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say they’re “saving” their calories for alcohol. This behavior is often called “drunkorexia,” and it runs rampant on campuses. A study from York University found that 46% of students consciously manipulated their eating behaviors to accommodate drinking. Our survey found that 28.5% of UofSC students restrict calories before drinking. While disordered eating is stereotypically associated with females, research from the Journal of College Counseling found that while females were more likely to exhibit “drunkorexia” traits, there were a comparable number of males in the group. The college party atmosphere also leaves some students feeling pressured to look a certain way in revealing clothes. This can also cause students to skip meals before going out or even crash diet the week before a big event. As if the “Freshman 15” fear-mongering and partying stressors weren’t enough, college students face another beast: productivity culture. Highly motivated students seem to compete for who can deny their bodily and mental needs the most to accomplish the most in any given day. “I don’t have time to eat” is seen more as a flex than a concern. Of the UofSC students we surveyed, 44.8% admitted to avoiding eating to study. Because we have come to view these issues within the culture of productivity, these behaviors have become completely normalized, if not glamorized. Just because “everybody’s doing it” doesn’t mean it’s not a problem. At the end of a day, you wouldn’t call an eating disorder “normal,” so why should its symptoms be?
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