"Trans is the new anorexia" - A Content Analysis of the Weaponisation of Eating Disorders and Body Image Concerns to Undermine TGD Identities in Public Online Media Sources

Transgender and gender diverse people experience eating disorders at much higher rates, yet their needs are often misunderstood. In public debate, some commentators use eating disorders and body image concerns to question or delegitimise trans identities. This project examines that problem by analysing how online articles, blogs, and social media frame trans people and eating disorders, and how these messages spread across different audiences.

Our project team includes researchers, clinicians, and peer workers. We are all transgender and/or gender diverse, and we all have lived or living experience of an eating disorder. We will conduct a content analysis with reflexive thematic elements to map common narratives, misinformation tactics, and amplification pathways. Then, we will put together a co-design group consisting of transgender and/or gender diverse people with lived/living experience of eating disorders. Over several workshops, we will present the findings of the content analysis, generate ideas for translational materials, and co-design these materials.

Since we will be led by our co-design group, the specific outputs will depend on what the group feels would be useful, beneficial, and feasible. Possible outputs might include myth busting guidance for clinicians and services or accessible public materials that elevate trans-led stories of embodiment and recovery. By centring lived experience and pairing research with co-designed translation, this project will challenge misinformation, support accurate public understanding, and guide evidence-based and affirming care for trans and gender diverse people with eating disorders.