Work

Making disordered bodies in the context of male eating disorders

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Male eating disorders (MEDs) are increasingly recognised as a significant public health issue in Australia and globally. In this paper, I examine clinicians' accounts to explore how male bodies, particularly those involved in practices such as 'clean' eating, exercise, and muscle building, are enacted as 'disordered' while investigating how lifestyle choices that are often admired or seen as 'healthy' can, in specific clinical contexts, be reframed as problematic. I show how clinicians problematise healthy eating practices, exercising and muscle building as situations that indicate a possible risk. I thus claim that clinicians' interpretations of 'clean' eating and muscle building signs of disorder are part of an evidence-making intervention - a more flexible and creative approach to care Consequently, by unpacking how the disordered male bodies become as such in clinical encounters, this paper concludes that health care delivery for male eating disorders could benefit from greater flexibility while asking whether there is room for a different diagnostic standard in terms of a more relational approach to care.

Source: Social Science & Medicine

DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118250

Author: Piotr Maron

Institutions: University of Exeter, UNSW Sydney, Wellcome Centre of Cultures and Environments of Health

Language: English

Topic: Eating Disorders and Behaviors

Subfield: Clinical Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,800