Masculinities and Mental Health

Nyhet

Eating Disorders in Men’s Lived Experience and Contemporary Discourse

Inbunden, Engelska, 2026

Av Heike Bartel, James Downs, Georgios Paslakis

3 329 kr

Kommande

Masculinities and Mental Health explores literary texts, images, and performances which engage with the under-explored topic of eating disorders in men. Eating disorders are psychiatric illnesses commonly associated with females only. The fact that men can suffer from anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating disorder, and other types of eating disorders too, presents a challenge not only to healthcare disciplines but also to public and cultural perceptions. Exploring eating disorders in boys and men, this book scrutinizes standardised concepts of masculinity and male mental health in contemporary discourse. It sets out to open up spaces for underrepresented experiences recognizing the urgency of this endeavour both as a matter of public health and as a challenge to entrenched cultural assumptions about who can develop, experience, and recover from an eating disorder. Drawing on clinical, socio-cultural, historical, and lived experience perspectives, the interdisciplinary author team aims to fill the gaps often left by single-discipline work. Emphasizing the plural of masculinities, the book explores how stereotypes of ‘manly’ strength or stoicism can obscure vulnerabilities and marginalize those whose experiences fall outside a normative script. It places personal accounts by boys and men with eating disorders, expressed through writing and other art forms, centre-stage. The volume offers readers living testimonies that challenge and enrich our understanding of diagnostic categories, as well as the ways in which eating disorders, masculinity, and male embodiment are manifested.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2026-03-23
Mått152 x 229 x undefined mm
Vikt453 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
SerieRoutledge Studies in Literature and Health Humanities
Antal sidor192
FörlagTaylor & Francis Ltd
ISBN9781032028538

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Heike Bartel (PhD; she/her; lead author) is Professor of German Studies and Health Humanities at the University of Nottingham, UK. Her particular field of interest is exploring the potential of the arts to inform and shape healthcare and to lead to better health and well-being. Her background is in literary and gender studies and she works in teams across disciplines including clinicians, patient experts, trauma survivors, and artists to co-create health interventions using autobiographical writing, animated film, visual art, video poems, rap music, and other media. Her ongoing work on eating disorders focuses on boys and men, and she has published widely in the field.James Downs (MEd [Cantab]; he/him) is a lived experience researcher, writer, and advocate, whose work focuses on the intersections of embodiment, mental health, and epistemic justice. Drawing on over two decades of personal experience with eating disorders and related health conditions, he works across research, policy, and clinical practice to centre lived experience as a critical form of expertise. He has contributed to national and international work on co-production in research, often with a particular focus on eating disorders in men and other marginalized groups. Alongside his advocacy, James is a highly experienced musician, qualified psychological therapist, yoga and dance teacher, and community arts facilitator. His work engages deeply with questions of masculinity, sexuality, and neurodivergence in shaping experiences of the body and mental health. Georgios Paslakis (Dr. med.; he/him) is Professor for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany, and involved in both clinical treatments of individuals with eating disorders as well as research, with a special focus on men with eating disorders. He also works in teams across disciplines examining the impact of gender roles and normative masculinities on mental health in general and eating disorders specifically. He has authored numerous publications on the subject.

IntroductionCHAPTER ONE: Masculinities, Mental Health, and Men’s Eating DisordersPART 1: Masculinities and Health PART 2: Men and Eating DisordersCHAPTER TWO: Sites of Masculinities and Eating Disorders: Sport and SexualityPart 1: Sport Part 2: Sexuality Chapter THREE: New Frames for Lived-Experience NarrativesPart 1: Other Ways of Telling: Beyond Written Narratives Part 2: ‘Lines That Tell Stories: Men, Eating Disorders, and More’ Conclusion

"Bartel, Downs and Paslakis – all of whom I have had the pleasure of working with – have crafted a thoroughly informative read. Through a host of personal testimonies, Masculinities and Mental Health: Eating Disorders in Men’s Lived Experience and Contemporary Discourse seeks to assuage the dearth of male eating disorder insights. It traverses several topics: from the issues that lie at the intersection of sport and sexuality, to the creative potential within the arts to conceive fresh devices to intervene in male treatment. This is a potent piece of work which deserves to be read widely."--Dr Chukwuemeka Nwuba, Co-Founder of Club Majority, Psychiatry Doctor, and Editor of ‘Eating Disorders Don't Discriminate’