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Eating disorders affect people of all ages, genders, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. However, they may disproportionately affect members of certain groups, such as members of a sexual minority. These groups comprise anyone who does not identify as entirely heterosexual, including people who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual; those who report attractions to people of the same or multiple genders; and individuals who report engaging in sexual contact with people of the same or multiple genders. Unfortunately, most of the eating disorder research to date has focused on heterosexual cisgender white women. Less is known about eating disorders among people with diverse sexual orientations.

It has been widely demonstrated that people who identify as belonging to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender LGBT community have a greater susceptibility to mental health problems including suicide attempts, anxiety and depression 1. They are also specifically at a higher risk of developing eating disorders including anorexia and bulimia 2. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, this may be due to their difficulties around the time of coming out, such as fear of rejection, internalised negative beliefs because of their sexual orientation, problems with discrimination or bullying, discordance between biological sex and gender identity, and homelessness which is more likely to happen to people from the LGBT community 3. But, are there specific risk factors which predispose to eating psychopathology, and are lesbians, gay and transsexual people affected in the same ways? This paper will examine the evidence. It has been known for some time that eating disorders are more common in gay men than in heterosexual men.

Metrics details. According to past research, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender LGBT individuals experience a higher prevalence of psychopathology, which is attributable to the increased stress i. This current literature review examined the empirical literature regarding the rates and types of, and risk factors for eating disorders and disordered eating behaviors in LGBT adults and adolescents, in addition to each individual subgroup i. LGBT adults and adolescents experience greater incidence of eating disorders and disordered eating behaviors than their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts.

Get help now. June 30, Disproving the myth that these illnesses impact only straight, cisgender people, research and personal accounts show that all sexual and gender identities are affected—and sexual and gender minorities perhaps even more so than non-LGBTQ people. It is an umbrella term that represents a group as diverse and varied as non-LGBTQ people, though often treated as a singular group.