Eating disorders are often associated with women, yet a new study found the prevalence of the condition in transgender college students is far greater than any other gender group.
Having an eating disorder means fighting a raging civil war within: food versus body satisfaction. It’s an addiction unlike many others. You ‘rate’ your body every time you look at yourself in the mirror. You must interact with food at least three times a day.
Eating disorders get particularly challenging for individuals with a conflicted gender identity. Researchers think that the main reason for this is that many trans-people feel a pressure to fit traditional beauty standards, which may cause them to use extreme measures to try to change their appearances.
Body positivity in the transgender community
The body positivism movement in the transgender community was recently explored by Sam Dylan Finch, a transgender writer and queer activist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He argued that the mantra of “love your body, no matter the shape or size, exactly as it is,” is just something he cannot identify with. Who is this movement really speaking to?
“As a trans person, I experience body dysphoria. This means that I have pretty significant distress around certain parts of my body because I associate them with a gender that I don’t identify with,” Finch. “This is fancy talk for “Holy shit, I cannot make peace with my body today or ever, because this body is telling the world I’m a woman when I’m actually not.”
15.82% transgender students diagnosed with an eating disorder
Recent statistics revealed that the transgender community needs body positivism the most. The study carried out by Washington University at St. Louis unveiled that transgender students had been diagnosed with an eating disorder in the past year at an alarming rate of 15.82%.
The study published in the August issue of The Journal of Adolescent Health, the official journal of the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine, accessed data from 289,024 students from 223 U.S. universities in order to identify eating disorders. This study was one of the first ones to include transgender students in the participant group. Of the respondents, 479 identified as transgender.
Students had to respond on whether they had been diagnosed or treated by a professional for eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia in the past year. The study also examined past-month diet pill, the use of laxatives and vomiting, which were reportedly much higher in transgender students. More so even than cisgender women or men born the gender they identify as.
The question is: Why?
Researchers hypothesized that transgender individuals may be more likely to suffer from eating disorders to suppress or accentuate gendered features.
“It has been suggested that striving for weight loss may be a way for transgender women to conform to feminine ideals of slimness and attractiveness,” they wrote. “Transgender men and women may also use weight loss to suppress secondary sexual characteristics.”
Another reason for the rise the authors point out, is the “the excess stress experienced by individuals in stigmatized social categories” such as transgender people, compared to other groups.
“Among lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals, a strong link has been found between higher levels of minority stress and poorer mental health outcomes,” the researchers wrote. “The same mechanisms are likely at play in transgender individuals, who may be exposed to substantial amounts of discrimination, both on an interpersonal and societal level.”
Transgender people may also have reported higher rates of diagnosis because they are more likely to have consulted a mental health professional. The National Transgender Discrimination Survey found that 75 percent of transgender people had received counseling on their gender identity compared to just 18 percent of the general public.
Ahead of the 2015 U.S. Trans Survey, which is set to launch later this month, what do you think of eating disorders in the transgender community? Share your views in the comments section below.
Thin Ice provides you with an uncanny way to lose weight:
https://youtu.be/RQvv6ThzPoU
Body Positivity and Why Eating Disorders Hit the Transgender Community the Most
No comments:
Post a Comment