As someone who struggled with an ED, there are many things abt Rachel Reid’s portrayal of Shane’s ‘performance enhancing diet’ that I take serious issue with. It was very triggering to read. Not just Shane’s internal monologue, but the way he was treated. I was so disheartened to see a someone clearly struggling treated so callously by the characters in the narrative and the author - because ED’s are things that afflict young girls who want attention. It’s not something a grown man, a professional athlete nonetheless, could ever develop. So, really, Shane is just being so silly and pedantic.
And if you don’t believe me, Rachel herself said she came up with Shane’s ‘performance enhancing diet’ to emphasize Ilya’s struggles, and to give Ilya something he can pick on Shane about.
This is why people say TLG needlessly villainized Shane - they’re both struggling so hard to love each other while taking care of themselves. To understand each other while refusing to open up. But RR seems much more invested in Ilya’s struggles and using Shane as a stick to beat him with.
When I had an ED, I was the rudest I’ve ever been. When I had an ED, I could barely focus on anyone’s emotions, let alone my own (unless they related to my body). When I had an ED, I woke up one day and I was so tired that I started to stop. It wasn’t immediate, but it was gradual, and the change seemed to come out of nowhere at the time. Looking back, I know it was a surrender in the face of complete exhaustion. I saw myself in Shane, how he snips at Ilya, sometimes can’t seem to understand him, and let’s go of it all when he’s been stretched too thin.
But RR didn’t see that. And that’s okay. But when hundreds of thousands of people - ED survivors and otherwise - can agree that your character at the very least matches the criteria of an ED…you need to be careful about how you speak about them going forward. And how you write them, too.
