When did ED become cool?

24

Replies

  • Barelmy
    Barelmy Posts: 590 Member
    Ridiculous. People that really have EDs don't sensationalize or advertise it. I should know, I've suffered from one for over 8 years. Its a phase for the people you see on those sites. People with EDs are very private about it. Either we tell no one, or we are part of a tight knit group for emotional support. Please don't generalize-- we're not all about the glamour of it. Nothing is glamorous about bending over a toilet til you're throwing up blood.

    That's a massive over-generalisation. These people are ill; they merely express their illness in a different way to you. They honestly believe that this sort of behaviour is normal, or what they have to do to be 'good enough/thin enough'.

    Stating that, if people express their illness in a different way than you did they must be faking it, is damaging. Are you trying to prevent them from getting the help they need?
  • giggitygoo
    giggitygoo Posts: 1,978 Member
    Ridiculous. People that really have EDs don't sensationalize or advertise it. I should know, I've suffered from one for over 8 years. Its a phase for the people you see on those sites. People with EDs are very private about it. Either we tell no one, or we are part of a tight knit group for emotional support. Please don't generalize-- we're not all about the glamour of it. Nothing is glamorous about bending over a toilet til you're throwing up blood.

    That's a massive over-generalisation. These people are ill; they merely express their illness in a different way to you. They honestly believe that this sort of behaviour is normal, or what they have to do to be 'good enough/thin enough'.

    Stating that, if people express their illness in a different way than you did they must be faking it, is damaging. Are you trying to prevent them from getting the help they need?

    I don't think that is what she was saying. Many/most people with eating disorders have a great deal of shame about it. It does terrible things to your life and body - none of which are pleasant to document for the whole world to see. I'm sure there aren't many people out there who would experience hair-loss, bone loss, fainting, muscle deterioration, tooth loss, heart complications, non healing wounds ect, and still rave about how proud they are of their lifestyle. (I'm talking about anorexia specifically here, but there are loads of other disorders and sub types)

    Sure, they're probably teetering on the edge of an eating disorder, but hopefully they will seek help or grow out of it before the crap I listed above catches up to them. As sad as it is to see these people damaging themselves, I think the people in the most pain suffer in silence - mostly out of shame.
  • rlysrh
    rlysrh Posts: 244
    This sounds terrible but I'm 19 now and when I was 13 there was a definite mentality that being anorexic/bullemic would be a good thing, I knew a few girls who would much rather have an ED than get fat, and many perfectly skinny girls who really wanted to lose weight who didn't need to. I don't think it was an attention seeking thing- it was mostly a genuine fear of being fat or not being skinny enough.
  • iKapuniai
    iKapuniai Posts: 594 Member
    I think it's all just ignorance. That's me though. I'm rather insensitive when it comes to this subject. ;)
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    I agree; some may be attention seeking but I doubt it is most of them. I have a few on my friends list and I try to give positives wherever I can. I know that hassling them about their chronically low intake isn't going to help anything so I try to find good things to say. But it does make me sad to see women congratulate each other on 300 calorie days :/. I'm not sure there's much you can do for a person who is in that mindset unless you're a trained therapist and I'm always afraid of doing more harm than good.
  • Slimmasaurus
    Slimmasaurus Posts: 141 Member
    In a similar way some teens think cutting is cool. It's the emo culture.

    I know you said "some teens"... but please don't forget that the majority of people with problems like self harm aren't "emos" or doing it because it's cool. I'm 19 now, but when I was in my mid teens I had problems getting people to listen and realise I needed help because a lot of people thought that cutting and self harm was just an emo phase, when in reality I was in real trouble for a number of years, and still haven't truly recovered.

    I guess what I'm saying is... don't generalize. Teenagers aren't just messed up and worried about being cool!
  • jellybaby84
    jellybaby84 Posts: 583 Member
    In a similar way some teens think cutting is cool. It's the emo culture.

    I know you said "some teens"... but please don't forget that the majority of people with problems like self harm aren't "emos" or doing it because it's cool. I'm 19 now, but when I was in my mid teens I had problems getting people to listen and realise I needed help because a lot of people thought that cutting and self harm was just an emo phase, when in reality I was in real trouble for a number of years, and still haven't truly recovered.

    I guess what I'm saying is... don't generalize. Teenagers aren't just messed up and worried about being cool!

    I know. Sorry if that seemed judgemental. I have been self harming since I was 11 and had an eating disorder since I was 16 so I'm in no position to cast aspersions on anyone!!
  • fitterdancer
    fitterdancer Posts: 14
    Plenty of them are actually suffering from a real, serious ED. They don't hide it on their blogs because everyone they follow and everyone that follows them is in the same boat. They feel accepted in that sad little corner of tumblr and feel they can be open about every part of their lives.
  • Barelmy
    Barelmy Posts: 590 Member
    ooops, double post.
  • Barelmy
    Barelmy Posts: 590 Member
    Ridiculous. People that really have EDs don't sensationalize or advertise it. I should know, I've suffered from one for over 8 years. Its a phase for the people you see on those sites. People with EDs are very private about it. Either we tell no one, or we are part of a tight knit group for emotional support. Please don't generalize-- we're not all about the glamour of it. Nothing is glamorous about bending over a toilet til you're throwing up blood.

    That's a massive over-generalisation. These people are ill; they merely express their illness in a different way to you. They honestly believe that this sort of behaviour is normal, or what they have to do to be 'good enough/thin enough'.

    Stating that, if people express their illness in a different way than you did they must be faking it, is damaging. Are you trying to prevent them from getting the help they need?

    I don't think that is what she was saying. Many/most people with eating disorders have a great deal of shame about it. It does terrible things to your life and body - none of which are pleasant to document for the whole world to see. I'm sure there aren't many people out there who would experience hair-loss, bone loss, fainting, muscle deterioration, tooth loss, heart complications, non healing wounds ect, and still rave about how proud they are of their lifestyle. (I'm talking about anorexia specifically here, but there are loads of other disorders and sub types)

    Sure, they're probably teetering on the edge of an eating disorder, but hopefully they will seek help or grow out of it before the crap I listed above catches up to them. As sad as it is to see these people damaging themselves, I think the people in the most pain suffer in silence - mostly out of shame.

    Yeah, see, you're doing that only-some-expressions-of-illness-are-worthy-of-attention thing again.
  • appleseeds
    appleseeds Posts: 212 Member
    In my high school eating disorders where heaps cool. I remember talking to a girl at uni recently about it and they were cool at her school too.

    EDIT: anything that made you ****ed up was cool. depression, bipolar, cutting, anxiety.
  • Barneystinson
    Barneystinson Posts: 1,357 Member
    Ah, the world of Tumblr thinspo.

    I don't know how much of it is a cry for help or a cry for attention.

    However, for every one of those blogs, there's a better fitblr or healthy weight loss tumblr to follow.

    Edit: I'm mdalerunning dot tumblr dot com
  • determinedbutlazy
    determinedbutlazy Posts: 1,941 Member
    I much much much prefer "fitspo" tumblrs to "thinspo". I want to be fit and toned not skinny and flabby!
    I followed you on tumblr and sent you a friend request here :)
  • hollyeverhart
    hollyeverhart Posts: 397 Member
    This sounds terrible but I'm 19 now and when I was 13 there was a definite mentality that being anorexic/bullemic would be a good thing, I knew a few girls who would much rather have an ED than get fat, and many perfectly skinny girls who really wanted to lose weight who didn't need to. I don't think it was an attention seeking thing- it was mostly a genuine fear of being fat or not being skinny enough.

    "a genuine fear of being fat or not being skinny enough"

    Thats me in a nut shell...
  • striveforhealthy
    striveforhealthy Posts: 137 Member
    Noticed it awhile ago when I first started my weight loss and everything coming up in the tags under weight loss was also tagged as like pro ana and things like that.

    strive-for-healthy.tumblr.com
  • transfixedtoast
    transfixedtoast Posts: 89 Member
    *edited by MFP Moderator*
    If you look into things like mob mentality, conformity, identity issues and group psychology it's easy to see how these weird eating disorder worshiping cults develop, but it's sick and insulting in every way shape and form to those people who ACTUALLY have eating disorders, not those who force symptoms of them.
    It's in no way cool but these girls are so desperate for a group to accept them and get a bit of a sense of belonging that they engage in the behaviours to get the approval from others in the groups which is sick and wrong but that's the way it is.
    I only wish they could understand that spending your life cold, in bed, losing weight then dying of a heart attack isn't an acheivement.
  • JulieH3art
    JulieH3art Posts: 293 Member
    Stop it with the name calling.

    Eating disorder is a complex and sensitive disease, and these girls have a really hard time. Stop generalizing, ridiculing, patronizing and belittling it and them. Even with professional help they are in a really tough situation. These past 24 hours I have seen many subjects pop up on the forum regarding anorexia nervosa, and I just don't think it's helping anyone to shine such a negative light on it.

    The reality is that anorexia nervosa and bulimia are mental disorders, not to be taken lightly, and pretending to understand why they arise through tumblr of all places... ... it's just not feasible.

    I don't even know why I'm trying to argue this. Have some pity. You will never be as mean to them as they are to themselves, so why add to it all? It makes me sadface to see.
  • Tzippy7
    Tzippy7 Posts: 344 Member
    everyone expresses their ED differently! You cant make generalizations like "people with real ED are private about it." Mental illness takes on many different forms. If someone is doing it for attention and still ends up hospitalized that doesnt mean they are less sick than someone who was private about it and ended up in the same place. And this is not a new trend, its just something people dont often confront unless they are looking for that kind of environment.
  • fletchilicious
    fletchilicious Posts: 6
    You know you're getting old when you thought ED referred to erectile dysfunction :embarassed:
  • HealthyHappyVegan
    HealthyHappyVegan Posts: 58
    So I've recently joined this tumblr thing. I wanted another way to chronicle my weight gain into super awesome musclyness from my old skinny self.
    Anyway, I'm new to the site, and have only been on for about a week and what's really shocked me is how many girls are on there...seemingly *enjoying...perhaps that's not the right word...advertising their eating disorders, and not in a...I have a problem, I'm working through it kind of way, but more 'YES I ONLY ATE 200 CALORIES TODAY' or 'Finally hit 39kg :D!!!'.

    I get that for many, many people an eating disorder is extremely difficult, and having worked with young teenagers with ED's I completely sympathise, but when did it become cool to have an ED?

    Also to clarify, I am not generalising and saying all ED people think it's cool, I'm not that stupid, but there seems to be hundreds, if not thousands of girls on this site...in what seems like a 'thinspo' club.

    What's this about?



    Unfortunately there are a lot of pro-ED blogs on Tumblr. However, there's an equal amount of healthy fitness and weight loss blogs.
    Mine is: healthyandhappyvegan.tumblr.com

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