Step into my bathroom and you’ll instantly be able to tell it belongs to a girl! I’m not just talking about the co-ordinating products right down to the handwash, but the items I own and need. Make up, body scrub, perfume, tweezers, shampoos and conditioners, moisturiser with a hint of colour (ever optimistic that it will be warm enough to go out with bare legs), and more nail polish than an OPI counter…
Or is it? Yeah ok the pink stuff probably isn’t a guys first choice, and most won’t paint their nails, but times have changed. Stereotypes need to get up to speed. We know you boys have got scrubs and moisturisers, and are borrowing my Vaseline for lip balm!
Magazines and news articles are no different anymore… The glossy pages I flick through tell me about the weight issues of celebrities and put clothes I really want on stick thin models. Magazines for men show taught and toned models, describe the fitness routines of footballers and film stars, and how to achieve the perfect abs.
Whilst magazines and adverts for men approach it in a slightly more practical and tough way, they’re both aiming at the same result aren’t they? Life just doesn’t split into gender specific categories anymore. So why are we still living in the dark ages of stereotypes when it comes to eating disorders?
Eating disorders are typically assumed to be a ‘girl problem’, as we apparently desperately try to be as thin as a supermodel. I think we can all agree here that if you’ve experienced any part of an eating disorder, you know how ridiculous this opinion is.
Eating disorders do not stem from anything specific to the female body. Research suggests that eating disorders are linked to a certain way the brain is made up, making those people at risk. We all have brains! So if you’re reading this and wondering why this happened to you… That’s part of the reason why! It has nothing to do with being weak, vain, or a stupid girl! Feel no shame whoever you are. Recovering can be one of the biggest battles of your life, but also the biggest accomplishment.
Whilst boys/men may only make up approximately 25% of cases, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t more. These are just the documented sufferers, and I can guarantee that there will be many more who are suffering in silence. It doesn’t have to be like this.
It takes real courage to ask for help with an eating disorder, so why does society try and make it even harder? An eating disorder is an illness, just like any other. Is it really important that you speak to someone, or text, or email. Anything, as long as you do it!