The Emergence of (Male) Eating Disorders as a Clinical Entity

Psychiatric and psychological research has confirmed that less than 1% of the research on eating disorders is focused on males. However, for the first time, the occurrence of eating disorders is reportedly growing faster among the male population. Nevertheless, men still are more likely to stay undiagnosed. This paper bridges this gap and offers an analysis of male eating disorders (MEDs) and particularly drawing from a feminist technoscience perspective, it examines how male eating disorders are made up in clinical practices and encounters. Specifically, in this paper, I investigate the different ways by which male eating disorders emerge as a situated matter of concern and object of clinical care. In other words, I explore the 'making present' of the male and maleness in the clinical practices treating eating disorders in the Australian healthcare system. Based on the data from 25 semi-structured, qualitative interviews with clinicians, the paper draws out how care in relation to eating disorders is organised and, specifically, how the enactment of a female/male binary mobilised in clinicians' accounts of clinical practices may act to constrain care. Finally, I demonstrate how care practices could attend to male eating disorders differently in a more sensitive and intersectional way.