It's a mental illness, not a body type.

Hello :)
In this post I want to address a slightly more serious issue then that of my previous posts, something that affects me every single day at the moment and millions of others like me around the world and that is a very large stereotype that surrounds the illness of anorexia.

Imagine this. I put two people in front of you. One is a size 0, you can see their rib cage and their hips poke out and they have a thigh gap. The other is a size 20 with stomach rolls etc. and I ask you to tell me which one you think suffers from anorexia. Most people are likely to pick the person who is size 0 with great confidence, because of the stereotype that surrounds this illness.

People tend to view anorexia as a body type i.e. hips poking out, thigh gap, rib cage on show etc. when in fact this is not only very wrong but extremely dangerous. Anorexia is a mental illness, meaning it stems from the mind, which means that no matter what size a person is they can still have anorexia. Someone who weighs over 500lbs can be anorexic and on the flip side just because someone is very skinny, doesn't necessarily mean they have or ever has had anorexia.

As previously said this stereotype is a very dangerous one, as many people who suffer from this illness who don't fit into this stereotype don't have their illness taken as seriously and therefore don't get the care or attention they need and so their illness progresses until eventually they do resemble this awful and life threatening body shape.

Source

This idea that anorexia is body type needs to be banished and fast. It is not possible to be too 'fat' to have an eating disorder. Every case of anorexia should be taken with equal seriousness no matter what the size of the sufferer.

Thank you for reading
and remember it's a mental illness not a body type
B x