‘Let the ladies know’: queer women’s perceptions of how gender and sexual orientation shape their eating and weight concerns

Abstract

This exploratory study aimed to describe the lived experiences of queer women affected by eating and weight-related concerns. Qualitative data from young queer women (n = 105; Age = 23.6 ± 3.4 years) with eating and weight-related concerns in response to open-ended questions related to the influence of gender identity and body image on weight concern, behaviours, and perception were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Nine themes were created to describe participants’ experiences: (1) compensation for other internalised stigma, (2) to suppress body parts that can be gendered or sexualised, (3) comparisons to romantic partners’ bodies, (4) media representations, (5) queer signalling, (6) queerness as protective, (7) gender expression and dysphoria, (8) societal expectations of women’s bodies, and (9) internalisation of body/beauty ideals. Seven sub-themes were created to represent beauty ideals for specific subcultural communities (e.g. femme, butch). Findings suggest that queer women attribute individual, interpersonal and social factors to weight concerns, behaviours and perceptions. Findings highlight how complex tensions between the beauty/body ideals experienced in cisheteronormative and queer spaces influence eating and weight concerns among queer women. Gender, sexual orientation and subcultural ideals intersect in important ways, and may be useful to consider when screening, treating and preventing eating and weight concerns among queer women.

Keywords:

• Body image ideals
• weight concern
• disordered eating
• queer women
• lived experiences

Acknowledgements

Research is supported by US National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities under Awards K99MD015770 (PI: Simone, M.) and F32MD017452 (PI: Beccia, A.), the National Institute of Mental Health under Award T32MH082761 (PI: Crow, S) and the US National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1TR002494). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)

Data availability statement

Given the sensitive nature of the qualitative responses examined in the present study the data cannot be shared publicly.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the US National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities under Awards K99MD015770 (PI: Simone, M) and F32MD017452 (PI: Beccia, A), and the US National Insitute of Mental Health under Award T32MH082761 (PI: Crow, S).