Why do you think there is a stigma surrounding boys with unhealthy eating habits?
Whenever mental illnesses like anorexia and bulimia are discussed everyone's thinking about females only, and binge eating in boys is seen as a normal thing in our culture.
my mother used to say only gays had eating disorders back when I was a teenager
I think I've started to suffer from bulimia some months ago, thanks God I was able to overcome it
I think that's how society thinks tho
bulimia/anorexia = girls or gays
most boys who suffer from those things are too ashamed to tell anyone
at least 33.5% of adult american men (20 and up) had eating disorders back in 2012
there isn't a stigma because its become the norm
This needs to stop!
Also, the connotations of it being a "female" disease means that men are seen as weak/lesser if they develop an eating disorder. Masculinity is so fragile.
People think that males do not struggle with poor self image or low self esteem. That is seen primarily as a female problem. Males with eating disorders are also more afraid to ask for help out of fear of being laughed at or told to man up and quit being a sissy. It's quite sad that they feel like they cannot talk about their self hate issues. Sometimes I think that my brother has an eating disorder. When he was younger he would only eat apple sauce and crackers, and even now whenever I go out to eat with him he'll get like a thing of french fries and eat less than half of them. I hope he's just a picky eater.
Girls are more open to talk about disorders like these compared to boys. (This is true for most mental illness as well).
Having an eating disorder is usually down to people having low self-esteem issues which boys don't feel comfortable talking about because of how our society expects them to "act like men" and not to ever appear weak.
If boys don't start talking about it, the stigma surrounding it will continue on which is really sad. More boys nowadays feel comfortable now talking about these kind of issues but not enough.
A lot of people think males do not have emotional feelings or self esteem issues when a LOT of males suffer from anorexia/bulimia/and BED.
Except men their self esteem issues don't involve reducing food intake or whatever eating disorders are. Men tend to resort to substance abuse not this crap.
I don't understand why it's so taboo for a boy to have an eating disorder. I know first hand that this isn't something that should be taken lightly or to be assumed is only for females.
