Alec White-Cheshire, first diagnosed with anorexia at 10 years old, says he has lived with the illness for almost two decades and that it has shaped every part of his life. That’s the human cost of a system that still treats eating disorders in men like an afterthought. The numbers are there. The support isn’t.
White-Cheshire said he feels annoyed rather than sad about his diagnosis. He said local communities still lack understanding, and that being male has brought dismissiveness. “People still just don't really understand the impact that any sort of eating disorder has on somebody … it just still seems to be portrayed as more of a choice rather than the illness it is,” he said. That kind of social shrug is its own form of violence. Quiet. Routine. Everywhere.
About 365,000 men are living with an eating disorder around Australia, according to the Butterfly Foundation. On average, just under 2,500 men have been diagnosed each year since 2012. Men are four times more likely to go undiagnosed for their disordered eating, and less likely to seek help. Jackson Rose, a counsellor and supervisor for the Butterfly Foundation's helpline, said boys aged 16 and under are increasingly reaching out to support services.
Who Gets Left Behind
Rose said one of the biggest drivers of disordered eating helpline workers hear about is pressure from influencers “pushing an ideal around masculinity”. He said it’s tied to “looking a certain way, having that very muscular physique,” and that the same script shows up in television and movies. The message is blunt and relentless: be built a certain way, or fall short. That’s not freedom. It’s manufactured consent for body shame.
He said stigma remains a frustrating hurdle. “We see a lot more early intervention around female presentations of eating disorders … but we don't really have as much of that on the male side,” he said. Men make up 33 per cent of the diagnoses of eating disorders, but they make up less than 1 per cent of the empirical research on eating disorders and eating disorder treatment. The hierarchy is plain enough. Men are counted when they’re sick, then ignored when knowledge gets funded.
According to the Butterfly Foundation's most recent BodyKind Youth Survey, published last year, 84 per cent of boys aged 12 to 18 reported a desire to be more muscular. Boys aged 15 to 17 showed the highest prevalence of body dissatisfaction in males, with 48 per cent of those in the 12 to 18 age bracket saying they never or rarely speak positively about their body. Body image dissatisfaction in men has tripled over the last 25 years, rising from 15 per cent to 45 per cent, according to the Australian Psychological Society.
What the Institutions Miss
Former AFL player Brock McLean said his own eating disorder began in 2010, when coaches asked him to do certain things and he was desperate to get back on the field after an injury. He played 157 games over his 11-year career and became known as a commanding presence on-field with the Melbourne Demons and Carlton Blues. In private, he was struggling with bulimia nervosa. “I was willing to do anything for it,” he said. “That included compromising my physical health and mental health.” He said it took hold of him for a good five or six years.
InsideOut, an eating disorder research institute, says the line between healthy and unhealthy behaviours can become blurred for athletes. A study of Olympic athletes in 2019 found up to 19 per cent of male athletes experienced some kind of disorder. Rose said sports environments can leave men feeling they have to perform “ideals of masculinity”. He said he has spoken to young men in sports who change eating habits through “very strict regimented eating styles, the clean and cut eating and bulking and cutting and cheat meals,” which are often covers for patterns of disordered eating.
McLean, now recovered and raising two children with his partner Stephanie, said admitting he needed help changed everything. “Getting on top of my issues [meant] accepting myself for who I was and finding I could stop blaming myself for things that were outside of my control,” he said. He also pointed to the culture around men and emotion. “There's still this ingrained toxic culture that talking about our issues or our struggles or our mental health somehow emasculates us,” he said. “But I've learned from experience that in fact, it's the total opposite. It's a huge sign of strength.”
What Help Looks Like, and What It Doesn’t
Eating disorders are one of Australia's deadliest mental illnesses. As many as a third of those diagnosed will attempt suicide, according to a 2023 study published in scientific journal Molecular Psychiatry. Despite that, a recent Butterfly Foundation Community Insights Report revealed nine in 10 people were not confident spotting the signs of an eating disorder. That gap matters. It leaves people to navigate the damage alone while institutions lag behind the crisis they claim to address.
Rose said preventative programs aimed at males and educating parents are needed. He said eating disorder programs in Australia are primarily female. “If you're a male … and you have to go into an inpatient or outpatient program, 90-plus per cent of the people who you will go into that program with will be female,” he said. “So there's no dedicated male eating disorder programs in Australia.” He said males need to feel safe to come forward in the eating disorder space to get back to the lives and futures they deserve.
White-Cheshire said he now considers himself stable in his recovery, but knows anorexia is a manipulative disease. He said the illness can trick people into new habits that cause more distress again. He hopes sharing his story will let other men know they can ask for help despite the mental and social pressure to hide. “The hardest part really is that for so long you've been dismissed,” he said. “Even once you get to the point where maybe someone is willing to listen or give the right support, it's still hard to break that barrier mentally. Because you're still not very sure whether that person's genuine.” He said, “you're not alone.”