An open invitation to productive conversations about feminism and the spectrum of eating disorders (part 2): Potential contributions to the science of diagnosis, treatment, and prevention

Abstract

The role of feminism in eating disorders research, treatment, and advocacy continues to be debated, with little agreement in sight about the role—or lack thereof—of feminist eating disorders work. In these debates, the opportunity to open fruitful conversations about eating disorders that generate new possibilities for researching, treating, and preventing them is missed. This article is the second in a series of two papers that invite such a discussion. In this article, we focus on five key contributions that feminist eating disorder work has made and can make moving forward. These are contextualizing treatment, attending to lived experiences, expanding the meanings of “sociocultural influences,” diversifying methodologies, and situating recoveries. We do not propose to offer a “final word” on feminisms and eating disorders, but instead to start conversations about how we understand, research, and treat eating disorders.

Eating Disorders: Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis and Management

“…To establish a diagnosis of an eating problem, the should be physically checked and his or her mental state evaluated, all of which should be backed by a complete medical history, family history, and social background. All symptoms must be listed chronologically (Bryant et al, 2022;Ceccarini et al, 2022;LaMarre et al, 2022).…”

A case for re‐conceptualizing the ‘atypical’—A lived experience perspective

“…We will do well by broadening and deepening our current conceptualization, treatment, and eating disorder prevention frameworks to humanize lived/living experience communities, not further medicalize, neglect, or erase them. Critical feminist writings on eating disorders help us here, reminding us to be self-reflexive and aware of complex power structures that implicate us all (LaMarre et al, 2022).…”

“…2. Eating disorders emerge and exist within systems: we need to take an intersectional lens (Burke et al, 2020;LaMarre et al, 2022) in extending and deepening how we conceptualize, identify, prevent and treat them. This beseeches us to recognize the complex interplay of individual (e.g., personal history, genetics), relational (e.g., relationships, social supports) and systemic factors (e.g., gender, race, class).…”

“…As researchers and clinicians who occupy positions of power, it is our duty to ask, listen, and learn. I therefore offer the following recommendations: ‘Atypical’ is a harmful term that should not exist: we must re‐conceptualize our narrow, binarizing weight‐centric definition of anorexia and lived experience voices should be at the forefront of this dialogue (e.g., how we should address physiological changes beyond weight). Eating disorders emerge and exist within systems: we need to take an intersectional lens (Burke et al, 2020; LaMarre et al, 2022) in extending and deepening how we conceptualize, identify, prevent and treat them. This beseeches us to recognize the complex interplay of individual (e.g., personal history, genetics), relational (e.g., relationships, social supports) and systemic factors (e.g., gender, race, class).…”