http://scophy.com/2007/10/23/art-tuesdays-shirtless-flash-mob/

http://www.theskinofmyteeth.com

David B.

Sound like it isn’t just men who judge people by their bodies.

Looking Queer is a great anthology about body image in the various queer communities. I thought it was really intriguing to read all the different takes on body image, from people all over the spectrum in terms of to what extent they aspired to be just like the societal ideals of a perfect masculine or feminine body.

It’s also really intriguing to hear the stories of folks (queer and not…) who have eating disorders that about things entirely unrelated to looking a certain way or being influenced by media portrayals. There’s one particular essay in Looking Queer that really spoke to me, in which a lesbian-identified female with an eating disorder talks about feeling shut out from both sides; she describes how the eating disorder literature and support networks are focused on women whose eating disorders are tied into looking like a model and competing with other (straight and/or femme) women, which she feels isn’t really what her eating disorder is about. Yet on the other side of this, she lives with a bunch of body-positive feminists who send her the message that she should be somehow “above” having an eating disorder, as if they’re equating all eating disorders with being the same thing as the dieting behavior seen in females who believe that all females need to be thin and passive and all that. The book also talks about the experiences of gay males dealing with body image issues all over the spectrum, as well as trans and gender nonconforming folks. It’s one of the only things I’ve found that really addresses eating disorders in queer folks this dynamically. There’s hardly any clinical literature though, unfortunately. Anyone else have any good reads on the topic?