- #1
Was interested in this novel from the premise, but got caught up in the ED discussion in the reviews and wanted to give some insight. I have an ED, so I thought maybe someone might like to hear what someone with it has to say.First off I don't know the other author's intent. Could they be trying to make fun of EDs, I have no idea. I personally don't think that's the case, but I didn;t even read the actual story. If anything the author came off as insensitive and ignorant of EDs. I could see this being hurtful to some people with EDs, even if it's not specifically targeted towards them. I have been hurt by comments and stories about "bad" behaviors similar to my ED, but that's something I know to avoid ya know?Second, is it an ED? Not really. There's some nuance here. It's actually pretty interesting to actually think about. I would consider what has been described at a sort of disordered eating for sure. However eating disorders seem to all have a lack over behaviors and thoughts regarding the eating itself, that I think this situation lacks. From my understanding the character overeats on a performative basis only. And only purges after these performative overeating sessions. With binging in terms of eating disorders, there is a lack of control. There is no intent to overeat. If this were a real world situation it likely wouldn't be diagnosed as an eating disorder. You could maybe put it as an Atypical Bulimia, but that's a bit of a stretch. Again it's hard to say since this isn't a real world case. It's very similar to EDs.Third, the intent seems to be the character is question is a fake. In a way she is acting superior over the other actress with her lie. It's like always saying how you have naturally clear skin to a buncha people who have to worry about breakouts and intense facial treatments daily, when you're secretly on a heavy-duty prescription anti-acne medicine. It's also very 'I'm not like other girls~' coded.In any case... the character is choosing to active damage their body to maintain an image, whether or not you think that should make exposing such a behavior is more mean-spirited than exposing a hypocritical behavior that doesn't actively harm the body.... is up to the reader.TLDR;The ED thing is like exposing to the whole world that someone known for their large breasts secretly pads their bra a ton by pulling out the pads and waving them around. In my opinion as someone with a real world ED, the story does not describe what could be considered an ED. You could say people with EDs were potentially collateral damage however. All in all sounds like a pretty mean thing to expose like that.apologies this just got me thinking and wanted to share my thoughts. I'm a bit of rambler.
