I have had a story idea where the main character deals with bulimia and before I even considered writing this I wanted to get the communities opinions on this subject and figured why not start a discussion.
Some questions I have:
Do you think stories with an eating disorder are alright?
Do you think eating disorders are represented correctly in stories if not why?
What would you tell and/or advise someone wanting to write about an eating disorder?
How should eating disorder stories go about trigger warnings? Should there be one at the start of the story or one before each ‘incident’?
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Yes! It’s a real life issue. And it’s also a way to raise awareness. A great eating disorder story that I really love is ‘Right beside you’
They should be. Because people are suffering from eating disorders in real life. So it’s important not to give false facts.
One word
R E S E A R C H
Just add a trigger warning, it’s not that hard 
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I can’t comment too much on this topic because I’ve never experienced it, but I’ll try my best.
Do you think stories with an eating disorder are alright?
Yeah, some of them. Like any story that deals with heavy sensitive, triggering topics, I think you have to be very careful when writing this subject.
Do you think eating disorders are represented correctly in stories if not why?
I can’t answer this, but I have seen a story on the app that does a poor job at it.
What would you tell and/or advise someone wanting to write about an eating disorder?
To be very careful, to do research, ask questions. Make sure you do extensive research. Be very careful when you are adding choices in a story about an eating disorder. Honestly, if you are writing a story about an eating disorder it should not be a YOU-insert story.
How should eating disorder stories go about trigger warnings?
Just like any other story that can trigger someone. Be specific with your trigger warning, make sure to include skip options if the scene is too heavily narrated or directed.
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As long as you put a full disclaimer at the beginning of your story and you represent it accurately and without romanticizing it then I think a story with an eating disorder is perfectly fine.
Very few accurately represent eating disorders. The majority of stories I’ve seen use eating disorder romanticizes it and for some reason, the MC manages to be cured by meeting the hot LI. This is not only spreading misinformation and rude, but it’s also ignorant.
Do your research! And I don’t just mean ‘oh yes this is what this disorder does and here are the side effects and blah blah blah’ although that’s part of it. Talk to someone who has had the disorder you are writing about and ask for their opinions on your story, ask about what they think is accurate and what is inaccurate, ask about what things they’ve had to struggle with, ask if you think certain scenes are insensitive, etc.
I think overall at the beginning of the story there should be something saying ‘hey this story touches on the topics of ____ this may be triggering for some people, so on and so forth’ and then it might be a good idea to add at the beginning of each chapter a warning saying ‘in this chapter ___, ___, and ___ is discussed, if you find this triggering then…’ although I think this is optional, you could also just add a skip scene and summarise button. So say it’s a potentially triggering scene, you can give the choice to skip it and just give a message that pops up and says what core thing you were supposed to get from that scene.
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It’s completely okay to write about an eating disorder as long as you represent it correctly and don’t make people with it feel bad about themselves.
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Do you think stories with an eating disorder are alright? There are a lot of stories, movies, tv shows, and more written about eating disorders or that include eating disorders. It’s not necessarily watched and/or read by everybody, but there is an audience for everything. They’re fine, it’s not like it’s terrible or something like that.
Do you think eating disorders are represented correctly in stories if not why? While people may have the same eating disorders, it’s not the same for everybody. Everybody has a different way of dealing with it. So, there is not one specific way to represent an eating disorder. I mean it depends on the story. I haven’t read many stories on Episode where the MC has an eating disorder.
What would you tell and/or advise someone wanting to write about an eating disorder? I think that about really anything that you write, it’s nice to write off experience. I have written stories about things I’ve gone through. Honestly, a lot of people like to write based off true stories. So, if you’re writing about eating disorders and its’ happened to you, it would make it easier. If not, that’s okay! definitely research and talk to people who have gone through it.
How should eating disorder stories go about trigger warnings? Should there be one at the start of the story or one before each ‘incident’? Just warn the readers in the beginning. If you want you can add it, but it’s up to you.
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