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| Taken from an Instagram account, 'Thinspiration Station" that claims to endorse weight loss with a 'healthy' approach. |
"Hashtag thinspoooooo!!". That's about as '2014' as it gets. Most of us, even my 84 year old Grandma, use some sort of social networking platform and will therefore come across 'fitspiration' and 'thinspiration'- a 21st century culture that supposedly encourages us to aim for a better body and a better 'self'.
But, as with just about everything else on the planet, it isn't as simple as that. This internet craze, that one of your well intentioned friends (or even yourself) will have shared on their/your profile at some point, has a much a darker side and unfortunately it's just a click away from Google.
Instagram, along with other social networking sites, either blocked the hashtag 'thinspiration' or replaced it with a popup for www.nationaleatingdisorders.org because of the unhealthy nature of this deathly pursuit for thinness. The difference between thin/fitspiration advice, and symptoms of an eating disorder are often indistinguishable; on searching, you are essentially taught to see the body as the enemy.
Unfortunately, the work of social networking management in tackling the negative bombardment of thinspiration is too simplistic. Both of the options mentioned above are not sufficient because: a) popping up a link is more of a 'lets-cover-are-own-arse' move than something that productively encourages vulnerable people to seek help. b) blocking hashtags doesn't work. 'thinspiration' is blocked, as is 'thinspo'. But 'thynspoo' isn't (50,877 posts under that hashtag on instagram) and nor are 'ana' (for anorexia) or 'mia' (for bulimia) with a combined total of 9 million related posts on Instagram. And c) These sites make massive contradictions. There are still hundreds, thousands of accounts dedicated to thinspiration on Instagram and yet mine was removed and I assume that was because I posted several posts with the hashtag 'eating disorder'. I used this hashtag for credible reasons; the posts in question were of my artwork which I've made to help raise awareness of eating disorders and promote recovery and this was made very clear in each and every caption. I do NOT suggest that eating disorders are a conscious life style choice.
So here I am, with a newly made instagram account whilst others, dedicated to 'thinspiration' are still in existence, have thousands of followers, and as many posts. 'Thinspirationfreak' for example has over 8000 followers with a profile full of womens stomachs and thigh gaps. Meanwhile 'thinspirationstation' has 20k followers and claims to be "inspiring weight loss in a healthy way" despite posting images with slogans such as "Think before you eat" and "KEEP CALM AND BECOME A SKINNY BITCH" plastered over them. Yeah, real healthy.
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| A thinspiration post. |
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| Thinspiration |
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| This image, and the one above are examples of the work that my former Instagram page used alongside the hashtag 'eating disorder' as well as 'recovery'. I reposted the fork onto my new instagram page with the same well explained caption. |
And this brings me back to the the link I made in point 'b' between 'thinspiration' and eating disorders. It's a crucial link and prompts the question 'where is the line drawn?' Well, in fact the lines are totally blurred. The fact is that thinspirations counterpart, fitspiration, which remains unblocked on social media despite being dubbed 'pro-anorexia layered in muscle', motivates people through encouraging hatred of the body. It is a trigger waiting to be pulled- the bullets of eating disorders are hitting more and more people. There has been a 60% increase of EDNOS in women over the last 10 years and a 24% increase for males.
Posts on social networking sites that focus on body image in a degrading way does not help this rise, they actually contribute to it. I actually think that thinspiration/fitspiration posts and pro-ana posts are pretty much one and the same. 'Pro-ana' is a movement that developed in the 1990s but it has exploded in the last few years, it argues that anorexia is a choice, not an illness, and in some cases, pro-ana websites endorse the illness and basically argue that you aren't perfect until you are dying. And people do. Die I mean, people do die. Anorexia alone has the highest mortality rate of all mental illnesses and 20% of people suffering with anorexia will die prematurely because of either suicide, heart attacks, or other medical complications. There are currently 1.6million people in the UK known to be suffering from an eating disorder whilst millions of others will be hiding from the truth.
For the last year or so, I've learnt a lot about eating disorders. Not really because I became increasingly curious about the respective illnesses but because I've had to. I've had to because suddenly, anorexia and bulimia were thrown into the works- not for me personally, but for someone very close- and when you are a bystander in these situations, there's really not much you can do. You can be a support, but you can't make a mental illnesses disappear. And that for me, has been crippling. So I decided to learn; to learn and understand on a greater level so I could be compassionate when it was most needed.
I taught myself through endless research and a full time art project which was inclusive of both practical work, written reports, and documentation of other peoples stories.
And I know enough to say that thinspiration and fitspiration are deterimental to mental health. These posts encourage diets and excessive exercise and, according to 'beat', 35% of people who set out to diet 'healthily' end up pathologically dieting and 25% of these people end up with a full blown eating disorder. There is also strong evidence to suggest that eating disorders are not only genetic, but transferable within friendship groups if eating patterns and weightloss become a prevailing conversation topic. And in a society where 69% of children aged 10-18 get their inspiration for their own body weight/image from magazines, it is likely that this is a conversation topic. We really don't need a degrading thin/fitspiration in a society where the perception of beauty has already been socially conditioned.
There is of course an opposing argument stating that it is possible to retrieve positive influences from posts of the fitspiration genre. The account 'Skinny Mom' argues that:
“someone with low self-esteem and self-worth will likely have an unhealthy perspective of fitspo images, whereas someone who has high self-esteem and self-worth will have a healthy perspective”.
And this, I suppose, is true. Someone who is body confident and knows their physical worth will know to ignore the hatred that is entrenched in these posts. Although that isn't really making a 'healthy perspective', it's actually just censoring out language with bullying overtones and listening to your own body.
So just how many people are positively effected by these posts and images? How can their possibly be a majority of people finding these posts enlightening when only 1% of women in Britain consider themselves to be beautiful? And why would anyone who was comfortable with their body search for criticism as a source of motivation to improve?
I will argue, until the cows come home, that this hate teaching culture is monumentally more damaging than it is helpful.
It teaches us that are worth is made up of our bodies and that are purpose is superficial; it is judged by the looks we get for our bodies. They use an abusive form of motivation to inspire body shame. The images trigger anxiety, hopelessness, and ask you to go to all extremes to achieve something that is unsustainable; "don't stop unless your puking" and "be stronger than your excuses". HELLO!!!?? Stopping at the point of collapse is not an excuse, it's your body screaming at you for help.
You are worth so much more than just your body; it is the shell that holds you and your life. One of the earliest feminists, and one of my main influences, Mary Wollstonecraft, said the following back in the late 18th century and it remains overwhelmingly relevant to society:
"Taught from their infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.”
Here Wollstonecraft explains that society endlessly tries to define people as their body. We are asked to believe that our power, identity, and worth lie in what we look like; for women, our beauty is our best and most powerful asset so we have to make the most of it. Like Wollstonecraft, I oppose this. Your body is the vehicle which your life depends on but it is not everything that you are. Who you are is so powerful, so magnificent, that it is actually intangible. Nobody will ever be able to physically touch the whole of you or your personality- you are in charge of what that is, no one else. This new wave of culture is trying to reverse this idea and revert back to eighteenth century ideology where looks become everything (especially for women), and so your body becomes your limit and your prison when in fact it should be respected by yourself and others should respect you for having that confidence.
The messages that fitspiration/thinspiration send in teaching you to remove yourself from your physical being, and attack it, are simply aggravating an already growing problem of decreasing self appreciation. Each year, 5000 15-19 year old girls are diagnosed with eating disorders in this country and instead of bowing down to bones and the patriarchy that anchors us, we need to inject positivity into society and teach people how to love their bodies.
Trying to runaway from your body doesn't work. You cannot run away from you. You will always be there. So use this to your own advantage and the reap the good qualities you already sew instead of searching for constant imperfections, and flick a massive 'V' to fitspiration type posts.
The alternative to not having your body isn't a great one; your life has amazing value so treat your body with respect and love. It is the 'thing' that will transport you through life, not an empty vessel.
Hannah Riley
@hannahtheduck
(follow my new instagram account 'ihannahtheduckling')
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