Yes, I am responding in the Daily to an article in the Observer. My decision to do so was to reach a wider audience and perhaps encourage people who don't know the article to which I am about to refer to read the Observer's latest.
Entitled "Eating Disorders at Tufts" and written by Lydia Hall, it has made an honest effort at confronting some of the struggles that Tufts students are dealing with, often in silence. While I commend the effort by one author to address the prevalence of and stigma around eating disorders (ED) in our community, it is important to me to address some issues that were left un-discussed, as well as to reconsider the article's last line, which may do more to perpetuate stereotypes about eating disorders than was likely intended.
While it is true that Anorexia Nervosa and Bulemia Nervosa are the most well known and probably still the most widely diagnosed eating disorders, Binge Eating Disorder (BED) has now been added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders alongside the other two.
While the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) states that three-five percent of the American population is affected by this disorder (twice the number of individuals with Anorexia Nervosa), it remains widely misunderstood.
What is difficult about BED is that it is correlated often with being either normal-sized (because of erratic compensatory behaviors such as purging or compulsive exercise) or overweight, neither of which fit the stereotypical "eating disorder" look. For more information on the disorder, check out the NIMH website's section on eating disorders: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/eatingdisorders.cfm.
It is so important that people realize that EDs touch every population of people on the globe. Last year for Professor Charlene Galarneau's class "Women in Health," I conducted research on ED among black women. One of the poignant themes that emerged was the silence surrounding ED among women of color, because for so long, anorexia in particular was considered a rich, white girl's disease.
Though strides have been made to expel this stereotype, it still pervades, preventing many women and men who do not fall into this category from getting the help they need. Also contributing to the silence around disordered eating in black women is the stereotype that black men prefer more voluptuous women and that black women generally love their bodies more than white women do. This is not always the case, and too many women feel that they cannot say otherwise.
This brings me to the critical last line of Lydia's article, which relates the affirmation that a young woman uses to help herself through her day. While affirmation of self-worth and self-love is important in healing from the harms of these illnesses, I am concerned about the author's choice to place the quote as the closing line of the article.
I fear it contributes to a vast misunderstanding of many individuals' struggles with ED. The young woman being interviewed says that she takes solace in the fact that "guys like curves." The first problem with this line is the fact that it assumes that all women with eating disorders are straight. Again, I am not being critical of the young woman who created this affirmation for herself, but the author who has let it create a final thematic impression on her readers. ED, women and men of every class, race, country, you name it...The point is, ED is not the product of a female trying too hard to impress a male.
This brings me to a second truth that is obscured by this last line: ED is not related to whether or not the opposite or same sex finds a person attractive. As the author does announce earlier on in the article, anorexia and bulimia (and BED) are biologically based illnesses.
They are influenced by environmental factors, but not those one might expect. These factors include abuse, alcohol and drug use, extreme stress, depression, and others. ED is not about attracting a mate. It is about a distorted attempt at control, resulting in a compulsive pattern of self-abuse.
When individuals who are biologically prone to such a disorder feel a lack of control in their lives, they turn the focus onto their bodies, what goes in and what comes out. Fat, calories, food, purging, exercise-all of these become convenient subjects for control. The behaviors that result have been compared to addiction as well as self-cutting, and these two behaviors can be co-morbid with disordered eating.
Having struggled with an ED most of my life, I've had the frustrating experience of trying to explain to my partner that my thoughts and behaviors felt out of my control, and had nothing to do with their feelings for me. It didn't matter how many times they told me I was beautiful or sexy; these words fell on deaf ears until I sought help for recovery.
This is not to say that I have not struggled with body image my whole life, too; I am a part of this society after all. It is to say that ED is not caused by bad body image, and cannot be healed simply by people telling you you look good. In fact, sometimes that's the last thing a very sick person wants or needs to hear.
Finally, I am not and never have been a particularly curvy woman, so actually the idea that "guys like curves," if it mattered to me, would be detrimental to my self esteem. It's not only voluptuous women who feel self-conscious about their bodies or who are prone to restrictive or compulsive eating.
I am, however, one who has experienced great healing in the past three years and am more serene (and at times quite joyous!) today in my own skin and in my life than I was for so long, because I asked for help.
If you are reading this as someone who struggles relentlessly with food, whoever you are, please ask for help. I encourage all to read the most recent issue of the Observer for info about the services available at Tufts. I also recommend the brilliant Web site, http://www.something-fishy.org.
If you want advice or help with an eating disorder, these are some numbers you can call: Health Services, x7-3350; Counseling Center, x7-3360; Ears For Peers, x7-3888.
Chloe Green is a senior majoring in French.
