Predictors of disordered eating and acceptance of cosmetic surgery among drag queen performers

A scoping review of the research literature on eating and body image for transgender and nonbinary adults

“…Racial diversity present Cross-sectional Heterosexist Harassment, Rejection, and Discrimination Scale; Interpersonal Sexual Objectification Scale; internalization general subscale of the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Attractiveness Questionnaire-3; body surveillance subscale of the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale; Body Image Ideals Questionnaire; Eating Attitudes Test N/A Dehumanization was found to have a positive relationship with internalization and a positive direct and indirect relationship with disordered eating. Internalization was found to have a positive relationship with body surveillance, body dissatisfaction, and a direct and indirect relationship with disordered eating United States Carretta et al [ 35 ] N = 192 Eating disorders and body image 192 adult drag queens, Racial diversity present Cross-sectional Drag Queen Performance Style Scale developed for this study, Internalization (general) subscale of the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Questionnaire-3, Upward Comparison subscale of Upward and Downward Appearance Comparison Scale, Centrality subscale of the In-Group Identification Scale, Eating Attitudes Test, Acceptance of Cosmetic Surgery Scale N/A Hyper-feminine drag was positively associated with disordered eating while gender-fluid drag was not. Further, this relationship between disordered eating and hyper-feminine drag is mediated by both internalization of cultural standards of beauty and upward appearance comparison, but was not mediated by identity salience United States Case et al [ 36 ] N = 16 Body image 8 trans men and 8 cisgender women adults Cross-sectional Somatosensory evoked fields recorded via magneto-encephalographic scanner followed by diffusion tensor imagining N/A Trans men participants demonstrated differences in neural processing of incongruent-feeling body parts between transgender participants and controls.…”

“…The prevalence studies sometimes grouped transgender participants into one category or further subdivided into trans man or trans woman identities in others. Most studies utilized validated measures to assess eating disorder risk including: the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26) [ 4 , 35 , 40 ], the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) [ 28 , 38 , 84 , 89 ], and the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q). Others used select questions related to disordered eating patterns [ 29 ].…”

“…The existing body of research also addressed correlates, risk, and protective factors for eating disorders and disordered eating among the TGNB population. Correlations of disordered eating with other constructs were reported such as dehumanization, objectification, and discrimination [ 4 ], hyper-femininity [ 35 ], societal femininity ideals, and a feminine gender role orientation [ 38 ]. Vocks et al (2009) reported differences in eating disturbances among those with gender identity disorder where transgender women reported higher restrained eating, eating concerns, weight concerns, shape concerns, drive for thinness, bulimia, body dissatisfaction, and body checking compared to cisgender women [ 80 ].…”

Viewpoint: forever young-Gay men and cosmetic medical treatments

“…This genetic proclivity for physical attractiveness and a youthful appearance among gay men does not seem to disappear with age or marriage. Furthermore, the innate drive for beauty among gay men may be a cause of body image dissatisfaction and its correlates, such as low self-esteem and depression (Carretta et al, 2019;Levesque and Vichesky, 2006).…”

“…At the other end are gay men who promote and respond to bodily characteristics that signal hypo-masculinity (i.e. hyper-feminine) characteristics, such as feminine facial and voice characteristics, thinness, plump lips and a smaller-framed body structure (Childs, 2016), essentially the archetypal drag queen (Carretta et al, 2019). At both ends of the continuum, non-surgical and surgical cosmetic procedures can help gay men create and maintain homonormative gender roles (e.g.…”