating disorder (Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health). However, EDs have long been associated with affluent, Caucasian cisgender women, and clinical research is primarily focused on this demographic, despite eating disorders not discriminating. This focus is also in large part due to the hefty price tag of treatment, which causes a huge accessibility barrier for so many. However, it has been proven that all gender identities, races, sexual orientation and socioeconomic groups are affected.
Utilizing an intersectional framework (which is the overlap and inclusivity of multiple identities), it is glaringly obvious where the holes in representation in research has been and thus, a lack of awareness around EDs in multiple populations. BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and those in lower socioeconomic standing are often marginalized in research due to this lack of integrating “…a more holistic conceptualization of identities as multiple layers…” (Burke et al., 2020).
LGBTQ+ are at a high risk for developing eating disorders. Teens who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual are much more susceptible to EDs such as binging & purging as heterosexual teens (NEDA). Additionally, those who identify as transgender or are cisgender homosexual/other sexual minority men were at the highest risk in comparison to heterosexual, cisgender people. In a study of college students, transgender youth and cisgender sexual minority men were disproportionately affected by maladaptive eating behaviors and self-reported EDs in comparison to heterosexual, straight women & men (Diemer et al., 2015).
The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) has stated that in a study, clinicians were presented with disordered eating behaviors of white, Hispanic, and black women. 44% of clinicians identified the white woman’s behaviors as troubling; in contrast, only 17% of clinicians thought that the black woman’s behaviors raised concern. (NEDA)
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