Really upset about #thinspo

kmjacobs93

*begin rant* Okay, so a coworker of mine and I were chatting about weight loss, since she looks like she had been putting in some REALLY hard work over the past few months. She recommended that I look up thinspo. Little did I know that it was a bunch of girls and women promoting not only eating disorders, but straight up body shaming. It appears that I was A. either born yesterday or B. was blind. I honestly didn't know that a "thigh gap" was a real thing. I'm really disappointed that these are well viewed posts, and I'm frankly embarassed for it even being in browser history. Being a best friend to a woman who has struggled with anorexia for the past 5 years it broke my heart. Don't get me wrong, I remember the days where I would skip my lunch in high school because all I could think about was the kid on the bus who kept chanting "over weight Kate!" at me, but this is an all time extreme. Please restore hope! Please love your body! Please be proud of what it can do for you everyday. No matter how big or small you are, if you want to change, change for the better, change for your health not some "thigh gap" you think will make you happy. *end rant*

jcramer1227

I just found out about this the other day, too. I felt like I'd been living under a rock, I swear. I had a friend who struggled with anorexia in high school. She's healthy now...cute little boy and a loving husband to boot...but COME ON. "Nothing tastes as good as being skinny feels." WTF.

kmjacobs93

When I saw the pictures I felt like the Earth was going to shatter. How awful it has to feel to think that the only way you can be happy is to weigh less than 100 pounds....

luceegj

Yeah thinspos are horrible dangourous things! All about fitspos I say! Striving for healthy

xMallie

It disgusts me. I just googled it. I knew about thinspo, seeing as I am a Tumblr-r. But I never, truly realised how terrible it was until... Well, just then. It makes me upset. Yeah I know I'm not thin, or happy with my body, but this is the type of stuff that is bringing fat shaming to the forefront of everyone's minds. I look at the guy I have a thing for and think 'Why do you like me? I'm fat.' When in reality I weight 164lbs, I'm hardly 'fat' anymore! Where is the humanity in my thoughts? Body shaming starts there, and it needs to end with us. We need to be the people who speak up for ourselves, and our bodies. We are good enough. Eating is right, eating is healthy, eating is survival. Why can't everyone understand that rather than promote the 'Thin is in' stigma that society obeys as of the last twenty years?!

Flab2fitfi

Just typed in into Google.

I would hate my daughters seeing these pictures and thinking it normal. Yes some of the girls look skinny but healthy but the mast majority look ill.

Anorexia and other eating disorders have been around a long time but sites promoting Thinspro makes it so much harder for people to see that they have a problem.

Some of the 'advice' giving is very dangerous and the whole emphasis on 'if you weight more than 100lb you are worthless' scares me.

jcramer1227

I'm totally on board with healthy living and striving for strength rather than thinness, but I still think fitspo isn't much better than thinspo. Every woman's body is going to end up in a different place when she reaches her body's goal weight. The pics I've seen of fitspo seem like they would give some women a complex because they "don't look like her" if that makes sense.

ETA: I would like to see them showcase a wider variety of strong women. Then it'd be better, imo.

Montarosa456

My goodness #thinspo really get's me down.
I think that sadly in this world not everyone has a healthy mindset and the internet enables people with eating disorders to encourage each other...From this #thinspo was born.
I really feel for and would be happy to help those with eating disorders but I could not friend someone who look's to #thinspo for inspiration on what's actually 'healthy' or safe..or a happy place.
Some people are naturally thin/small and have a thigh gap without even trying and that's fine because it's human nature and we are all different.
But my view is I'm not that person, I'm built athletically my leg's are strong and therefore not thigh gap material and I want people to look at my abs not my ribcage.
I think #fitspo is way hotter!

kss1231

Well said! I would kill to be thin but I'll be damned if I would put my health in jeopardy doing it that way.

kmjacobs93

Love all the bodies! For the first time since well...ever! I love myself,I want to run faster, and be stronger--but most of all change my fate of being unhealthy. I am honestly inspired to stop this madness of thinking that these body types are healthy or even obtainable or sustainable.

wickedwendy6

I think I just fell in love with you kmjacobs93. This last bit sealed the deal.

"Please love your body! Please be proud of what it can do for you everyday. No matter how big or small you are, if you want to change, change for the better, change for your health not some "thigh gap" you think will make you happy."

kmjacobs93

:flowerforyou:

amy1612

I'm totally on board with healthy living and striving for strength rather than thinness, but I still think fitspo isn't much better than thinspo. Every woman's body is going to end up in a different place when she reaches her body's goal weight. The pics I've seen of fitspo seem like they would give some women a complex because they "don't look like her" if that makes sense.

ETA: I would like to see them showcase a wider variety of strong women. Then it'd be better, imo.

Exactly this! Fitspo is still body shaming, 'strong is the new skinny' only really seems to apply to you if you ARE still skinny. You don't see any picture of Kristin Rhodes or Sarah Robles on fitspo blogs.

Montarosa456

I look at the guy I have a thing for and think 'Why do you like me? I'm fat.' When in reality I weight 164lbs, I'm hardly 'fat' anymore! Where is the humanity in my thoughts? Body shaming starts there, and it needs to end with us. We need to be the people who speak up for ourselves, and our bodies. We are good enough. Eating is right, eating is healthy, eating is survival. Why can't everyone understand that rather than promote the 'Thin is in' stigma that society obeys as of the last twenty years?!

Slightly off topic here but never look a guy and think 'Why do you like me I'm fat' - Because that guy never see's you that way, he views you (or should) as a total babe!

Going back to body shaming etc I really agree with/like the comment eating is survival/healthy etc and we do owe it to our bodies to be healthy, it's the only place we have to live so why punish it with #thinspo or being super unhealthy by eating nothing but junk which is the other extreme

Montarosa456

Exactly this! Fitspo is still body shaming, 'strong is the new skinny' only really seems to apply to you if you ARE still skinny. You don't see any picture of Kristin Rhodes or Sarah Robles on fitspo blogs.

Ahhh fair point and in relation to strong is the new skinny, I read this and have to agree...

"The post on Fit & Feminist blog points out that “skinny” and “strong” are actually describing different things so should not be compared at all – “skinny” refers to how one looks, “strong”, however, refers to what one’s body is capable of doing.

A light bulb moment for me. Strong is not the new skinny. Strong has nothing to do with skinny or not skinny. Strong is what you can DO"

kmjacobs93

I look at the guy I have a thing for and think 'Why do you like me? I'm fat.' When in reality I weight 164lbs, I'm hardly 'fat' anymore! Where is the humanity in my thoughts? Body shaming starts there, and it needs to end with us. We need to be the people who speak up for ourselves, and our bodies. We are good enough. Eating is right, eating is healthy, eating is survival. Why can't everyone understand that rather than promote the 'Thin is in' stigma that society obeys as of the last twenty years?!

Going back to body shaming etc I really agree with/like the comment eating is survival/healthy etc and we do owe it to our bodies to be healthy, it's the only place we have to live so why punish it with #thinspo or being super unhealthy by eating nothing but junk which is the other extreme

Women in our society think that they should be shunned if they don't look like pre-preggo Kim Kardashian (Who I still think is an alien) AND IT'S NOT TRUE! I really like to look at Grecian sculptures of women, sure they have an hour glass figure, but do they look like they skipped meals? NO WAY! Look at French paintings from the 1800's, those women had curves and dimples alike. I'm by no means a pro-anybody type, but honestly, healthy is beautiful, and you deserve love, affection, to be treated well and to be an equal human on all levels, no matter what your size.

jcramer1227

Strong has nothing to do with skinny or not skinny. Strong is what you can DO"

Totally! And, I have to point out, some of the fitspo pics look like thinspo...but in workout clothes. I think it's a trap.

Nikki_XC

Yeah thinspos are horrible dangourous things! All about fitspos I say! Striving for healthy

I can tell this girl's heart is in the right place, but fitspo can be just as bad as thinspo. It's just another standard of beauty women feel they must live up to. Nothing wrong with getting healthy, but one doesn't have to drop body fat to crazy low levels and have ripped muscles to be beautiful. Not all fitspo is like that, but let's face it. Most of it is. And that's fine, if that's your goal.

This is a good read a fellow MFP buddy posted yesterday:
http://fitandfeminist.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/what-happens-when-the-pursuits-of-skinny-and-strong-collide/

"The expectation behind “strong is the new skinny” is that women who take it to heart will allow the pursuit of strength to supplant the pursuit of skinniness when it comes to their physical goals. But what is actually happening for a lot of women is that they are not abandoning “skinny” in favor of “strong.” Instead, strength has become yet another physical ideal to be piled on top of all of the other physical ideals they are already trying their damnedest to attain."

kellehbeans

Fitspo and thinspo both make me feel sick, because they're both labelled in the same way, like 'strong is the new skinny', and you see many young girls on both pushing their selves unhealthily to the limits and saying some awful things in the comments. And again, like someone else mentioned - body shaming. A lot of it. I can't look at them.

kmjacobs93

I actually almost typed fitspo rather than thinspo a few times. And while I think it's a great idea to hang that picture of that woman with a killer 6pack on your door to look at right before you head to the gym, it shouldn't be about comparing yourself to others, or feeling bad that you haven't reached abs yet, but to look at a photo and say "hard work pays off".

amy1612

This is a good read a fellow MFP buddy posted yesterday:
http://fitandfeminist.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/what-happens-when-the-pursuits-of-skinny-and-strong-collide/

That article is awesome