#partially inspired by cr.uel summer as well as the comics

[dominaelumine]

META THOUGHTS re: tandy and food. a short discussion about tandy’s relationship with eating, and the negative influences upon this throughout her life. this post touches on both comic and mcu / my main version of tandy.  

tw: disordered eating / eating disorder discussed under the cut ; drug mention ; abduction / imprisonment mention 

in tandy’s comic background* & her no-powers au, she struggles with an eating disorder, the root causes of which are being brought up by a vain, absent supermodel mother, and the constant pressure of succeeding at ballet.

( * as with most comic book characters, her background varies !  this aspect does not always apply to every backstory tandy has had over the years, and has been phased out of many recent iterations )

in her main verse... I have a lot of thoughts. she grows up from the age of eight in complete poverty, so I think tandy probably hoards food but does not always allow herself to eat it, for fear of it running out. she is uncomfortable eating in front of others unless absolutely necessary.

during her time at the viking motel, food was used to control tandy and the other girls. being compliant meant getting fed. fighting back meant going hungry. combined with the drugs they were consistently fed, and the psychic manipulation, this made the girls completely reliant on lia and andre for sustenance. in the immediate aftermath of her escape, and the weeks and months that follow, tandy probably finds eating very very difficult. she just... isn’t hungry anymore. her appetite is gone. the very thing she needs to live was used as a means of control and manipulation, and so eating feels like ‘giving in’ to her captors again.

something that helps long-term is atlas, tandy’s therapy dog. getting into the routine of feeding him, and following that action with a small snack for herself, allows tandy to reshape the act of feeding into one of self-care. having a dog improves tandy’s attitude to life in many ways, and being responsible for ‘someone’ forces her to look after herself more. 

FROM A WRITING POINT OF VIEW the contrast between comic!tandy’s struggles with food and mcu!tandy’s struggles with food are interesting to me, as this is a topic close to my heart. the former is much more closely aligned with what most people perceive an eating disorder to be ‘about’- body image, trying to be ‘skinnier’, negative self-worth enforced by modern beauty standards. the latter is a less-talked-about ‘cause’ of disordered eating- it has roots in food scarcity, and is reinforced by abuse; it’s not about looking a certain way, but instead is about tandy’s perception of food being tainted. I think it’s a great way to demonstrate how trauma and abusive people can damage or even ruin mundane actions, objects, or experiences. naturally both versions are valid and distinctly aligned with their own version of tandy.