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Chris Kraatz, Ph.D. Senior Lecturer in Philosophy Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis
abstract
My hope is to convince you of two main points. The first point is that while there really are important differences in how men and women experience illness and recovery, these differences become explainable against the backdrop of a larger picture in which all eating disordered people are brought into consideration; our similarities help us to understand our differences. The second point is that once we examine this larger picture we are inevitably forced to consider eating disorders (and the ways that they appear to affect groups differently) as more than just medical issues, eating disorders are essentially matters of social justice.
If it is indeed the case that eating disorders prevalence is greater among some groups than others, how exactly should we understand what this means? A careful examination of the groups in which we find increased prevalence is revealing in this regard. For example, it is common knowledge that women suffer more from eating disorders than men do. It is also strongly suggested in the current literature that prevalence among gay men is significantly higher than it is among heterosexual men. Moreover, it is very well documented that one’s likelihood of becoming “obese” as a result of binge eating disorder increases greatly the less affluent one is. Upon careful examination, it appears that groups that are socially disadvantaged, disempowered, oppressed, or widely discriminated against, tend to have a much higher prevalence of eating disorders.
I call this a “tendency” because there has been very little research along these lines. One thing that is clear now, however, is that a careful interrogation of the ways in which eating disorders affect different groups is important. It’s certainly important from the standpoint of learning how to treat people and return them to good health, and it may also be important in that it sheds some light on relations between groups more generally and how they might become more or less balanced and fair.
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