Anorexia and Sex Roles
Until recently, it was thought that eating disorders affected almost almost exclusively women. However, a growing body of research is examining the ways that men are affected. Carlat et al (1997) studied the cases of 135 men treated for eating disorders at Massachusetts General Hospital between 1980 and 1994. Although they found that the male patients were similar to female patients in many ways, one striking difference they found was a correlation between sexual orientation and diagnostic type. Among those patients suffering from bulimia, 42% were bisexual or homosexual; the anorexic patients were 58% asexual. Woodside et al's 2001 study confirms that men with eating disorders have many similarities to women with eating disorders, especially in terms of psychosocial comorbidity. Meyer et al, 2001 suggest that femininity, rather than homosexuality, may be the specific risk factor for male eating disorders.
In chronological order, the research of male eating disorders reads like a history of the gay rights movement. In 1984, you get terms like "Sexual Conflict". By the 1990's, the studies seem to be searching for ways to help "the gay community" fight its myriad health issues. Recent articles start to differentiate lifestyle and sexual preference. Something I've noticed when doing safer sex outreach is the way that the "gay lifestyle" is simplified to a short checklist of risk factors: drug use, eating disorders, smoking, and sex. From a public health perspective, looking at the factors that are most likely to cause problems makes a certain amount of sense. That doesn't stop it from feeling exclusionary and dehumanizing when you don't fit the list.
In chronological order, the research of male eating disorders reads like a history of the gay rights movement. In 1984, you get terms like "Sexual Conflict". By the 1990's, the studies seem to be searching for ways to help "the gay community" fight its myriad health issues. Recent articles start to differentiate lifestyle and sexual preference. Something I've noticed when doing safer sex outreach is the way that the "gay lifestyle" is simplified to a short checklist of risk factors: drug use, eating disorders, smoking, and sex. From a public health perspective, looking at the factors that are most likely to cause problems makes a certain amount of sense. That doesn't stop it from feeling exclusionary and dehumanizing when you don't fit the list.