Video Transcription

Chantel’s experience with an eating disorder as a trans, non-binary person

Hi, I’m Chantel. I’m non-binary and use they/them pronouns, and an eating disorder looks like me.

My eating disorder and my eating habits were often kind of dismissed because I looked a certain way. It’s just unfair to have to go in to a doctor to talk about concerns surrounding your eating habits, your attitudes towards your body, and to have them take one look at you and deem that you aren’t thin enough to be worthy of help. Your weight and how your body is manifesting and responding to the way in which you’re treating it is not the only qualifier for you to deserve help.

As someone who identifies as trans, non-binary, and gender diverse, it really changes the way in which you engage with your body and it changes the way you experience people receiving your body. It was never about being thin enough or looking a certain way. It was always about trying to escape my body and what it was doing and how it was growing and changing, and how people were receiving it. That’s much the same as my experience with my eating disorder.

So, the idea that an eating disorder has a specific look is a huge misconception that continues to fail people. Humans come from a wide array of different cultures and genders, and to think that we can all be painted with the same brush and be treated the same way because we’re struggling with the same thing is just a fallacy.

Because I was never really able to seek treatment as someone with an eating disorder, I’ve had to really rely on access to information. The more organizations like Butterfly put that information out there, the more people are going to be able to pick up on signs and signals that someone might be struggling with something.

People deserve to feel comfortable in their body, they deserve to have good relationships with food, and they deserve to be able to access the treatment that they need in order to live a full life. Head to butterfly.org.au; they make sure people like me have access to the information they need to get the help that they deserve.

Video by Butterfly Foundation