\nARTWORK BY YOSEF PHELAN<\/strong><\/p>\n
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TW: eating disorders. Please be advised that the following content may be triggering for individuals who have or are currently struggling with eating disorders. This warning is intended to acknowledge that disordered eating behaviours, body image distress, calorie counting, control over food consumption, weight loss, purging, and other aspects linked to eating disorders will be discussed. If you are currently in recovery, sensitive to these topics, or feel that this content may negatively impact your mental well-being, we encourage you to avoid reading further. It is crucial to prioritise your mental health and seek support from professionals or trusted individuals if needed.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n The emphasis on body image has always played a big role in the queer community, and especially amongst gay and bisexual men. In fictional media, advertisements and porn, particular body types have been championed above others. Even this very magazine has, in the past, played a part in perpetuating the idea that certain body types are more desirable than others with a string of covers featuring scantily clad, oiled and toned men throughout the 2000s and 2010s.<\/p>\n These cultural archetypes have real-life consequences and studies have found that there\u2019s a prevalence of eating disorders and compulsive gym use amongst gay and bisexual men. In a research article from 2022<\/a>, German academics found that gay men exhibited greater body image issues than their straight counterparts, in particular, \u201ca greater discrepancy between self-rated current and ideal body fat\u201d and \u201chigher drive for thinness\u201d.<\/p>\n The underlying causes of eating disorders are varied and complex \u2013 but, for some, the roots are laid early. James has lived with anorexia and bulimia since he was at school, believing that the condition was triggered when he experienced bullying and struggled to make friends. \u201cA lot of the bullying I received was based on the way that I looked \u2013 I had grown before everyone else and was very tall and thin with glasses and long hair. I didn’t fit in, in many ways I stood out,\u201d he explains. \u201cI internalised really strongly that the way we look matters and that it was bad to stand out or be different. I tried to change my appearance to fit in more, but became very fixated on my body image, weight and shape. I started to use food to almost shut down my body so that I didn’t have to register the difficult feelings I had, and to try and disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n James feels that the desire to fit in and to be desirable to others is hard-wired into us all on an evolutionary level, and feels that this has a part to play in why the prevalence of eating disorders is so high amongst gay and bisexual men. \u201cI learnt from my own experience that social survival is as important as physical survival, and when society holds up ideals about how we should behave and what we should look like, these are hard to resist following, even if they are unrealistic,\u201d James adds.<\/p>\n \u201cAs someone who has had to work really hard in my recovery on rejecting the idea of the \u2018perfect body\u2019, I have found it difficult when I have experienced how parts of the queer community freely judge the bodies of others and can be very image-focussed. The sad truth in my experience is that the way others respond to you is still too often based on the way you look, especially when it comes to dating and hook-up culture.\u201d<\/p>\n While dating apps and porn are reflections, rather than the cause, of society\u2019s body standards, they can be spaces where ongoing biases are confirmed rather than deconstructed. Some dating apps used within the queer community still offer the option for filtering prospective hookups by body types such as stocky\u201d, \u201cslim\u201d, \u201cmuscular\u201d and \u201clarge\u201d \u2013 allowing users to disregard large swathes of the community with a single click.<\/p>\n Similarly, while tube sites and platformers like JustForFans and OnlyFans host content by a broad range of performers, many of the most popular videos and creators are those featuring a specific physique: thin, toned, and with muscles cultivated through long sessions at the gym. The fact that these types of porn actors are the most popular \u2013 while diverse body types are seen as a niche, or a fetish \u2013 only reinforces the idea that certain physiques are more valued than others.<\/p>\n Like James, Sunni\u2019s first experience with an eating disorder was at school. After being in recovery from bulimia for 20 years, the condition returned in 2022 and he\u2019s since been working on his recovery. For him, part of what sustained his eating disorder was the positive reinforcement that peers would provide. \u201c[Bulimia] allowed me to feel acceptance when people would comment on my weight loss,\u201d he says. Sunni also battles severe BDD (Body Dysmorphic Disorder), and feels like a preoccupation with physical attractiveness in the queer community has exacerbated this. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to go far, be it on apps, social media or a gay space to find men flaunting their body and getting attention,\u201d he says. \u201cThis feeds the notion that body image is directly correlated with attractiveness, acceptance and attention \u2013 especially in a world where you can feel incredibly lonely.\u201d<\/p>\n But beyond body standards and dating apps, is there any further psychological basis for the prevalence of eating disorders among queer communities? Registered psychologist Dr Glenn Mason, whose specialisms include LGBTQIA+ mental health, argues that there are multiple factors at play. \u201cIt\u2019s imperative to remember that eating difficulties can affect anyone no matter what their gender or sexual identity is,\u201d he says. \u201cHowever research does suggest it is higher within LGBTQ+ communities than heterosexual and cisgender populations. This can be due to many reasons such as increased levels of stress, discrimination, violence, bullying and social isolation.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite the awareness within the LGBTQIA+ community that eating disorders are common, most media broaching the subject features cis, straight women \u2013 creating a \u2018type\u2019 that queer men don\u2019t always conform to, arguably making it harder for them to reach out. But when they do make the first step, the results can be disappointing due to a lack of culturally-competent mental health treatment or service providers. \u201cWe know from research that there are many barriers LGBTQ+ people can experience when trying to access services,\u201d Mason says.\u201cMore research needs to be conducted with specific gender and sexual identities so we can better understand how best to support those within the community experiencing eating difficulties.\u201d<\/p>\n While change is urgently needed from mainstream mental health practitioners, we can slowly challenge stereotypes about eating disorders and who is affected all on our own. This is the approach James is taking, after noting that the people he spoke to about his struggles in school lacked both the knowledge and understanding to effectively help him. Now, in addition to continuing work on his recovery, he\u2019s committed to spreading awareness in order to help others.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I started to struggle, the biggest barriers to getting help were the fact that I saw nobody like me who had similar experiences,\u201d he says. \u201cBeing confident to talk about food, eating and body image in a compassionate way will help those who think they are struggling to open up without fear of judgement or shame. That could be the start of a journey towards getting help and recovery, which is something that everyone deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A post shared by LGBT HERO (@lgbthero.org.uk)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\u201cA lot of the bullying I received was based on the way that I looked”<\/h2>\n
“Bulimia allowed me to feel acceptance when people would comment on my weight loss”<\/h2>\n
“The biggest barriers to getting help were the fact that I saw nobody like me who had similar experiences”<\/h2>\n
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