In honor of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, TBINAA will feature stories that explore eating disorders at the intersections of our identities, sharing stories about ED from the groups that are often absent from the discussion.  We believe that there must be space to tell the story of EVERY body and we are grateful to those who have shared their stories with us, so that we might share them with you.  If you are struggling with an eating disorder, there is help. Toll free, confidential Helpline at 1-800-931-2237. You are not alone.

If you are wondering if you have an eating disorder, there is a simple, but powerful, free and confidential three minute online test that can help you decide if your relationship with eating, food, and exercise has become disordered.

This test will not provide a solid diagnosis, but it can point you in the direction of getting help and pointing you to resources if you need them.

And please check out our stories this week that show the myriad bodies that can experience eating disorders. We know how important and difficult it can be to love our bodies. How so many personal and social elements in our environment insist that our bodies are not valuable. But please know, that you, your body, your relationship to your body, your relationship to food and exercise, really do matter.

 

The First Domestic Violence Shelter for Men

Even though in the social imagination we almost exclusively associate domestic violence victims and survivors as women, there are a significant number of male victims as well. And the Taylor House Domestic Violence Shelter for Men will likely become the first shelter exclusively for men. It already houses five men, and has 9 beds. There is also a space for men with children.

Patty Duncan, executive director of the non-profit Family Violence Prevention in Batesville, AK, said to the Arkansas Online, “Many people do not realize that domestic violence also affects men … It’s not just male-female relationships. Domestic violence includes intimate partners, family and household members.”

According to the CDC, one in four adult men will become a victim of domestic violence. The abusers can be of any gender. As Huffington Post said, “Highlighting these statistics is not meant to downplay in any way domestic violence among women. It is, however, intended to add to the growing conversation that anyone can be the victim of domestic abuse and everyone who needs protection deserves access to it.”

Domestic violence is not just a women’s issue; it’s a family issue … A victim is a victim, and we want to help them become survivors in their own right,” Duncan added.

Maya and Veronica: Black Trans Lives Matter!

Maya Young, a Black trans woman, was found dead last Sunday in Philadelphia. She had been murdered by being stabbed several times.

Young’s friends described her as “truly a funny girl who was mad REAL and LOYAL.”

A few days, before Maya Young’s body was found, another Black trans woman, Veronica Banks Cano, was found dead in her hotel room in San Antonio, TX.

Even though in the past couple of years, Black trans women, such as Laverne Cox and Janet Mock, have brought more visibility and representation to Black trans women’s experiences, the war against Black trans women’s bodies and lives has continued and heightened. According to the Anti-Violence Project, Black trans women are the majority of the victims of hate crime violence.

In 2015, at least 23 trans women, the most of whom were Black women, were brutally murdered. Even though more trans women were killed in 2015 than any other year on record, none of the killings were considered by law enforcement to be ‘hate crimes.’ In response, Black trans women have been raising up our sisters’ murders and declaring that Black Trans Lives Matter.

As the Black Lives Matter movement has made clear, “Many trans women of color are fighting just to live, and dream of stopping the onslaught of violence in their lives … It is impossible to realize this truth, however, if cisgender people refuse to name and demolish our biases. Cisgender people must be self-reflective enough to admit that our privileged vantage point often frustrates our ability to empathize with trans women of color.”

Activists say that most likely, more trans women are killed than is known, because often police officers and the media misgender the victims.

Maya Young. #SayHerName

Veronica Banks Cano. #SayHerName

 

[Feature Image by Joe Brusky: A group of people standing in a line holding large black posters.  The posters spell out #SAYHERNAME in white lights.  The people are standing on grass in a neighborhood at dusk.]