Binge Eating Disorder and Fatphobia: Social Stigma, Exclusion, and the Need for a New Perspective on Health
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Design and Method
- Participant Recruitment and Sample
- 2.
- Data Collection
- 3.
- Data Analysis
3. Sample and Participant Selection
4. Data Collection Method
5. Gender Bias in the Sample
- Higher representation of women in BED-related support and awareness spaces, making them more accessible as participants;
- Greater willingness among women to participate in research on eating disorders and mental health, a trend previously identified in the literature;
- Despite this limitation, the findings offer valuable insights into the lived experiences of individuals with BED, contributing to future research that could expand the sample’s gender diversity.
6. Fieldwork and Data Analysis
- The discourse analysis of the participants’ responses followed a structured multi-phase process [23];
- Transcription of the focus groups was carried out;
- The research team conducted multiple readings of the transcriptions to extract the most significant meaning units from the discourse;
- The extracted meaning units were then grouped into thematic dimensions and categories, ensuring coherence between responses. The coding process was conducted by two researchers with advanced training in qualitative research methods, particularly in discourse analysis and grounded theory. Both independently coded the transcripts and then met to compare and discuss their coding. Discrepancies were resolved through discussion and consensus;
- Finally, a thematic interpretation of the findings was performed to generate insights.
7. Ethical Considerations
8. Results
9. Emerging Themes from the Analysis
10. Awareness of Binge Eating Disorder
- (a)
- Discovery
“I remember compulsively eating chocolate when I was around 12. We didn’t have it at home, so I would buy it myself and eat it in secret. I could eat two whole chocolate bars by myself, and I remember feeling really, really small. I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t know what to call it. I knew eating in secret was bad and meant lying, but it was my secret.”(P1)
“I think I was around seven years old when I first remember it happening. It was during a family meal. I remember it so clearly because my mom scolded me for taking food from everyone’s plates and eating too fast. My mom, poor thing, was just trying to correct me, but from that moment on, I understood that I couldn’t eat like that. And since then—imagine, since then—I feel ashamed and hide when I eat around people who are not my family.”(P12)
- (b) Coping Mechanisms
- Lack of Information
“I felt like I couldn’t control my eating, but of course, I didn’t vomit, so it wasn’t bulimia. And that reassured me because I didn’t have the ‘popular’ problem that my classmates talked about. I was healthy—just fat (laughs). But I didn’t have what they discussed in class, what my friends or the TV talked about. No anorexia, no bulimia.”(P2)
“I was always the glutton, the big eater in my family, nothing more. And actually, they still see me that way. They have all these funny memories about me and my eating, and when they talk about it, they laugh. But they have no idea about the hell behind it…”(P10)
- 2.
- Minimization of the Problem
“I started reading about this online, but not long ago—maybe three or four years ago. I thought, ‘Could I have this?’ But then I would stop looking and just try more diets. I’ve tried a thousand diets, convinced that I just needed willpower. Until I realized that this shit doesn’t work like that—it’s not about me being weak or lacking willpower. That’s when I knew I needed to see a psychologist.”(P4)
- 3.
- Consequences of BED on Individuals’ Lives
- (a)
- Personal Consequences
“From the moment I wake up, I think about food: ‘Today I’m going to do it right.’ I think that’s the sentence I repeat the most. But as the day goes on, if I slip up—if I eat something I wasn’t supposed to—I spiral. And then I start berating myself. Hating myself. Hating myself and punishing myself.”(P9)
“Since I was little, I’ve thought things like, ‘I’ll be happy when I lose weight,’ ‘I’ll be desirable when I weigh less,’ or ‘They don’t like me because I’m fat.’ Over time, I realized that all my worth depended on my weight—or at least, that’s what I believed. So, I’ve always felt like I was worth nothing because I could never be thin. I felt incapable.”(P11)
“For a while, I just accepted binge eating as normal. So, I had to do things to avoid gaining weight. Why do you think I became so good at my sport? Because I trained like an animal. If I couldn’t control my eating, at least I could control my sacrifices in other areas. And that’s how I’ve managed my weight all this time.”(P10)
“I’ve done extreme diets, gone days without eating. But I think that only led to more binge eating. I’ve done crazy things—even taken laxatives after stuffing myself. But over time, I realized that none of it worked. Extreme diets, fasting—nothing stopped the binges.”(P6)
- (b) Family Consequences
“I know it must be exhausting to be with me. Especially when I cancel plans because I feel bad, ugly, fat—or when I get scared of eating in front of people who might judge me. And my partner stays with me. Sometimes they get frustrated, and they’re losing patience. It’s normal. I don’t know…”(P7)
“I have never let my partner see me naked. We’ve been together for seven years. And it weighs on both of us—I know it does—even if we never talk about it.”(P8)
- (c) Social Consequences
“A bad body image day can make me stay home instead of going out with my friends. And eventually, they get tired of me. So, when I finally feel like going out, no one invites me anymore.”(P3)
“I don’t go to pools in the summer. I feel too fat, too heavy, too disgusting. I haven’t set foot on a beach in years, even though I used to love it. I don’t even wear short sleeves or shorts. I just wear black…”(P6)
- 4.
- Implications of Societal Unawareness of Binge Eating Disorder
- (a)
- Stereotypes
- 1.
- The Myth of the “Carefree and Happy Overweight Person”
“My brother—my own brother!—once told me that I didn’t care about anything, that I would eat whatever I wanted, and that he admired me for not caring about being fat. That really broke me.”(P12)
- 2.
- The Myth That People with BED Are Overweight by Choice
“The most common thing I hear is, ‘You just need to stop eating so much and have more willpower.’ I don’t blame them because I used to think the same thing before therapy. But it’s exhausting and frustrating to hear it over and over from people who don’t understand this disorder.”(P2)
- (b) Stigmatization
“I was so embarrassed when I started a new gym and everyone clapped for me after I did an exercise I find easy. They assumed that, because I’m fat, I wouldn’t be able to do it. I won’t go back. Going to the gym was already a challenge for me, and this just made it worse.”(P7)
11. Discussion and Conclusions
12. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
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Participant (P) | Age | Sex | Year of Diagnosis | Approximate Age of BED Onset |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 26 | M | 2022 | 12 |
2 | 27 | M | 2023 | 14 |
3 | 29 | M | 2023 | 16 |
4 | 31 | M | 2023 | 10 |
5 | 32 | M | 2022 | 13 |
6 | 32 | M | 2022 | 20 |
7 | 34 | M | 2023 | 25 |
8 | 35 | M | 2023 | 10 |
9 | 37 | M | 2023 | 12 |
10 | 42 | H | 2022 | 35 |
11 | 45 | M | 2023 | 13 |
12 | 47 | H | 2022 | 7 |
Questions |
---|
Since when have you had binge eating disorder (BED)? |
At what point did you become aware that you had BED? |
Does BED have implications in your daily life? |
Does the lack of social awareness about BED affect your personal experiences? |
Dimensions | Subdimensions |
---|---|
Awareness of having BED | Discovery |
Coping | |
Consequences of BED (on individuals’ lives) | Individual impact |
Family impact | |
Social impact | |
Implications of limited societal understanding of BED | Stereotypes |
Stigmatization |
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© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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Ainz-Galende, A.; Torres-Haro, M.J.; Rodríguez-Puertas, R. Binge Eating Disorder and Fatphobia: Social Stigma, Exclusion, and the Need for a New Perspective on Health. Societies 2025, 15, 115. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc15050115
Ainz-Galende A, Torres-Haro MJ, Rodríguez-Puertas R. Binge Eating Disorder and Fatphobia: Social Stigma, Exclusion, and the Need for a New Perspective on Health. Societies. 2025; 15(5):115. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc15050115
Chicago/Turabian StyleAinz-Galende, Alexandra, María José Torres-Haro, and Rubén Rodríguez-Puertas. 2025. "Binge Eating Disorder and Fatphobia: Social Stigma, Exclusion, and the Need for a New Perspective on Health" Societies 15, no. 5: 115. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc15050115
APA StyleAinz-Galende, A., Torres-Haro, M. J., & Rodríguez-Puertas, R. (2025). Binge Eating Disorder and Fatphobia: Social Stigma, Exclusion, and the Need for a New Perspective on Health. Societies, 15(5), 115. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc15050115