Gulp
By promoting the stories of LGBTQIA+ people with eating disorders we aim to help health and social care organisations adopt a different approach to LGBTQIA+ eating disorder services.
Health and social care organisations could be doing more to relieve the unique pressures that LGBTQIA+ people face when accessing eating disorder support.
‘Gulp’ is a zine showcasing the unheard stories – through art, poetry and writing – of LGBTQIA+ people with eating disorders (or complex relationships with food and/or their bodies).
By promoting the stories of LGBTQIA+ people with eating disorders, we aim to help health and social care organisations adopt a different approach to thinking about LGBTQIA+ eating disorder services.
Download and read Gulp – a zine telling the stories of LGBTQIA+ people with eating disorders.
How
We brought together people from healthcare, eating disorder support and LGBTQIA+ organisations at a digital event to discuss the issues raised in the stories and to help start a new approach to LGBTQIA+ eating disorder services.
Why
Eating disorder services and LGBTQIA+ organisations in the UK are not giving enough attention to LGBTQIA+ experiences of eating disorders. Stonewall’s LGBT in Britain report states that one in eight LGBT people and one in four non-binary people experienced an eating disorder in 2018 alone, but when researching for this project, we couldn’t find a single support service or research paper dedicated solely to this issue in the UK.
LGBTQIA+ young people are at significantly higher risk of developing eating disorders than their heterosexual peers, but LGBTQIA+ experience is not reflected in health policy, resource allocation or research areas. By showcasing personal stories in an authentic and creative way, we hope to bring healthcare organisations and LGBTQIA+ support groups together, heighten their awareness of the problem and encourage them to start collaborating.
This project is a part of Kaleidoscope’s Perspectives Programme, an internship scheme focused on promoting unheard voices in health and care.