September 2nd - 8th is eating disorder awareness week in Australia. The Butterfly Foundation website tells us that 27% of people diagnosed with an eating disorder are under the age of 19: adolescents and children. And the Eating Disorders VIC website says that eating disorder diagnoses are overly represented in Indigenous young people, and can occur across cultures and ethnicities. Yet there is no information based on culture or ethnicity for young people, who form almost a third of all ED diagnoses. If you speak with a clinician working with these populations, the chances are high they will have come across and will be actively working with BIPOC young people and adults who experience disordered eating, if not diagnosed eating disorders. And due to the nature of these conditions, which require multi-disciplinary care and treatment from doctors, mental health clinicians, dietitians, nurses, and others, it can be really difficult to identify young people of colour who struggle with disordered eating but fall through the gaps when it comes to diagnosis and support.

And what can this support look like? Often social media posts and factsheets that are created to increase awareness about eating disorders and educate the public state things like “tell people not to comment on your body!” or “gently remind others not to speak about food habits when you are around.” What is so sorely lacking in these well intentioned messages is any actual critical thought about the impact of culture and society on the person, and how cultural responsivity needs to be built into these resources. Have you ever braved a boundary-setting conversation with an apparently well-meaning South Asian Aunty who will shame someone in public for gaining weight, and ask them to eat some more homemade treats in the same breath? Clearly the people designing these resources haven’t.