Homosexual Eating Disorders Research Paper

Throughout society, eating disorders are most commonly associated with heterosexual, young, white teenage girls. In reality, eating disorders are found in people of every gender, race, age, and sexual orientation. Many people forget that men suffer from eating disorders as well. Of the male population, those a part of the LGBT community tend to have more predispositions to developing an eating disorder. Studies have found that gay and bisexual men, especially, had more behavioral symptoms of eating disorders than heterosexual men. One study conducted by Matthew Feldman found that the proportion of gay and bisexual men with behavioral symptoms of eating disorders was 10 times higher than symptoms among heterosexual men (Feldman 218). Approximately
Most studies have found no differences that showed one group to have a significantly higher prevalence for an eating disorder (Feldman 218). In fact, Feldman points out that gay and bisexual women may be less prone to developing an eating disorder (Feldman 219). Many gay and bisexual women do not share the same societal standards of feminine beauty as heterosexual women do. Many studies have been done on this subject, but all seem to have conflicting results. While one study may find that lesbians and bisexual women are less prone to have body dissatisfaction than heterosexual women, another will find that there are no differences between women when it comes to body dissatisfaction. One issue in almost every study is that lesbian women and bisexual women are grouped together, so it is impossible to tell if they differ in their views. This was addressed in another study done that decided to specifically look at bisexual individuals (Davids, Christopher, and Melinda Green 533). They compared levels of body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptoms among bisexual, gay, and heterosexual men, and bisexual, lesbian, and heterosexual women. They collected information on BMI, age, income, and exercise frequency, and many other things. Even when they kept the bisexual, lesbian, and heterosexual women in different groups with the data presented for each
It has been proven that gay and bisexual men are more prone to eating disorders than heterosexual men, but more research needs to be done to treat them effectively. There are a range of causes and each differ from one individual to another. At this point, more research is critical for transgender people. They already feel as though they were born into the wrong body so helping them become comfortable with their body is necessary to help them. Between a shift in cultural and societal expectations of body types and more research, the rate of eating disorders in people across the board could drop