Anorexia in men is less common but just as serious as in women. It’s not limited to homosexuals and can be caused by emotional factors, family environment, and participation in sports. Men with anorexia often respond to dissatisfaction with obsessive exercise. Treatment should be sought immediately.
Anorexia in men is much less common than anorexia in women, but it’s just as serious a problem. A common misconception about this disorder is that it occurs mainly in homosexuals, but this is widely considered to be false. You’re more likely to see anorexia in groups of men who value thinness over the crowd, but otherwise anorexia has no cause based on sexual orientation. Like all other manifestations of anorexia, anorexia in men is caused by any number of emotional or experiential factors, but is often related to a specific discrepancy between reality and body image, as well as a need for control that is evident in many other areas of a man’s life.
One of the main causes of anorexia in men is family environment. It’s possible that a predisposition to eating disorders could be genetic, although the much more likely explanation is being around other people who obsessively talk and think about what they eat. So-called fat talk, from both adult men and women, can promote an extremely unhealthy attitude towards a man’s body, even when the talk is not directed at the man.
Another common cause of anorexia in men is participating in sports that involve controlling one’s body weight. This can be part of getting into different weight classes or just staying thin enough to participate. When the control necessary to achieve a specific sport-related goal becomes part of a man’s way of functioning on a more regular basis, the obsession with weight control can manifest itself as anorexia.
People dissatisfied with their bodies are often more open to anorexia, but men often respond to dissatisfaction with obsessive exercise rather than hunger. Anorexia in men depends on the man’s ideal body type being a lean and emaciated appearance rather than the toned standard common in many areas. As such, it is more common to see anorexia in men in communities where being thin and masculine is revered, such as modeling or ballet communities.
In a more general sense, the cause of anorexia in men is always the lack of reasonable control over negative behaviors. The pursuit of perceived perfection through control over eating simply goes too far in a person with anorexia until the person can no longer perceive their original goal and instead seeks only to get thinner until they die. One of the biggest problems with anorexia is that it is a disease that is considered feminine by society, making it extremely difficult for men to seek treatment. A man with anorexia, however, is just as likely to die from the disorder as a woman, and treatment should be obtained immediately.
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