ABSTRACT
A traumatogenic symptom that afflicts far more men than women is muscle dysmorphia and the abuse of steroids. As A. R. Jones and J. Morgan state: “Socio-cultural constructs of eating disorders have been illuminated by feminist theory, but the lack of equivalent discourse addressing male gender identity has left our knowledge of eating disorders in men aetiolated”. The abuse of food is an echo of the abuse of the body. By attacking the self the survivor is making a futile attempt to attack those who originally abused him. Through eating disorders and physical self-assaults, the survivors’ body is at risk of becoming a lifelong receptacle of all the aggression, frustration, and hatred that should, rightfully, belong to the abuser. There occurs in many survivors of male abuse a disturbing process of regression through which infantile defences are resurrected in order to deal with overwhelming anxieties.
