Hashim Badani
Sure December is a time of twinkling lights, tinsel and cake. But from the point of view of someone with or recovering from an eating disorder, the situation can be different. A small and safe gathering of friends and/or family, primarily centred around a heaving table of food could be difficult to navigate and is probably not the joyous celebration it is for everyone else.
Social media has promoted our obsession with appearance, giving a platform to further narratives of the anti-feminist male gaze. Filters, tummy teas, waist trainers are the 21st-century versions of the corset to maintain the distorted view most of us have of our bodies. There are more people with a complicated relationship with food (usually a by-product of other underlying issues) than we think there are. According to a study of school children in India, 26.06 per cent of participants were likely to suffer from eating disorders “due to their abnormal eating attitudes”. Still, large-scale studies and research into eating disorders here are still rare, with conversations about it still on the down-low.