Breaking the silence: Eating disorders in black women
{image credit :: ChrisCofer}
While Kerry Washington’s history of an eating disorder may seem to make her live up to the stereotype of the young Hollywood actress, it also shatters that of the powerful black woman.
The critically acclaimed star of Ray and The Last King of Scotland has talked candidly about her struggles with her body and food. In one interview, Washington revealed the ways in which her eating disorder kept her locked into an agonizing cycle.
She recalled, “I’d eat anything and everything, Sometimes until I passed out. But then, because I had this personality that was driven toward perfectionism, I would tell people I was at the library, but instead go to the gym and exercise for hours and hours and hours.”
Washington’s sharing of the details of her battle with a food obsession is, unfortunately, a rare exception. While memoirs and media spotlights of young, white women with eating disorders are seen with increasing frequency, portrayals of black women who struggle are harder to find.
The notion of eating disorders as only affecting affluent, Caucasian women is undergoing a revolution as we recognize how these illnesses impact all sectors of society. Black women are accounting for a larger proportion of those seeking treatment for disordered eating.
Like in other diverse communities, eating disorders in black communities often go unrecognized. Marna Clowney-Robinson, an eating disorder survivor, recalled, “Within my family I don’t think they actually saw it as a eating disorder. I am one out of six siblings and we all use food as a way of coping with stresses and stressful situations that came up in our lives at the time. What I was doing was pretty much normal with my siblings. So to us it was normal behavior.”
Clowney-Robinson’s experience is unfortunately common. In black communities, food often takes on seemingly sacred qualities and is used to demonstrate a range of emotions in families. Since food is often used as a means of communicating things deeply felt, it’s easy for a disorder to develop.
In fact, a 2000 study by Ruth Striegel-Moore and her colleagues suggested that recurrent binge eating, which is part of both Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder, is actually more common in black women than in white women.
The lack of awareness of eating disorders in diverse populations jeopardizes the treatment of these individuals. Without recognition, research funding is extremely limited and disorders go untreated for too long. When our health care system and communities already fail to acknowledge the seriousness of these illnesses, further ignorance is deadly.
Stephanie Covington Armstrong offers a compelling look inside her own eating disorder in a memoir, Not All Black Girls Know How to Eat, that shatters the notion of the “rich, white girl disease.” She notes that the black women are underrepresented in the statistics, “Because we don’t flock to traditional therapy, we are not counted.”
Like Washington and Clowney-Robinson, Armstrong is determined to make sure that eating disorders in the black community don’t go unnoticed. She said, “It is the silence that makes this disease possible. “
Do you think that eating disorders are under-represented in some communities? How have you witnessed this?
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[...] Dr. Ashley Soloman of Nourishing the Soul takes a moment to remind us that eating disorders affect us across lines of race and culture in her post about eating disorders among black women. [...]
Autumn
606 days ago
Heh, I saw this as I took a break from writing an article about the exact same problem with Native American women. (Dr. Striegel-Moore published a study earlier this year about American Indian binge eating.) It’s high time that eating disorders stopped being seen as a “white girl problem.” It ties into larger issues about EDs and visibility, like how binge eating isn’t what most people think of with EDs, and how many assume that ED patients look a certain way.
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Kat
606 days ago
I actually wonder if this goes back to “typical” eating disorder portrayal which is of a white female – before you go “well, that’s very un-novel” – let me elaborate. This portrayal could cause some to believe that they don’t in fact have an eating disorder, because they don’t fit that stereotype. I have found in my personal experience that medical professionals even tend to rely heavily on that typical picture that pops into your head. It’s not that minorities (which in the world of eating disorders could include males) do not suffer, but rather that they’re just under-diagnosed.
I also read an amazing article awhile back (for my gender across cultures course) that discussed how body image ideals differ from different cultures and among different ethnic groups which impacts *which* eating disorder a person might be inclined to develop. BED, COE, and bulimia were the most common to be affiliated with body image ideals and pressures of African Americans and Latinas. Two races that traditionally have valued curvier women. BED and COE are also two eating disorders that tend to go undiagnosed more easily.
(sorry for the lengthy reply)
Here’s one of the articles I read whilst researching for a paper in that course that relates: Cultural body shape ideals and eating disorder symptoms among White, Latina, and Black college women.
Sarah
606 days ago
Eating disordes are a general problem not only for a specif communitie, but in general.
It’s a 21st century disease…
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Julia H. @ The Petite Spiel
606 days ago
Great post. This highlights just another way that eating disorders are misunderstood.
Hannah
604 days ago
This is so important! Though I am your typical young white female who has a history of ED, in my psychology of adolescence class last semester we talked about the same phenomenon: how women of all ethnic backgrounds have histories of eating disorders, and it is sad that these people are not represented or supported in the medical community. Thank you for spreading awareness about this!
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Jen
599 days ago
As a Mexican-American in recovery from bulimia, I think articles like these are incredibly important, not only from a cultural perspective but also from a medical/treatment perspective. How are we going to receive treatment as people of color, without acknowledgement that we need it to begin with? Our histories need to be shared too to provide more well-rounded treatment models that help all individuals with eating disorders.
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Tiffany
597 days ago
I don’t know how I missed this post, but I’m glad I found it! Thanks so much for writing it. As a black woman with an eating disorder I can tell you that it is rarely diagnosed and never discussed. Overeating, binging, bulimia, anorexia, and fat talk exist in ALL races and sexes.
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Spinsterlicious
596 days ago
Certain eating disorders –anorexia and bulimia–are under-represented among black women but severe over-eating is also an eating disorder…and not at all uncommon in this community. Any unhealthy relationship with food needs the spotlight.
-The Spinsterlicious Life
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Anna
590 days ago
Eating disorders are a big problem today but not many people understand the truth of it all. I have tried to explain some myths and misconceptions on my new blog – http://mythinspirationblog.com
Anna x
MartineJB
579 days ago
It’s amazing to hear about Eating Disorders. I do understand the psychological point of view. However from a moral and social standpoint, it does not make any sense. So many people in the world are going hungry, with no food to eat, no clean water. Meanwhile others who easily can find these basic nessecities are just wasting them.
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jean
564 days ago
Eating disorder is a psychological problem faced by people who has the access to all those necessities, don’t you agree? I really think of it because, how can a poor person choose what to eat or eat too much, right?
eating disorders
452 days ago
Yes, You are truly right because black women especially in the African countries are real example of the sufferers among black women.
They are prone to eating disorders mainly because of lack proper food.