Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Millner, Rachel Erin

Titel

The experience of lesbians who have a history of binge eating disorder: A qualitative investigation

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

2004

Link zum Volltext

• ProQuest

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Binge eating disorder is an area of research that has often been neglected (Fairburn & Wilson, 1993) as has research into the lesbian community. The research that has been conducted in the area of eating disorders in the lesbian community has yielded mixed results. Several studies have found that binge eating disorder is more common among lesbians than anorexia or bulimia (Striegel-Moore, Tucker, & Tsu, 1990). Previous research has typically compared lesbians to heterosexual women. This dissertation looks at the unique experiences of lesbian women who have had binge eating disorder in the past and are now in recovery. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 11 women. The data from the interviews was analyzed and findings suggest that lesbians struggle with many of the same issues that heterosexual women struggle with in terms of eating and body image. However, lesbians also face unique issues such as coming out as lesbians and cultural pressures and norms within the lesbian community that are different than those in the heterosexual community. Results are broken up into four major themes and three minor themes that cover areas such as family of origin issues, media, body image, dieting, and weight loss, function of binge eating, and lesbian culture as well as other addictions, other mental health issues, and difficulty with exercise. The perception that being lesbian protects women from developing eating disorders or body image obsession does not appear to be the case. It seems that being socialized as a woman often overrides any protective factors that being lesbian offers. The findings suggest that further research needs to be conducted into the experience of lesbians with binge eating disorder as well as other eating disorders within the lesbian community. After the findings are presented, the implications of the findings are discussed including suggestions for future research.