Hello again!

To hopefully clear things up, I solicited responses from "women of color" because I was curious to see how many minorities were actually on this site. I got the idea from another post asking "any older people here?" My intention was not to discriminate against anyone. Like esthersvirtue said, I was attempting to reach a group of people who are not normally expected to have an eating disorder, to get their cultural perspective. Only someone with bulimia, no matter what ethnicity, can come close to understanding how I feel and what I am going through (and maybe an expert on eds) but at the same time, there is an added cultural component to having an eating disorder and someone who is African American or a minority may understand even more. Although each culture has their own issues. Did I say that right? It's really hard to explain without sounding like some kind of a bigot. For instance, my best friend is a recovering Anorexic and when her family watched her become increasingly skinny, they began to call her "white washed" and attribute it to her "thinking she's white." Now I know that is very ignorant on the part of her family but you would be surprised at how some African Americans relate things to race.

Mainly, I think this is a cultural (American) thing where skinny is, for the most part, what is ideal for beauty. Although this isn't even about weight, it's about coping. It's not that any person suffering from an eating disorder can't understand my situation because I am African American, I'm sure we are very much alike, it's just that I was trying to get the perspective of someone who may feel like they are more stigmatized for having an ed than the average person who has one. From what I've read, the average ed afflicted person is typically a white girl who is a teenager living in a middle to upper class family.

I'm sorry if I offended anyone. Maybe I should have been more specific and asked for only the African American perspective because I'm sure that I can't totally relate to other cultural issues except for my own. Or maybe I shouldn't have brought race into the situation if it means offending someone. I have to say that everyone's responses have been so supportive and I appreciate it a great deal. These all, except for one, being from people who aren't African American. I'm at a loss for words, I'm sorry. Basically, I think of my posted question as being similar to a man with bulimia asking if there are any men with bulimia on this site. It doesn't seem like a man would feel completely at home unless he knew that other men with his condition were represented on this site.

I hope my explanation was good enough. If not, just let me know. Again, thanks so much for your advise and support.