Thinspo
by Hannah Klomp
THIS TOPIC actually makes me want to cry. For those of you who are not yet aware, I am actually “Tumblr crazed”, meaning I can spend hours and hours just reblogging photos and pretty much pointless ‘crap’ onto my blog, like the many other people crazy about Tumblr. Anyway, as I was searching for tags about art, these photos of extremely skinny girls started appearing on my dashboard and the weird phrase of ‘pro-ana’ were also a tag on a many of these posts. Unclear of what this strange word meant, I found myself quite curious and started to research this concept of ‘pro-ana.’
For those of you who had never heard of these words, ‘pro-ana’ is short for pro-anorexia, the promotion of the eating disorder of anorexia. When I saw this my mouth dropped and I was so shocked to discover that something like this actually existed. I was actually mortified to say the least. I kept searching this topic, whilst still on the blogger platform of Tumblr and was bombarded with phrases such as “Whatever you eat in private, you wear in public” and “Anorexia is not a disorder, it’s a lifestyle.” This organisation apparently exist to be a place to converse with other people with anorexia and to support those who are either continuing their illness or on the way to recovery, but either way are there to encourage the disorder of anorexia.
‘Thinspo’ or thin-spiration is another concept within the Pro-ana group which is basically images of petruding ribs and bones, of girls so thin, they resemble that of a skeleton to act as a kind of inspiration to people who are suffering from Anorexia. I did not know this even existed and I really wish that something like this existed, let along be allowed to be so easily conveyed over the blogging site of Tumblr. It really makes me think about the negative influence that the internet can have on a person’s sense of self as well as their body image. How can this be allowed to appear on the internet? Should there be more gatekeepers on the internet rather than less? If organisations such as pro-ana are able to be allowed, it really makes me question the idea of not only gatekeepers, but also the idea of ‘pro-sumers’ as it has made me question if society was really ready to have such strong control.
What do you think?
Image Source: http://www.hypnotherapist.org/anorexia-with-hypnotherapy.html
hannah 
It’s very complicated. And the wanorexics (portmanteau of the words wannabe and anorexic) who promote eating disorders as a choice rather than understanding that it is a disorder that happens to you only confuse the pool of pro-ana and thinspirational material to which you are responding.
It is very complicated. I find it quite sad, id hate to think that there is an organization promoting and supporting anorexia as a lifestyle, I personally don’t think it is fair.
Hey, I hope you don’t mind me making a suggestion about another media source you might like to look at about body image. I have been seeing you blogs and it made me think that every single time I open my facebook page there is at least one ad (on the right hand side) about weight loss programs or diets… maybe thats something you would like to look at.
If it doesn’t fit with what you are writing about I completely understand 🙂
That is a great idea, thankyou so much for your feedback. I will definitely look into this!
no worries, and I also forgot to mention how disturbing this Pro-ana thing is. I had heard about it before but kind of refused to believe that some girls out there actually want to become anorexic. Anorexia is bad enough when it is an illness but just downright disturbing when it is voluntary
I totally agree, it’s horrible.
[…] An organisation that has emerged as a result of citizen journalism is ‘Pro-ana,’ which is a group of individuals that are ‘for anorexia.’ The internet is a common platform where this organisation mostly confides with the use of images and statements which they call ‘thinspo’ or ‘thinspiration.’ The media has reported on this issue a multiple of times, and in a multiple of ways through television reports, news articles and also in magazines, but this organisation continues to thrive despite the negativity that surrounds it because of the media. This issue can be found on my blog post here. […]