A Legal and Policy Analysis of Food Insecurity and the Insurgency of Eating Disorders

Abstract

Research published in the past few years challenges the long-held belief that only privileged Western white young women suffer from eating disorders by showing that food insecurity is one of the elements that can contribute to the rise of eating disorders. However, it appears that legal scholars have ignored this ground-breaking discovery and its ramifications. This research seeks to address this knowledge gap by investigating whether and how human rights international monitoring systems and the law and policy of food security address the correlation between eating disorders and food insecurity. According to our research, the existing legal and policy frameworks do not address this connection. We believe that policymakers would be well-served by acknowledging the possibility that marginalised food insecure people of any age, race, or gender may also struggle with eating disorders.