Over the last thirty years or so, eating disorders have received increased attention both clinically and in the mainstream media. The apparent surge in diagnosing eating disorders has long been blamed on unrealistic social pressures, media representations equating body type and attractiveness, however, the effect on males has gone largely unnoticed until recently. A paper published in the journal Eating Disorders in 2012 offers some useful insight into the problematic gender disparities for men who have eating disorders. 

In the paper “Eating Disorders in Men: Underdiagnosed, Undertreated, and Misunderstood” by Strother, Lemberg, Stanford, and Turberville several issues that are unique to males with eating disorders. In order to address the issues specific to men, the authors propose several key topics which are notably relevant in these patients. First, understanding the patient’s weight history is presented because the research has indicated men who develop eating disorders were often overweight at one time in their life, unlike women with eating disorders who often have normal weight histories. Weight concerns for men are often associated with avoiding health problems experienced by their fathers or athletic achievement, unlike the goals of “achieving thinness” in females.