Are Gay and Bi-Sexual Men More Prone To Eating Disorders? Seattle Dietitian Offers 3 Tips For Gay and Bisexual Men Struggling With Food
15% of gay and bisexual men have had an eating disorder in their lifetime. Queer men face unique stressors that make them more vulnerable to disordered eating, eating disorders, and poor body image.
Eating disorders and disordered eating in men are underreported, underdiagnosed, and undertreated. This puts men experiencing struggles with food and body image at a great risk, especially queer men!
What is disordered eating and what is an eating disorder?
Disordered eating and eating disorders are different from one another. Disordered eating is a way to describe behaviors and thought patterns around food. Eating disorders are diagnosable psychiatric conditions. Think of this as a spectrum where disordered eating lies on the left and eating disorders lie on the right. Disordered eating can become an eating disorder depending on the severity and duration of the behaviors.
Some signs and symptoms of disordered eating and eating disorders include:
Frequently skipping meals and snacks
Strict counting calories
Restriction of food
Types of food
Food groups
Portions of food
Frequency of eating food
Excessive exercise and sometimes continuance of exercise despite injury and illness
Distress or anxiety when faced with eating foods outside of “allowed” foods
Frequent body checking behaviors
Intense desire to alter one’s appearance through diet
Social isolation and withdrawal
Why do eating disorders develop?
Eating disorders and body image issues can develop for a multitude of reasons. There isn’t one particular reason why an eating disorder develops, but rather a combination of different sociocultural, biological, psychological, and genetic factors. There are numbers of risk factors for eating disorders that include:
Participation in a sport or competition that fixates on weight or appearance
cross country, track, wrestling, swimming, diving, dance, etc.
A genetic/family history of eating disorders and dieting
Living with or being around someone who is also struggling with disordered eating and body image issues
Perfectionism
Frequent experience with dieting and weight loss
Traumatic experiences including extreme stress, violence, or discrimination
Other coexisting mental conditions
TLDR: The development of eating disorders and disordered eating behaviors varies for each person. They are complex mental illnesses and there isn’t one singular reason why a person would develop an eating disorder, but rather a combination of factors.
Are gay and bi-sexual men more prone to eating disorders and body image issues?
Gay and bisexual men are more prone to developing disordered eating, eating disorders, and body image issues! Below are some statistics demonstrating this truth:
Of men who have eating disorders, 42% of those identify as gay.
Why are gay and bisexual men more prone to develop eating disorders?
Queer men face many unique pressures that put them at an increased risk for developing disordered eating, eating disorders, and body image issues including:
Experience with trauma of bullying, teasing, and discrimination
Many queer men report that they have been victim to homophobic behaviors, like teasing and bullying, for their sexual preferences. If you are a gay or bisexual man, it’s possible that you’re at risk for experiencing harassment in many settings, including the workplace and school. Trauma from such harassment can cause you to develop or have worsening depression and anxiety, both of which are known to influence eating patterns and appetite.
Adverse reactions from family members, friends, or loved ones
Gay and bisexual men face the possibility of negative reactions and treatment from family members, friends, and loved ones. Sometimes, these situations can become stressful, violent, and are overall traumatic. Queer men face the struggle of strained familial relationships, which can lead to self-deprecating thoughts about themselves, their sexuality, and sometimes their body.
Pressure to conform to body expectations
Queer men may feel that they need to resemble what society and others in their community believe a gay man “should” look like. These sociocultural expectations can lead queer men (especially gay men) to desire thinness in pursuit of being more attractive or desirable. In this pursuit, many men report they often try to physically alter their appearance by dieting to achieve a body standard set by these unrealistic cultural expectations. If you experience this as a gay or bisexual man, you may be at risk for developing muscle dysmorphia, orthorexia, other body dysmorphic disorders and eating disorders. Diet culture and media contribute to these unattainable body types leaving queer men feeling like they are undesirable or unwanted if they don’t have the body type that is often presented as “the most desirable”.
Coexisting mental illnesses
Research shows that eating disorders often coexist with other mental conditions like anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and more. These mental illnesses can cause or worsen rifts in your relationship with your body and food. It’s not clear whether eating disorders cause these other mental illnesses, or whether these pre-existing mental conditions cause eating disorders. What researchers do know is that eating disorders and other psychiatric conditions are strongly correlated and often coexist with one another.
Fear of rejection from family members and loved ones
Many gay and bi-sexual men experience intense mental stress out of fear that their family members, friends, and loved ones won’t accept their sexuality. Such intense mental stress can worsen other mental illnesses and create a lot of anxiety for queer men. Anxiety, stress, and depression can significantly impact appetite and desire to eat which can in turn lead to disordered eating.
Homelessness and/or food insecurity
Gay and bisexual men are at an increased risk for experiencing homelessness and various types of food insecurity, in fact 42% of homeless youth are LGBTQ identified. Those who are homeless often also experience food insecurity, making them more likely to engage in disordered eating. Individuals who experience food insecurity are more likely to engage in binge eating, overeating, purging, compensatory behaviors, and food restriction (1).
Lack of culturally competent treatment
As mentioned previously, eating disorders in men are underdiagnosed and undertreated. There is lack of research, lack of treatment options, and lack of resources available to help men heal from food and body image issues. This alone makes it difficult for men to receive help, but it makes it especially difficult for queer men in the LGBTQIA+ community.
Most important of all, there is a lack of culturally competent treatment. Queer men face unique stressors and risk factors that treatment teams need to be able to recognize and address throughout treatment. Unfortunately, treatment providers aren’t always trained on how to work with eating disorders in the LGBTQIA+ community. Queer men also face the pressure of treatment providers not accepting their sexuality and gender identity, which makes it even more difficult to receive treatment for their eating issues.
3 Tips of Advice From A Seattle Dietitian To Help You In Your Struggle With Food and Body Image As a Gay or Bi-sexual Man:
Seek help from an eating disorder dietitian.
It's important that you seek professional help for your body image and eating issues. Seeking help requires a lot of vulnerability, and it can feel daunting to ask for help. Eating and body image issues often don’t go away on their own. Eating and body image issues require professional treatment, both therapeutically and nutritionally.
Consider reaching out to a dietitian who specializes in eating disorders, disordered eating and body image concerns, and to a mental health therapist to address any coexisting mental illnesses. If you already see a mental health therapist, it can’t hurt to bring up any body image or food issues. Your therapist will be able to help you or refer you to other resources!
It’s crucial that you seek help from an anti-diet dietitian to ensure that your nutritional needs are being met while healing from the toxicity of diet and wellness culture. It can be difficult to repair your relationship with food without the help of a dietitian. Disordered eating and eating disorders often distort what you view to be normal eating, and it takes the help of a dietitian to regain your ability to eat intuitively and properly nourish yourself.
2. Eat consistently.
One thing that you can do to help yourself is ensure that you are eating consistently, meaning that you are eating often and eating enough. If you have a history with disordered eating and body image issues, or if you are currently struggling in your relationship with food, this can be incredibly difficult to do. Knowing how much food is enough and how often is challenging. Everyone eats differently, and a disordered relationship with food skews what you perceive to be “normal”. If you’re ready to begin your healing journey and start mending your relationship with food and body image, it’s crucial that you try to eat consistently.
3. Challenge your own beliefs about gay/bi-sexual/queer men, food, and body image.
This is an especially challenging thing to do, and it’s crucial to your healing. Reflect on your own personal ideas of what a typical gay or bi-sexual man “should” or “should not” look like.
You can do this by asking yourself:
“Where did I come up with this idea of what queer men “should” look like?”
“Do I believe that my physical appearance dictates how queer I am or how other people perceive me and my sexuality?”
“Do I believe that I am any less queer if I don’t “look the part”?”
“Where do I see sociocultural expectations of gay and bisexual men in my life?”
“Why do I believe that my self-worth and sexual identity is tied to my physical appearance?”
I challenge you to really think about these questions. A dietitian and therapist can help you dive into your own internalized beliefs about body image, food, and cultural expectations that you experience in your life.
How do you know if you should seek help for eating issues and body image concerns and as a gay or bi-sexual man?
There are things you can look for to evaluate your current relationship with your body and food. You may need to seek help if you have any signs and symptoms of disordered eating or eating disorders mentioned earlier in this blog.
You’ll also love these:
Can You Have Eating Issues as a Man? Dietitian Sheds Light On Disordered Eating And Eating Disorders For Men
What’s the Difference Between Overeating and Binge Eating Disorder?
Dietitian Explains Why You're Gaining Weight From Dieting
When Exercise Becomes An Eating Disorder: Exercise Bulimia Nervosa
What Is Virtual Eating Disorder Nutrition Therapy And What Is It Like?
Are you a gay or bi-sexual man with body image, eating issues, or feel concerned that you may have an eating disorder?
Healing from disordered eating and repairing a negative body image can be incredibly difficult as a gay or bisexual man. It’s challenging to face pressures to maintain a particular image and “look the part”. You deserve to heal your body image and eating issues, and you don’t have to do it alone. Our caring eating disorder dietitians are here to help you in your struggle as a queer man. At Bravespace Nutrition , we understand the importance of LGBTQIA+ educated care. Our Seattle based eating disorder treatment for men values you and your experience as a gay or bisexual man with eating and body image issues. To begin your healing journey today, follow these three simple steps:
Visit our service pages for more information on our male eating and body image issue services.
Meet with one of our eating disorder dietitians.
Begin your journey towards a life free from food fears and negative body image!
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