Gender, Race, & Class: Examining the Culture of Eating Disorders Jennifer Sturman
Gender, Race, & Class: Examining the Culture of Eating Disorders
Sturman 2 Gender, Race, & Class: Examining the Culture of Eating Disorders
I delivered a presentation on eating disorders to a racially, economically, and culturally diverse group of ten Northeastern University male and female students in a seminar. I asked the group to shout out a description of what type of person they thought would have an eating disorder. They all agreed, “Girl, wealthy, obsessed with pop culture, and white.” This response isn’t at all surprising. Some of these beliefs are based in reality; others are not. The popular conception held by mainstream Americans is that only middle-upper class, white females are affected by eating disorders. But when looking at the literature, it is clear that these disorders span across all different types of people and cultures. This analysis works to debunk some common misconceptions about the gender, race, and class of eating disorder sufferers as well as explain how beauty ideals have become so destructive in contemporary society.
Gender: Sexual Orientation, Feminist Perspectives, & Media Out of the entire population of people diagnosed with an eating disorder, 10% are male (Wolf, 1991). Homosexual men are overrepresented in this population. Percentages of homosexuals in samples of eating disordered men are commonly twice as high or greater as compared to the percentage of homosexual men in the general population (Fichter & Daser, 1987). Pressure from the homosexual community to be thin is one theory to explain this
Sturman 3 overrepresentation. When looking more deeply into this theory, it is apparent that in this community, there is a stronger desire to appear feminine and to adapt traditional female roles than in the heterosexual male population. Females face a significant amount of pressure to be thin. This pressure is felt from many different sources. The feminist perspectives call obedience and sexuality a main cause of eating
Sturman 2 Gender, Race, & Class: Examining the Culture of Eating Disorders
I delivered a presentation on eating disorders to a racially, economically, and culturally diverse group of ten Northeastern University male and female students in a seminar. I asked the group to shout out a description of what type of person they thought would have an eating disorder. They all agreed, “Girl, wealthy, obsessed with pop culture, and white.” This response isn’t at all surprising. Some of these beliefs are based in reality; others are not. The popular conception held by mainstream Americans is that only middle-upper class, white females are affected by eating disorders. But when looking at the literature, it is clear that these disorders span across all different types of people and cultures. This analysis works to debunk some common misconceptions about the gender, race, and class of eating disorder sufferers as well as explain how beauty ideals have become so destructive in contemporary society.
Gender: Sexual Orientation, Feminist Perspectives, & Media Out of the entire population of people diagnosed with an eating disorder, 10% are male (Wolf, 1991). Homosexual men are overrepresented in this population. Percentages of homosexuals in samples of eating disordered men are commonly twice as high or greater as compared to the percentage of homosexual men in the general population (Fichter & Daser, 1987). Pressure from the homosexual community to be thin is one theory to explain this
Sturman 3 overrepresentation. When looking more deeply into this theory, it is apparent that in this community, there is a stronger desire to appear feminine and to adapt traditional female roles than in the heterosexual male population. Females face a significant amount of pressure to be thin. This pressure is felt from many different sources. The feminist perspectives call obedience and sexuality a main cause of eating
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