Forget ‘thinspiration’
There have been 100 (or so it seems) articles published in the last week about pro-eating disorder websites. It’s not a new phenomenon. I think it was in 2001 that Yahoo removed “pro-anorexia” sites hosted on their servers? More recently, it’s been an ongoing battle on facebook (searching out and removing unhealthy ED pages/groups). What has sparked the flurry of posts about it this week, though, is a new study in the American Journal of Public Health: “e-Ana and e-Mia: A Content Analysis of Pro–Eating Disorder Web Sites.”
I haven’t read the study yet (I will!), but every blog post and newspaper article I’ve read so far focuses on a few things:
- eating disorder tips/tricks
- thinspiration
- promotion of anorexia as some kind of elitist lifestyle choice
- sick poems, art, music, etc.
- advice on hiding the disorder from friends/parents and avoiding food
It’s true that all of this exists and is unhealthy. Sure. However, if you were to analyze the traffic on these eating disorder websites, I bet you anything you’d find that only a SMALL percentage of one’s time is spent looking at “thinspiration” or reading some anorexia-glorifying poem. 
Rather, people frequent these sites because of the forums — and that’s becuase they are using the forums for support.
And I mean serious support.
On many of the sites, it doesn’t matter if you’re in recovery, anti-recovery, or have never even thought about it. You can complain about anything – how guilty you feel for “not restricting enough” today, how isolating it is to not have your school friends understand, how upset you are over breaking up with your boyfriend, how fearful you are that your nutritionist is trying to make you fat, etc. I really doesn’t matter what you talk about, other people in these communities are going to support you. They’ll tell you that tomorrow will be better, or you actually hardly ate anything, or that they’re worried about you and are glad you ate more. Someone will be able to relate to your boyfriend situation, your run-in with your dietitian, or your recent argument with your parents.
Individuals start to get all of their social support from these communities… which means not only are they getting some really unhealthy “advice,” but it also means more and more of their time is being spent in this eating disorder world. Even if you can talk to your parents or school friends, they likely don’t understand at the level as the other girls on these forums do. Or, if you are in treatment, what other support is available at 2am?
I’m not supporting pro-ED sites (or non-anti-ED sites…. if that makes sense) at all, and don’t want this post to be mistaken as such. Of course I think they are harmful. However, I don’t think that the “thinspiration” or ED “tips” that are the most concerning aspects of these sites. You can find a picture of Mary-Kate anywhere. It’s much harder to come by a friend who will support your disordered thoughts and behaviors. That’s what keeps people active in unhealthy ED communities, and I think that’s a much more complicated issue to address than the photo galleries and static “how to lie to your parents about eating” pages.
I agree. I never really thought about it, but now that you put it like that it makes so much more sense. It wasn’t the fact that these things existed; it was the fact that the people BEHIND them existed and were willing to support the bad/triggering behaviour. It is indeed a complicated issue to address, but I don’t think that these people will ever disappear. On the surface you can say that everything’s been taken care of, but in the end there will always be that small minority of people who support the unpleasant. Those people may be disordered or mentally ill, but they exist and there’s nothing we can do about it. It’s just the way things are… it just depends on whether you choose to support them or support what’s right for you, which is recovery.
Interesting post. Made me think
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by EllieMellie, Gabriella Martinez. Gabriella Martinez said: RT @greythinking: New Grey Thinking post: Forget 'thinspiration' http://bit.ly/cKeV0R [...]
It’s the 21st century version of what’s been happening for a long time in college dorms and sorority houses. But it’s more insidious because it’s always available and more importantly, it’s anonymous. Even if there’s social reinforcement for low-level disordered eating in a dorm or house, if a girl gets to the point where she’s emaciated her friends will usually try to intervene. On the ‘net no one sees how you look and so there’s not the same opportunity for this kind of “wake up call”.
I liked this post. When I was a bit younger (I’m 18 now) I used to be a member of some of these sites, and something that I’ve realized in my recovery is that I was using them for exactly what you’ve said here: support. The girls (and boys) who use these websites aren’t evil, twisted, or bad human beings at all. For the most part, they are very scared, sad little girls who have nobody else in their lives to turn to for support, nobody else who understands them. It sucks that the kind of support they are giving and getting is only making them sicker, but for a lot of them, these web sites are the only place they feel safe. I don’t condone pro ana at all, I just wish people would stop judging the users of these web sites and start trying to understand them.
Thank you for your thoughtful post.