Girl 1: “I feel really fat today. Just so bloated.”
Girl 2: “Yeah, I know what you mean. I feel like a balloon that will never deflate.”
Girl 3: “You think that’s bad? I binge ate two cookies today. AND they were double chocolate chip!”
Doubtless we collegiettes have indulged at one point or another in “fat chat” or “body dismorphia” talks in bathrooms, fitting rooms of department stores, in lines to purchase food—heck even in random places like on the bus or at Shooters. Conversations like the one above are so common that they seem to be just normal, healthy expressions of the occasional insecurity. Outlets, if you will. Every girl has partaken of them at some point in her life.
Yet tossing phrases like “I feel fat” or feeling guilty over “binge eating” cookies is anything but a healthy expression of blowing off steam. And what if I told you a surprising number of men suffer from this same unhealthy self-loathing type of battle?
I’m not saying you have an eating disorder if you happen to feel guilty over eating that extra piece of cake. But I am saying that consistently beating yourself up over not maintaining the ‘perfect body’ by hours on the elliptical or by indulging in foods you love can be a slippery-slope that could result in the end destination of acquiring an eating disorder. This goes for guys too. An estimated 10-15% of people with anorexia or bulimia are male, but psychologists suspect many more cases go undiagnosed.* Because eating disorders are “girl diseases,” many guys are embarrassed to ask for help, and what’s worse, many treatment facilities don’t have the capability to treat male eating disorders.* How whack is that?
You probably want to stop reading at this point. I know it makes me uncomfortable to see the facts flashed in my face like that. Besides, eating disorders are rather taboo. We know they exist, but pushing talk about them under the rug is the much easier, simpler option. But for the sake of the boys suffering from these ‘girl diseases’, I am going to push past my personal difficulties in order to raise awareness and garner support.
Jeremy Gillitzer, ex-model, now suffers from anorexia. (Pictured above, pre-diagnosis. I’ve spared you the post-diagnosis picture.) His skin is literally “paper-thin” and his body has essentially no fat. Eating disorders with males can often be scarier than those with females, because men have no genetic need to store some natural fat in preparation for those child-bearing years. Therefore, if they want to lose weight, they can lose until they are quite literally skin and bones. (Still with me? I am cringing as I write this, and I know how difficult this may be to confront. But, I think awareness is the most important thing to keep in mind here. We need to fight for awareness.)
Before losing his battle with anorexia and dying last year, Jeremy wanted to be a voice of awareness for males battling eating disorders. He had this to say: “Males have the same pressure as females, maybe not for looking skinny, but to be ripped and to look muscular… I felt the need to be perfect in my body shape and size and muscles… but it was never good enough.” He wanted to let guys know they are not alone. And though getting treatment may be more difficult, it is not impossible.
A comparison of the psychological profiles of male athletes and those with anorexia found these factors in common: perfectionism, high self-expectations, competitiveness, hyperactivity, repetitive exercise routines, compulsiveness, drive, tendency toward depression, body image distortion, pre-occupation with dieting and weight, etc. *
So what does all of this mean for us collegiettes? What can we do anyway? Well, it seems to me a whole lot of good can stand to be done in the arena of awareness. I’m sure when we hear the word “anorexia” or see a campaign for anti-binge eating we don’t picture guys. As much as talk about eating disorders concerning collegiettes gets swept under the rug, talk about male disorders isn’t even in the room—it’s locked away in the closet. But guys like Jeremy are the beginning of a paradigm shift of expression, one that will hopefully lead to the better diagnosis (and treatment!) of men with eating disorders. And we can help them find their voice. We can help by thinking every once in a while guys may be suffering from body insecurity too. We can help by not representing eating disorders as purely female. And, if the case ever arises, we can help by being there for a friend in need, be they guy or girl.
* information and statistics on male eating disorders was found here: http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/
Photocredits:
Cookie: http://citedatthecrossroads.net/chst404/files/2012/02/no-cookies-natalie…
Jeremy: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_10yYjoTIYE0/SoyUOjE35-I/AAAAAAAAC0o/T7WUtcJK2Eo/s400/Jeremy+Gillitzer+%238.jpg