On Thinspo & Community
For anyone who has begun following me during my extended absence, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Max. I’m a 24-year-old woman from New England. And this is my thinspo blog.
Does it feel as strange to read that as it does to type it? It’s not something I’m used to posting. In fact, it’s something I’m used to denying. When I started this blog in November of 2011, most social media sites hadn’t yet pounced on the idea of eliminating thinspo. Our blogs weren’t exactly celebrated, and every few months, some magazine would run an article about the dangers of thinspo, but we were quietly tolerated. You could search the “thinspo” tag without seeing a pop-up with links to eating disorder hotlines. You didn’t have to add a disclaimer to your profile, swearing up and down that you weren’t pro-ana or pro-ED, as most of us have now.
You could speak honestly about life with an eating disorder: how the urge to recover comes in lurches and lulls; how examining the nutritional content every morsel that goes into your mouth is the only way you know how to eat, whether you’re restricting, binging, or recovering; how you want to be healthy, and you want to live, and you want to get better, but you’re still desperately terrified that “getting better” means “getting bigger”; how you find comfort in the familiarity of thinspo blogs because they’re the only place you can be sure people will understand you.
In recent years, thinspo has largely been forced underground. Tags have been removed from websites, and language has been coded, and for many people–myself included–the only community where one could hope to be understood has been chased away. And we have been left alone.
I currently weigh more than I have ever weighed in my life. A year ago, I went on a new prescription medication for severe social anxiety issues that I had begun having. One of the primary side effects of this medication was drastic weight gain: in the course of ten months, my weight shot from a comfortable lower-140s to high 180s. I joked with my doctor that giving someone in eating disorder recovery a psychiatric medication that causes weight gain would be counterproductive, but I knew that I had been in a terrible place psychologically and emotionally, so I continued taking my medication, regardless of the side effects. My mental health was a greater priority than my weight, and I knew that I could always focus on losing the excess weight later, once I’d improved my state of mind.
That’s the point that I am at now. I have been slowly, carefully, and safely weaned off of my medication, and I am in a much better place psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually. This weaning happened to occur right at the end of last year, and it seemed pretty serendipitous that my journey to a thinner and healthier body would begin right at the start of 2016. I knew that I wanted to document my experience in some sort of public forum – partly so that I could benefit from community support, partly so that others who are taking on their own weight loss challenges could feel like someone was in there with them. But it quickly became apparent to me that the only weight loss community I truly felt I could be a part of was the thinspo blogging community.
You see, thinspo blogs have become fairly synonymous with the “pro-ana movement” in recent years, but in my experience, they are different animals. Pro-ana blogs quite literally promote, romanticize, and celebrate eating disorders, which I don’t think any reasonable person could ever condone. I struggled against an eating disorder for years, and I cannot believe that anyone who has really experienced the horror of this disease could wish it on others, or try to promote it as a lifestyle goal. Thinspo, on the other hand, is so much more common and reasonable than I think most people want to give it credit for being.
At its core, thinspo is simply images, posts, journal entries, and other things that inspire a person’s weight loss. A blog full of pictures of beautiful, thin women is no better or worse than a magazine full of pictures of beautiful, thin women. It’s no better or worse than someone who tells a trainer at their gym that they want to have this celebrity’s arms or that celebrity’s butt. It’s no better or worse than buying a dress in a too-small size and hanging it on a closet door so that someone keeps to their diet so they can fit into it.
I would like to start posting more frequently on this blog, and I think I can only do that if I make a few things clear first.
I had an eating disorder for several years. I would never wish that on anyone else. I do not want to be emaciated or skeletal. I do want to be thin. I do not think that other people have to have the same weight loss goals that I do. I do not think that people who are overweight are automatically unattractive, unhealthy, or unmotivated. I do not think that the body positivity movement is a terrible thing, but I will not indulge people who come to my blog purely for the purpose of telling me that my own weight loss goals are sick or wrong. I do not engage in fad diets, extreme restrictions, or any kind of purging, and I will not condone any of those activities. I am currently unhealthy and out of shape. I am trying to fix that. I would love to hear from other people who are trying to lose weight, and I would love to have more friends in the thinspo blogging community. I will give the best advice that I can, but I speak only from my own experiences and the things I have read (which I will try to cite in responses). I am not a trained medical or psychiatric professional.
The last thing that I would like to make clear: this is a thinspo blog. It always has been and always will be, and there is nothing wrong with that.
there is smth wrong with this.
>thinspo can be viewed by anyone who goes to your blog. it’ll do harm to a recovering ed sufferer or it can make someone crazy about this thin people especially if they are vulnerable or have low self esteem.
>so of the people that thinpso blogs reblog or post are very underweight ppl who’re suffering from actual eating diosrders and using their body to lose weight is glorifying their sick bodies. thats messed up.
>thinspo blogs that can be viewed by everyone shouldn’t be the way to lose weight, put that blog on private for other users safety.
>anorexic/bulimia/binger or not, you are violating tumblrs rules and guidelines for posting posts that can possible cause harm to anyone who sees it.
Hi there, thanks for your input. There are a few things that I think are worth noting about my blog, though.
Because this is a thinspo blog, that is all I post here, and that is all I tag. The odds of someone randomly stumbling upon my posts are very slim; if you’re here, it’s most likely because you were already in the tags for thinspo, eating disorders, or some other relevant topic. It is honestly not my responsibility to police the tags that other people search. I had no control over that whatsoever. You claim that my blog can cause harm to a recovering ED sufferer, but I have to question why someone who is in recovery would be searching the thinspo tag. Of course that could be triggering. But if someone is going to search those tags, that is their choice, and I do not bear the responsibility for that.
As to your final point that my blog violates the tumblr guildelines, I think you will find that that is factually inaccurate. Here is the full text of the tumblr guidelines regarding this issue:
Promotion or Glorification of Self-Harm. Don't post content that actively promotes or glorifies self-harm. This includes content that urges or encourages others to: cut or injure themselves; embrace anorexia, bulimia, or other eating disorders; or commit suicide rather than, e.g., seeking counseling or treatment, or joining together in supportive conversation with those suffering or recovering from depression or other conditions. Dialogue about these behaviors is incredibly important and online communities can be extraordinarily helpful to people struggling with these difficult conditions. We aim for Tumblr to be a place that facilitates awareness, support and recovery, and we will remove only those posts or blogs that cross the line into active promotion or glorification of self-harm.
As I have noted in every text post I have created, the profile description on my blog, and the disclaimer that is clearly visible and link to at the top of my blog, my blog does not “actively promote self harm” or “encourage others to embrace anorexia, bulimia, or other eating disorders.” I struggled with an eating disorder, and as I have pointed out multiple times, I would never wish it on anyone else or encourage them to engage in disordered behaviors. Every time someone has come to my blog to ask for advice about losing weight, I have discouraged dangerous behaviors or excessive restriction, and I have recommended healthy eating and exercise habits. The disclaimer page in my profile features links to the National Eating Disorder Association, Half of Us, the It Gets Better Project, and To Write Love on Her Arms, all of which are organizations devoted to helping people who are struggling with self-harm, depression, eating disorders, or other mental health issues. When I post about eating disorders, I am most often speaking about my own history with this topic, discussing recovery as I have lived and struggled with it, and recommending ways for people to start their own recovery process.
Tumblr specifically states in their guidelines that they will remove “only those posts or blogs that cross the line into active promotion or glorification of self-harm.” As you can quite plainly see from everything I write, I am in no way promoting or glorifying eating disorders. Quite the opposite, actually. The pictures I post here are for inspiration on my own weight loss journey, which involves healthy eating and exercise. My blog is formatted quite similarly to a fitspo or clean eating blog, and no one has any issues with those. The entire purpose behind my original post was to clarify what thinspo means to me and what I feel towards the thinspo blogging community. I hope this second post has cleared some things up, and I am happy to answer any other questions or comments you have.
