Content Warning: This article contains themes of eating disorders which some readers may find distressing

In a recent episode of the Jeremy Vine show, which was debating whether to bring scales into supermarkets, journalist Ash Sarkar declared that she ‘wasn’t skinough to be anorexic’ whilst discussing her previous negative attitudes towards food. nny eThis is a clear example of the damaging and closed-minded societal beliefstowards eating disorder symptoms. It suggests that you must look a certain way in order to claim that you are suffering from an eating disorder, a seemingly detrimental view.

Throughout this section of the show, Sarkar made many worrying statements about her experiences. She stated that she would ‘test [her]self to see how long [she] could go without eating’. She also recounted that she wouldn’t eat until she was ‘dizzy’, had ‘a difficulty when it came to wanting to eat’ and would ‘obsessively weigh’ herself, whilst still believing that she wasn’t suffering from anorexia because she ‘wasn’t skinny enough’. This idea that one must be ‘skinny’ to be experiencing an eating disorder is a dangerous and unhelpful belief which is permeated throughout society.

The National Eating Disorders (NEDA) website acknowledges these widespread beliefs and demonstrates the negative impact they have on those who are suffering. The consensus is that those with eating disorders must be emaciated, and therefore you can tell if they are experiencing one just by looking at their appearance, a worrying idea that is reinforced by social media.

However, this is certainly not the case. The NEDA state on their website that ‘most people with an eating disorder are not underweight’ and this myth that they are ‘perpetuate[s] the problem and may cause distress in eating disorder sufferers for fear of not being… “sick enough” to be suffering from the disorder, and therefore are less likely to seek much-needed treatment. The association also affirms that sufferers of the illness can also gain weight, illustrating that you simply cannot tell if someone has an eating disorder by solely considering their appearance.

This assumption that you need to be ‘skinny’ in order to have your experience validated can result in people not noticing that their loved ones are anorexic because they appear to be a healthy weight. It also tells those who do struggle with food that they aren’t worthy of help, because they aren’t bad enough, resulting in a downward spiral and an ever-increasing negative relationship with food. This view is very condescending and belittles the alarming mental outset of those with the illness. 

According to the Oxford Dictionary definition for the eating disorder, anorexia is a ‘lack or loss of appetite for food’ and ‘an emotional disorder characterized by an obsessive desire to lose weight by refusing to eat’. Whilst the definition states that those experiencing anorexia want to lose weight, it doesn’t mention that you have to be physically slim to be anorexic. The charity Beat Eating Disorders also mentions on their website that those with the disorder ‘may remain at a weight considered “normal” for their age, sex, and expected development’, further supporting that Sarkar’s claim is misplaced. A large proportion of the population are uneducated on the issue and so aid the spreading of these harmful beliefs. This issue needs to be addressed in order to make the diagnosis process less daunting and seemingly judgemental.

By enforcing such views, society is essentially telling those who are not deemed ‘skinny enough’ that their condition is not treatment-worthy. This can only result in exacerbating the eating disorder epidemic, as those in need of treatment fail to address it themselves, let alone professionally.

If you have been affected by the issues raised in this article, the following organisations can be contacted for guidance and support: www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/ or email beat@guild.bham.ac.uk