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Johana Colina
Dr. Nelson
English 1301
9 November 2022

Rhetorical Analysis on “Understanding and supporting women with eating disorders”

Eating Disorders is a struggle known to affect many people around the world of any age

and shape. Some eating disorders people deal with are Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa,

Binge Eating Disorder, and other specified Feeding or Eating disorders. Although this is

common in teenagers and adults, not many talk about what pregnant women go through while

growing into their motherhood selves and the challenges they face of getting an eating disorder

after giving birth. According to Martinez-Olcina et al., approximately 5% of women will

experience an eating disorder during pregnancy, and Bye et al. state that around 15% of women

at some point prior to pregnancy (qtd. in Easter and Bye 24). In Abigail Easter and Amanda

Bynes article “Understanding and supporting women with eating disorders: Pregnancy, birth,

and motherhood” they support the argument of providing evidence of how each eating disorder

affects women going into motherhood and what other challenges they face after giving birth due

to getting an eating disorder. This essay argues that Easter and Bye’s article is effective in

supporting their argument by citing credible sources, using their own credentials, showing case

studies of actual pregnant women with eating disorders, and using data and statistics.

First of all, an example of ethos would be the authors themselves–Abigail Easter and

Amanda Bye–and the resources they chose. Abigail Easter is a postdoctoral researcher for the

Section of Women’s Mental Health, Health Service and Population Research Department.

Amanda Bye is a research associate in the Department of Psychological Medicine and Division

of Academic Psychiatry. They both have research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology

and Neuroscience and both attended King’s College at London, UK. The authors are considered

credible because they have knowledge in both the psychological aspects of eating disorders
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and the mental health of pregnant women. Also, the experts they cite should be reliable

information. For example, they cite the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence

(NICE), specifically the organization’s recommendations of caring for pregnant women with

eating disorders (Easter and Bye 27). The authors cited this organization because it’s located in

the UK, where this article was initially published. Since the organization is in the UK, they are

more attuned to UK culture, and that would help pregnant women in the UK see this article as

more credible as a result.

Second of all, there’s an example of pathos in the article– “Box 1: Case Study” (pg27).

This Case Study gives us an insight of a pregnant lady's experience with an eating disorder: “I

hoped that there would be a standard question, ‘Have you ever had problems with eating?’ and I

prepared myself to make a confession. She asked me lots of questions, but the question I

longed for never came, so my problem remained a secret '' and “, then ecstatic with joy to be

pregnant again after ten months. Life seemed perfect. But that’s when the problems really

began: just when I was least expecting it, all those fears about food and body image crept up on

me again” (adapted from eatingdisorderpregnancy. co.uk). A woman giving it her all to have a

safe pregnancy, yet is still going through unseen mental and physical challenges for months. It’s

a perfect use of pathos to make the reader feel sympathetic towards her. Another example of

pathos is in the beginning of the introduction, which can connect to audiences emotions: “ The

transition to parenthood can be a challenging time for women with eating disorders, who can

experience a greater risk of adverse obstetric outcomes, higher levels of depression and

anxiety, and difficulties with infant feeding”. This appeal is another great example of pathos.

They’re providing information on other symptoms pregnant women may experience due to

having an eating disorder which is the main argument of writing this paper.

Third of all, there are three examples of logos in the text– implications for preconception

and perinatal period, nutrition and gestational weight gain and psychological health during

pregnancy. Implications for preconception and perinatal period states “ studies suggest that
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eating disorders can have a substantial impact on several domains related to pregnancy and

motherhood, and demonstrate the need for tailored advice and support across the perinatal

period” (pg 26). Nutrition and gestational weight gain states “ studies have shown greater and

faster gestational weight gain among women with eating disorders (Watson et al., 2014).” (pg

26) and psychological health during pregnancy states “ The MoBa study (Watson et al., 2014)

found remission rates in pregnancy of between 29-78% across the eating disorder categories”

(pg 25). These three examples of logos use facts and statistics which creates a direct message

to prove to the audience that the research they did can be trustworthy, since it was scientifically

proven with multiple women's reports and studies. Furthermore, they do support their argument

effectively, considering the examples unveil statistical data that applies to logos. These

examples support the argument of the article because they’re giving percentages of how many

women who are pregnant are affected by having an eating disorder. These three examples are

great examples of providing researched data to make logical connections with the audience.

In summary, Abigail Easter and Amanda Bye’s article is a perfect example of following

along with its argument by providing multiple examples of ethos, pathos and logos. The authors

are perfect examples of ethos, since they wrote and researched everything to be able to write

this article. The personal article of the pregnant woman's experience of dealing with an eating

disorder to be able to reach the audience's emotions and the introduction of the article by

providing other symptoms that the women may deal with are perfect examples of logos in this

article and lastly, the multiple scientific studies done by certified researches to support the

authors argument, which are all examples of logos. The first paragraph in the article is an

appeal to pathos, logos and ethos. It gives the readers a percentage of how many pregnant

women are affected by an eating disorder which is logos, it shows pathos by showing other

symptoms an eating disorder comes with to make the audience feel sympathy for the struggling

pregnant woman and ethos by providing citations used by the authors themselves to provide

facts that what they researched can be backed up.

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Work Cited

EBSCOhost Research Platform: EBSCO. EBSCO Information Services, Inc. |

www.ebsco.com. (n.d.). Retrieved November 10, 2022, from

https://www.ebsco.com/products/ebscohost-research-platform