Orthorexia Nervosa: The Medicalization of Extreme Healthy Eating Practices

Fixsen, Alison; Cheshire, Anna

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-83745-7_7

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 45 publications

(49 reference statements)

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“…The medicalization of ED diagnosis and treatment “is…far more than a clinical act; it is a moral indictment which for the individual themselves alters their self‐definition” (Fixsen & Cheshire, 2022, p. 148). Labeling people with EDs as mentally ill exposes them to stigma and, consequently, influences how people with EDs identify with their behaviors and, subsequently, how they approach their recovery.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Men in online eating disorder recovery spaces: Gendered barriers, content moderation, and narrative experimentation

Strobel,

Lennon

2023

Sociology Compass

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Eating disorders (EDs), once considered solely a women's health problem, have increasingly affected men. Previous research on recovery from addiction has emphasized the importance of narratives, which help provide structure and make sense of events. While narratives are often important for an individual's recovery from hardship, hegemonic narratives can be invalidating and obstacles to wellbeing. The highly gendered nature of ED recovery narratives has posed a barrier to men adopting alternative, more successful narratives, particularly in female‐dominated spaces. This study examines how content moderation policies and enforcement on Tumblr, Reddit, and an ED recovery website shape men's participation in ED recovery support groups dominated by women. We find that high degrees of moderation and censorship limit men's platform participation and narrative experimentation. However, platform rules without active censorship face the same challenges. Instead, narrative experimentation and greater participation from men occur during moderate regulation because they can share their experiences while also being encouraged to find salient aspects of other, healthier narratives. We observed that men were able to break from unhelpful recovery narratives when they could masculinize the suggestions from women with more productive approaches. While past research has shown that men are particularly reliant on hegemonic masculinity when their gender is challenged, we find that phenomenon is part of a more fundamental process of reconciling ideas into one's self‐concept.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Men in online eating disorder recovery spaces: Gendered barriers, content moderation, and narrative experimentation

Strobel,

Lennon

2023

Sociology Compass

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“…A more recent issue for practitioners is the emergence of counter‐cultural communities on ‘pro‐ana’ and ‘pro‐mia’ internet forums 6 . Operating outside of any ‘official’ clinical or medical model, these sites have been variously portrayed as posing a threat to public safety (Christodoulou, 2012), as furthering medicalisation by welcoming members with a broad spectrum of disordered eating patterns (Fixsen & Cheshire, 2022; Fixsen et al., 2020), as platforms for social support (Tong et al., 2013) and as sanctuaries for the abused (Dias, 2003). In the advent of an UK Online Safety Bill, arguments concerning whether (and which elements of) such sites fuel or mirror deviant eating trends require further scrutiny (UK Parliament, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Battles over ‘unruly bodies’: Practitioners’ interpretations of eating disorders and the utility of psychiatric labelling

Fixsen

Ridge

Ponsford

et al. 2022

Sociology Health & Illness

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Our article offers a critical appraisal of psychiatric medical constructions of eating disorders (EDs) by highlighting the complexity of professional discourses, power plays, claims and counterclaims in ongoing struggles over ‘unruly bodies.’ Inductive thematic analysis of data from five studies was undertaken, covering thirty semi‐structured interviews with UK health‐care professionals working in the ED field. Professionals engaged in various struggles over eating disorders, which were compounded by the labelling process itself. Although person‐centredness was valued, encounters with ED patients were frequently framed as outstandingly problematic in terms of treatment resistance, with clients’ unruliness spurred on by ED competitiveness on social media and in‐hospital rivalries. Paradoxically, the labelling of eating disorders created further expectations in terms of achieving specific weight levels and diagnostic labels, reportedly resulting in lay competition over who was sickest, which was mirrored by treatment priorities within an overstretched public health system. Narratives also highlighted interesting tensions between professionals rationalising their work with patients and acknowledging themselves as potentially vulnerable to societal pressures promoting EDs. Arguably, while lay narratives around EDs continue to be framed by authorities as unruly behaviours in deviant individuals, the gap between officially sanctioned and illicit ED discourses will only grow.

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‘You Are Not Alone, We’ve Got You’: Power Plays, Devotion, and Punishment on Healthy Eating and Pro-Eating Disorder Websites

Tragantzopoulou,

Fixsen,

Ridge

et al. 2024

Qual Health Res

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Healthy eating (HE) and pro-eating disorder (pro-ED) websites are popular sources of dietary and weight loss information, social support, and lifestyle inspiration. However, the discursive styles and language used by authors/moderators and users of these two site genres have not been widely studied or compared. Forty-three HE websites and twenty-four pro-ED websites were analysed using Fairclough’s model of critical discourse analysis. Findings indicate that sites share common characteristics in terms of power relations played out by authors, ‘successful’ dieters, and those attending these sites. These power plays encourage moral and spiritual commitment to the care of one’s body, with authoritative language used to support readers’ loyalty and adherence to dietary plans. On HE sites, medicinal properties were attributed to ‘clean’ or ‘pure’ foods, whereas pro-ED sites conveyed their importance for weight reduction. Healthy eating sites were largely entrepreneurial, promoting products or themselves. Pro-eating disorder sites typically featured discussions of bodily disgust, the chastisement of others, and self-discipline in the name of ‘Ana’, such that dieting came to be framed as part of a devotional, often punitive, body project. On both sites, morality discourses were gendered around the thin female body and the ‘ideal mother’, with occasional praise for muscular male bodies. Our findings indicate how transitioning from healthy eating preoccupations to eating disorders may be facilitated by normalising discussions about restrictive dieting and the shaming of bodies, overseen by self-appointed diet ‘experts’ and ‘buddies’ online.

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Orthorexia Nervosa: The Medicalization of Extreme Healthy Eating Practices

Cited by 3 publications

References 45 publications

Men in online eating disorder recovery spaces: Gendered barriers, content moderation, and narrative experimentation

Men in online eating disorder recovery spaces: Gendered barriers, content moderation, and narrative experimentation

Battles over ‘unruly bodies’: Practitioners’ interpretations of eating disorders and the utility of psychiatric labelling

‘You Are Not Alone, We’ve Got You’: Power Plays, Devotion, and Punishment on Healthy Eating and Pro-Eating Disorder Websites

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