“Can naughty be healthy?”: Healthism and its discontents in news coverage of orthorexia nervosa

Arguedas, Amy A. Ross

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112784

Cited by 14 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…The discursive tension that arises from these discourses exemplifies confusion around what becomes pathological with the advent of ON, and shows a consequent rebellion of those who think their eating habits are being labeled as 'disordered' by 'doctors.' These findings ultimately remind us that the creation of a diagnosis could somewhat hinder a broader societal change (Ross Arguedas, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

“When Are We Going to Hold Orthorexia to the Same Standard as Anorexia and Bulimia?” Exploring the Medicalization Process of Orthorexia Nervosa on Twitter

Valente

Cesuroğlu

Labrie

et al. 2021

Health Communication

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This study contributes to understanding medicalization on social media, by using Conrad's concept of medicalization as a theoretical framework to explore the conversation about Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) on Twitter. The aim of this mixed-methods study was twofold: the quantitative component aimed to provide descriptive information on the type of tweets and users, as well as on the network structure of the ONrelated conversation on Twitter, while the qualitative component aimed to explore how the medicalization of ON unfolds on Twitter by performing a thematic analysis of original tweets about ON. Quantitative descriptive findings show that the most popular hashtags associated with orthorexia include #rdchat, #psychology and #doctors, which hints to a link between discourses around ON and the medical profession. Among the most active, prominent and visible users are news accounts, a registered dietitian, a researcher, a professor and an editor. Qualitative thematic analysis shed light on the discursive process of medicalization. Some users bring about medicalization by approaching ON as a medical entity; in contrast, other users resist medicalization by describing ON as a social phenomenon. A discursive struggle emerges, where certain individuals feel confused around what constitutes ON. This leads to stigmatization of non-traditional diets like veganism, which in turn triggers complaints regarding over-medicalization. As the first Twitter investigation on ON, this study serves the purpose of providing insights into how an emerging disorder develops in society in a time of social media.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

“When Are We Going to Hold Orthorexia to the Same Standard as Anorexia and Bulimia?” Exploring the Medicalization Process of Orthorexia Nervosa on Twitter

Valente

Cesuroğlu

Labrie

et al. 2021

Health Communication

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Orthorexia is an unofficial diagnosis, not currently in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM), although it has in recent years drawn growing interest from scholars and clinicians, and its inclusion in the DSM is under review by a special task force (Cena et al 2019 ). However, even prior to this, it received considerable attention from the news media (Ross Arguedas 2020a , b ) and had been adopted by a community of Instagram users who identify with the diagnosis and use the platform to address their recovery (Santarossa et al 2019 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Diagnosis as Subculture: Subversions of Health and Medical Knowledges in the Orthorexia Recovery Community on Instagram

Arguedas

2022

Qual Sociol

Self Cite

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Diagnoses are powerful tools that fulfill various practical and symbolic functions. In this paper, I examine how a contested diagnosis called orthorexia nervosa has been taken up by users on Instagram, where tens of thousands of posts engage with the topic, many of them from individuals who identify with the condition. I put scholarship on medicalization and diagnosis in conversation with literature on subcultures to foreground the subversive work that is enabled through this diagnosis. Drawing on more than 350 hours of online ethnographic fieldwork and 34 in-depth interviews, I examine how participants construct a shared identity, draw on common language and norms, and undertake collective practices, as they negotiate dominant understandings of health. I show how they draw on the legitimacy endowed by the diagnostic label to validate and make sense of experiences of suffering but also to counter dominant health-seeking discourses, practices, and aesthetics in an online space where these are highly visible and valued. I also discuss some ways Instagram as a digital platform shapes its uptake by this community in meaningful ways. On the one hand, participants draw heavily on the language and framing of medicine to make sense of their fraught experiences with food and their bodies, effectively advocating for the medicalization of their own suffering while also creating a sense of community and shared identity. However, on the other hand, they actively use the diagnosis and the recovery process enabled through it to effectively resignify dominant beliefs, values, and practices that are experienced as injurious, including some that are particularly prevalent on Instagram.

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“…Media representations of health and illness communicate a framework for understanding a condition, which includes ideas about its cause, treatment and urgency (Arguedas, 2020; Boero, 2007; Clarke, 2011). In this study, we examine the intersection of medicalisation, eating and race.…”

Section: The Medicalisation Of Eatingmentioning

confidence: 99%

White as milk: Biocentric bias in the framing of lactose intolerance and lactase persistence

Kaufman

Tan

2022

Sociology Health & Illness

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The majority of the world population is lactose intolerant, as 65%-70% of people lose the enzymes to digest lactose after infancy. Yet, in the United States, where lactose intolerance is predicted to affect only 36% of people, this phenomenon is often framed as a deficiency as opposed to the norm. This is because the United States has a higher prevalence of people who are lactase persistent. Lactase persistence is a genetic trait most common among Europeans and some African, Middle Eastern and southern Asian groups with a history of animal domestication and milk consumption. In this study, we take the case of lactose intolerance to examine how popular media maintains biocentric biases. Analysing relevant articles published in The New York Times and Scientific American between 1971 and 2020, we document how ideas about milk, health and race evolve over time. Over this fifty-year period, writers shifted from framing lactose intolerance as racial difference to lactase persistence as evolutionary genetics. Yet, articles on the osteoporosis 'epidemic' and vitamin D deficiency worked to perpetuate lactose intolerance as a health concern and standardise the dairy-heavy American diet.Studying media portrayals of lactose intolerance and lactase persistence, we argue that popular discourses normalise biocentric biases through messages about eating behaviours and health.

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“Can naughty be healthy?”: Healthism and its discontents in news coverage of orthorexia nervosa

Cited by 14 publications

References 24 publications

“When Are We Going to Hold Orthorexia to the Same Standard as Anorexia and Bulimia?” Exploring the Medicalization Process of Orthorexia Nervosa on Twitter

“When Are We Going to Hold Orthorexia to the Same Standard as Anorexia and Bulimia?” Exploring the Medicalization Process of Orthorexia Nervosa on Twitter

Diagnosis as Subculture: Subversions of Health and Medical Knowledges in the Orthorexia Recovery Community on Instagram

White as milk: Biocentric bias in the framing of lactose intolerance and lactase persistence

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