No abstract

The collective trauma of COVID-19 has had a negative impact on people’s experiences of their bodies and eating, as demonstrated by studies showing increased disordered eating and body dissatisfaction during this time. The pandemic has also been shown to have had a unique and disproportionate impact on transgender and gender nonbinary (TGNB) individuals (e.g., lost gender affirming care access, elevated levels of job loss). Given that TGNB individuals already face increased risk of body distress and disordered eating compared to cisgender individuals in a nonpandemic context and have been disproportionately impacted by contextual changes with COVID-19, it is likely that the pandemic has had a distinct impact on TGNB individuals’ experiences of body and eating distress. The present study aims to understand these impacts through an inductive, reflexive thematic qualitative approach. Participants were 13 TGNB individuals (10/13 gender nonbinary/gender queer; 8/13 White). They completed semistructured audio interviews about their broad experiences of body and eating during COVID-19, as well as how they understood changes across domains of family, community, access to resources, and intersectional identities interacting with these experiences. Themes included (a) Losing Affirming Spaces and Security, (b) Gaining Affirming and Supportive Spaces Online, (c) Reflecting on Embodied Gender and Identities, (d) Realizing New Connections and Insights, and (e) Considering the Self in Social Context. Notably, each of these themes interacted with participants’ self-reported experiences of body and eating distress and, in some cases, healing. Our results illuminate risk and resilience factors and areas requiring innovation during and after COVID-19.

The authors piloted a weight stigma psychotherapy group at an eating disorder partial hospitalization (PHP) and intensive outpatient program (IOP). This was an optional, transdiagnostic eating disorder group for patients with past/present weight stigma experiences related to being in large bodies. A total of 36 individuals participated in the weekly group from June 2018 to June 2019 during their PHP/IOP episode of care. We present the group’s overarching framework of destigmatizing language and intersectional discussions of weight stigma. We also discuss clinical processes that unfolded during this group including simulated dialog from the group. Finally, we present relevant client quotes that provide preliminary support for future exploration in this area, as client subjective experiences of the group were positive. Our preliminary pilot experience suggests that delivering a group of this nature in a PHP/IOP eating disorder treatment setting is feasible and that further work is needed to build upon this antiweight stigma framework as a critical piece of eating disorder treatment.

While a range of studies have shown the negative impact of COVID-19 on disordered eating and body image, few have engaged with how identity and social context interact with these domains. The current study used inductive codebook thematic analysis to understand experiences of body and eating during the pandemic among a diverse (sub)clinical sample of individuals with self-reported disordered eating. We interviewed 31 cisgender participants (18/31 Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC), 24/31 women) with a history of disordered eating (diagnosed and undiagnosed). Five themes were identified: Body Surveillance and Dissatisfaction, Movement and Intake Fixation, Food Scarcity and Resource Concerns, Changes in Visibility of Body and Eating, and Bodies Are Vulnerable. We examined the extent to which themes pertained to certain identities over others. Notably, BIPOC, large-bodied, queer participants more commonly spoke to body vulnerability than White, small/medium-bodied, straight participants. BIPOC and large-bodied participants also particularly spoke to feeling relief from discrimination as social distancing and mask wearing reduced their public visibility. Participants related these themes to changed body and eating experiences that spanned distress and resilience. Our analysis offers insight into multifaceted and contextual impacts of COVID-19 on experiences of body, eating, and identity.

This article examines how individuals proximate to online body justice communities utilized and experienced social media during COVID-19. The majority of research during the pandemic has been quantitative and survey-based; it has also tended to center (dis)information spread or mental health concerns. Our qualitative interviews with 44 individuals offer nuanced insights into what social media meant to people during quarantine, how they used it, and how they reflected on their experience of it. Five major themes emerged through reflexive, thematic analysis of the interview data: changed temporal rhythms, influx of toxic content, resource building, additive and subtractive actions, and algorithmic awareness. Some participants described social media as an increasingly harmful influence in their lives during the pandemic due to compulsive usage and exposure to “toxic content” like misinformation, weight stigma, and homophobia. At the same time, participants noted how social media positively enabled social connection, education, and activation around social justice. Across both of these extremes, many elaborated on the intensive, self-reflective labor of cultivating their accounts so that they mirrored their identities and the kinds of experiences they wanted to have online while preventing the infiltration of unwanted content. In addition to offering new insights into social media usage in body justice communities during COVID-19, our data suggest alternative ways of understanding how individuals manage their experience of social media, curate their social media feeds through additive and subtractive actions, and frequently reflect on how their choices interact with platform algorithms.