The Impact

The impact of societal femininity ideals on disordered eating behaviors in non-transgender women has been well described (Bordo, 1993; Thompson, 1999), but scant research has explored these processes among transgender women.

In spite of limited empirical work, social science scholarship suggests that disordered eating and unhealthy weight and shape control behaviors constitute an area of significant public health concern in this underserved population.

As feminist scholars have long noted, dominant Western constructions of the “ideal female body” are inextricably bound to historically contingent weight and shape ideals, as well as to long-standing hierarchies of gender, race, class, and physical ability (Bordo, 1993; Gilman, 1999).

The hegemonic 20th/21st century Western definition of “feminine beauty” requires a thin and young body, light skin, and straight hair (Bordo, 1993; Patton, 2006). From this vantage point, culture is “not simply contributory but productive of eating disorders” (Bordo, 1993, p. 50).

Epidemiological and psychological research with young cisgender (i.e., non-transgender) women has supported the claim that gendered societal thinness ideals contribute to body dissatisfaction (Paquette and Raine, 2004; Stice and Whitenton, 2002), which in turn contributes to unhealthy weight and shape control behaviors (Grigg et al., 1996; Sonneville et al., 2012).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5241136/