Article on Beat and Stigma

As a magazine journalism student, I often try to write about eating disorders and Beat as so often they are misrepresented in the media.

Here is my first of many:

As a Beat ambassador, I have talked to the government and the media about my anorexia, which has had positive effects on the representation of eating disorders. Yet with the size zero debate and skinny celebrities, it’s not surprising that 78% of people still say they have experienced stigma as a result of their or their family member’s eating disorder.
As Beat celebrates it’s 21st birthday, why is there still so much stigma surrounding this mental health illness?

Beat, like many charities, is generally only known to those who are suffering or have suffered from an eating disorder.

Whenever I tell anyone who I am doing charity work for, their first question is often ‘who is Beat?’

Although Beat had it’s most successful awareness week yet this year, with extensive media coverage, the sad fact is people don’t want to talk about eating disorders. From my own experience eating disorders are very much a ‘hush-hush’ subject, just like cancer was some twenty years ago.

A survey carried out by Beaufort Research and Beat highlights the fact that not many people understand what an eating disorder actually is. The majority of people believed that eating disorders are a lifestyle choice and a quarter think that people only get eating disorders because they want to lose weight. Only one in five people believe that eating disorders are a mental health issue.

This year, Beat launched a new project in Wales, Beat Cymru. This is a five year, Big Lottery funded project dedicated to improve support and information for people affected by eating disorders in Wales.

There are currently over 50,000 people in Wales who are suffering from an eating disorder. Beat Cymru will provide self-help support groups across Wales and campaign to challenge the stigma that many people affected by an eating disorder face.

Susan Ringwood is Beat’s Chief Executive. She has worked there since the charity first began and was called the Eating Disorders Association. “Beat is determined to challenge the stigma that many people affected by eating disorders in Wales feel. It is vital that people understand how serious an eating disorder is and where they can get help and support of they are ill,” said Susan.

Eating disorders are presented by the media as diet fads or as something that only celebrities get, in their pulsing desire to be as thin as possible. They don’t realise these are life threatening illnesses. Bulimics often die of a heart attack, after the strain of constant purging. Anorexics either die from starvation or a heart attack, after their heart tissue starts to eat itself.

Anorexia is the most recognized eating disorder among society, but actually it is the least common of the illnesses. Other types are bulimia (the act of bingeing and then purging), binge eating (like bulimia but without purging) and EDNOS (eating disorders not otherwise specified – these often have traits of all the disorders, making it hard to diagnose). Nevertheless, anorexia has the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses

An eating disorder is not glamorous nor will it give you a fantastic life. Eating disorders are cold, lonely and controlling. The teeth of bulimics erode from the acid in vomit. Hamster style cheeks and hollow eyes are a feature of a bulimic’s appearance. Sometimes they relax their throat muscles too much, that the slightest movement can make them be sick. Anorexics develop osteoporosis from lack of calcium as well as become infertile after the loss of periods. Their brain shrinks and they grow light hairs all over the body in attempt to keep warm.

Pro-ana websites have also given eating disorders bad press. Wanna-rexics promote anorexia as a life style choice, with diet tips, thinspiration quotes and photos on their sites. They highlight the myth that people choose to be anorexic. This is not the case.

I wouldn’t wish anorexia on anybody. At times it felt like there was no way out. My illness wanted me dead.

Many eating disorder sufferers recall having a voice, which encouraged them to lose weight, to purge, to over exercise even when they didn’t want to. For me, it got to the point that I couldn’t hear anybody else, except anorexia. She would shout, scream and cuss at me. She would say I was worthless, I was ugly and I was fat. I believed her and I thought by becoming so thin I was invisible, my life would be better.

Susan adds that the stigma surrounding eating disorders, as well as all mental illnesses, needs to be stopped. The question is how? When high street stores won’t stock Beat’s charity badges, when GPs don’t even understand eating disorders, when the media sensationalizes recovery stories by printing photos of sufferers at their lowest weight and when the general public call people with mental illnesses “crazy” and “freaks”, a lot needs to be changed.

Beat, along with it’s dedicated team of young ambassadors, are hoping to tackle the myths surrounding eating disorders as well as fighting stigma. Their first step this year was to produce The Beat Manifesto, asking the next government to take five practical steps to improve “treatment, understanding and support for people affected by eating disorders.”

Beat has asked it’s ambassadors and members to support the manifesto. They want people to tell them how they can do more, “drive the change and continue in” their “mission to beat eating disorders.”

With girls as young as eight are developing eating disorders, the media has a vital role to play to help out. If magazines celebrated different types of body shapes, perhaps less girls and women would feel dissatisfied with their bodies.

Positively, more curvy models are being booked in the fashion world. Perhaps journalists, stylists and designers are changing their views towards size zero. Yet there is still a long way to go.

As Susan rightly points out, “eating disorders are not about magazine headlines.” Journalists tend to focus on the low weight of a sufferer, demanding photos of them at their lowest rather than explaining the damage and distress caused.

To celebrate their 21st birthday, the charity is holding various events, including an exhibition of photographs and memoirs looking back at the past 21 years of Beat. It was launched during Eating Disorders Awareness Week but will tour many venues during the year.

A special memorial service is being held on the 28th September at Southwark Cathedral to remember those who have lost their lives to eating disorders.

There has been progress of raising awareness, especially within the media. Perhaps it needs to be accepted that fighting all stigma is going to take time. Last year, Beat received over 500 requests from national and international media. Famous people are starting to feel comfortable enough to reveal past eating disorders too. John Prescott, former Deputy Prime Minister, admitted to a personal battle with bulimia which in turn resulted in a tenfold increase in men calling the helplines. By people willing to talk about their experience, more people pluck up the courage to seek help.

Hollyoaks began an anorexia storyline in 2007. The storyline’s main character, Hannah, is still battling her eating disorder, showing successfully that recovery can take years. Scriptwriters worked closely with Beat and its members and have been praised for its “realistic and provocative coverage of mental health issues.” It is also the first TV programme to feature a fatality from anorexia.

One scriptwriter on Hollyoaks said, “I’m really glad to have worked with Beat on the eating disorders storyline. It’s opened my eyes to something I had a very fuzzy understanding of.”

Working closely with the media will provide better coverage and awareness, especially in targeting younger people.

I hope we don’t have to wait another 21 years until no one is ashamed of having an eating disorder.