Eating disorders have existed for thousands of years and they don’t discriminate.  According to Beat one of the UK’s leading eating disorder charities, approximately  1.25 million people in the UK have one, and 25% of this number are male. Despite this eating disorders are most commonly known as being a thin-teenage girl phenomenon, gaining the most discussion following the “Heroin Chic” beauty ideals in the 1990s.

3 women whose lives are dedicated to helping others share their story working with these illnesses and explain why women are the poster child of this.

Di Archer created TasteLife, an eating disorder recovery charity, with her family friend when both her daughters experienced eating disorders.

She said “Our eldest daughter was severely ill.  She had a mixture of anorexia and bulimia and it was I suppose through that experience that we as a family discovered two things, which is that eating disorders are hell on earth for everyone not just the person who’s directly affected but also family and friends as well and the second thing we discovered was that still help and understanding in our society is very limited.” 

TasteLife offers free recovery courses not just for the sufferers but the people in their support system.

Statistics say that women are the largest group of eating disorder sufferers but Di emphasises the importance of looking at the bigger picture behind the numbers.

“We have people on our courses who have of all all ages and both genders, but the prevailance would be women, not just teenagers or young women. We’ve had women on there in their 70s who’ve always struggled with food, never had anyone to talk to or help them or listen to their story. which is also so important.” She said.

Sophie O’ Horan a Marketing and Communications officer and Kirsty Armstrong  Training and Development Officer both work for South Yorkshire Eating Disorder Association (SYEDA).  They agree with Di that while the statistics say this a women’s issue, this doesn’t always reflect the reality.

Sophie said, “Historically women have been subject to pretty high beauty standards that has changed and evolved and we see people of all genders being affected by these unrealistic expectations that a patriarchal society has as obviously patriarchy affects again anyone.”

Kirsty added to this, “I think women have very much been in the spotlight for decades, haven’t they? In terms of how they should be portrayed. I think we saw a big kind of breakthrough with who was the supermodel in the ‘ 90s, Kate Moss.”

Despite the fact that women almost exclusively are the ones shown in the media to have eating disorders this isn’t the case. It is more that women may be more likely to face the factors such as trauma which can cause eating disorders.

“Eating disorders can happen to anyone and they don’t discriminate. So it’s not like an eating disorder goes, ‘I choose you cuz you’re a woman.’ it literally happens to anyone. And often they are root caused by a trauma or a difficult situation. Again, that can happen to anyone. The circumstance like diet culture or social media is more like a trigger or a catalyst.” Sophie says.

“We might see stats where anorexia is the most prevalent one, it’s not always the case that it is. I think we need to really start changing the narrative when it comes to eating disorders as well. that it’t just anorexia isn’t just bulimia.” She added. 

According to The Bulimia Project, the rate of Anorexia Nervosa is three times higher in women than males. But the statistics do shift when examining other eating disorders. 

I asked the Di why she thinks this could be they said:

Di said,  “I think that the pressure is different. Although there is pressure on males now to look a certain way, it’s more likely to be a linked to sport and to look muscly, which is a slightly different kind of pressure. 

“The pressure on teenage girls in particularly when they’re vulnerable, when their brains are changing, it’s all to do with shape. So from a physical point of view there’s much more pressure on that. And the man in our team observed that when men are pressured to look a certain way we are not being pressured to reveal it.”

“You can wear a t-shirt and jeans and be really cool. Whereas for women there’s such this pressure to kind of take off but there’s much more kind of like show skin.”

Di expressed that this is a topic that frequently comes up in discussions with the TasteLife team. 

“One of the things they say about anorexia is that you feel like it’s an attempt to find a voice so I said to the team ‘do we think it’s harder for women to find a voice in our society?’ I  think even though it’s changed in my lifetime it’s still harder. I’m a female leader of a charity. It’s harder to get heard than, if I was man and that is very frustrating.”

“I think that girls tend to mature a bit earlier as well.” She added

“They’re thinking things through a bit earlier as well. So perhaps more vulnerable to societal pressures and they’re competitive in a different way, but it’s more like you’re more likely to be judging for looks rather than strength or skills. So all of that adds up to the vulnerability but in the end, I think that that whole search for identity starts earlier in girls.”

The search for identity is a huge element of why women are at the forefront of eating disorder stereotypes. 

However, Sophie and Kirsty both highlighted that eating disorders are often triggered by trauma in a persons life and that now a large number of people suffering with eating disorders are members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Statistics by the National Eating Disorders Association revealed that LGBT youth are 120 times more likely to be homeless and are more likely to experience sexual, psychological, and physical abuse than straight/cisgender youth.

Kirsty said, “We know with LGBTQ plus communities they have often faced quite a lot of discrimination. When it comes to kind of trans community as well body dysmorphia is quite prevalent. So the trans people we’re noticing now are faced with eating disorders because they want to change how their body looks.”

“Eating disorders can happen to anyone and they all look quite different as well. Eating disorders are as diverse as the people that they affect.” Sophie said 

Regardless of the stereotypes around eating disorders the deadliness of them remains the same regardless of who they are impacting. 

I asked all women if they had one message to people who may not understand the scale of the issue and what they would say to someone struggling.

Di said “There’s a silent epidemic going on in this country, estimates are one and a quarter million with eating disorders. You will know someone that’s got eating issues. You may have it in your office or your workplace or your school You will meet this. So, would you like us to help you to know how to respond?”

Kirsty said, “A big part of my role was to provide hope and motivation for recovery to people. And that can be really difficult when you’re in a really dark place and you can’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes it’s really, really difficult.  But what I always say is look for the flickers. So although the day, might be really difficult or the period might be really difficult and you’re in a really dark place there’ll always be a little flicker.”

To read more on SYEDA: SYEDA – South Yorkshire Eating Disorder Association

To read more on TasteLife: Breaking Free From Eating Disorders | tastelife UK

To listen to TasteLife’s podcast: Back to the Table – tastelife talks | Podcast on Spotify