Embracing political, social & cultural context of eating & body

Eating and body concerns do not arise in isolation. This workshop considers how family, culture, social expectations, stigma and wider systems can shape a person’s relationship with food, body and weight.

It offers practitioners a space to reflect on the assumptions that can surround shape, size, gender and eating disorders, and on how contemporary social media and technology may enter the therapeutic relationship.

What we will explore:

• The current eating, body and weight landscape, and why eating concerns may appear as secondary presentations;
• Political and social influences on eating and weight, including early influential work by Susie Orbach;
• Changing portrayals of shape and size, celebrity culture, thinness and aversion to obesity;
• The harmful assumption that eating disorders are experienced only by women;
• Stigma, judgement, prejudice, projection and isolation across different body sizes;
• Family, cultural and social expectations around food, eating and bodies;
• Social media and technology as influences on eating, body and weight concerns;
• Shame in online and interpersonal relationships;
• The therapist’s exploration of their own prejudices around eating, body and weight.