Thinspiration!

mrsbunbunbun
mrsbunbunbun Posts: 49 Member
in Motivation and Support
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2398749/Pro-ana-Anorexia-blogs-nearly-killed-Starving-girl--17-says-thinspiration-sites-encouraged-her.html

I am so discouraged seeing all these anorexic girls congregating in a space that is supposed to be a safe space for people to get healthy. I guess I was just too naïve to think mfp wouldn't be a proana breeding ground. :(

Replies

  • VelveteenArabian
    VelveteenArabian Posts: 758 Member
    Not sure what your concern is. MFP isn't even mentioned in this article. MFP certainly does not encourage anorexia, either.
  • Vanessa_Ross
    Vanessa_Ross Posts: 18 Member
    I have not seen any encouragement of this type of activity on MFP
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    For one, this article is over a year old, that you linked.
    For two, it has no reference to mfp so I have no idea why you decided to link it with your wild claims.
    For three, any site that has a calorie counting feature, is going to attract those with eating disorders and there is no way they can prevent that, short of personally vetting everyone who registers.
  • squirrelzzrule22
    squirrelzzrule22 Posts: 640 Member
    I think she is saying she sees this among her friend list and thinks this article is a good cautionary tale about that behavior. Just my takeaway.

    It does happen on here, albeit mostly within friend lists on profiles, less so on the message boards.
  • fitness4life78
    fitness4life78 Posts: 69
    Don't be Discouraged! Stay motivated for yourself!
  • psych101
    psych101 Posts: 1,842 Member
    I don't get it. it has nothing to do with MFP?
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,341 Member
    Any site which has to do with counting calories attracts people with eating disorders. I think MFP does a good job of keeping it minimised. They can't vet every person who joins up and no one could expect them to. I'm not sure what your beef with MFP is, frankly...
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    It's a good reminder. Very often (today, even) young girls post about losing weight, and folks reply, without thinking about the context. Without a quick glance at the profile, without pausing to think.

    There are many girls here who also spend time there. A glance at one of these teen's profiles usually shows lots of skinny friends with thinly veiled pro-ana user names.
  • squirrelzzrule22
    squirrelzzrule22 Posts: 640 Member
    It's a good reminder. Very often (today, even) young girls post about losing weight, and folks reply, without thinking about the context. Without a quick glance at the profile, without pausing to think.

    There are many girls here who also spend time there. A glance at one of these teen's profiles usually shows lots of skinny friends with thinly veiled pro-ana user names.

    This is very true. I think because my profile picture makes it clear that I am fairly young and not obese I get friend requests every once in a while from profiles that are clearly very young very thin girls with a friend list of all similar women. I think OP is just commenting on this phenomenon. As I mentioned before they are more active in their profiles than the message boards.
  • courtneypatty
    courtneypatty Posts: 1 Member
    I haven't read the article but after filling in my food diary I was under my daily calorie goal (just where I was busy and it got too late to eat) and MFP wouldn't let me complete the entry without being over 1000 calories.

    While anorexia is sad it's not necessarily caused by sites such as MFP. It's an illness that should be treated with medical attention and therapy...
  • LeonCX
    LeonCX Posts: 862 Member
    It seems that during some times of the day, every other post in the forums is from a some young female begging for friends and motivation and that they just can't lose weight. Then you find out they weigh 112 pounds!
    I can understand OP's observation. She wasn't criticizing MFP per se, just observing the fact that a lot of these types do come here.
  • lorib642
    lorib642 Posts: 1,942 Member
    It's a good reminder. Very often (today, even) young girls post about losing weight, and folks reply, without thinking about the context. Without a quick glance at the profile, without pausing to think.

    There are many girls here who also spend time there. A glance at one of these teen's profiles usually shows lots of skinny friends with thinly veiled pro-ana user names.

    Thank you. I am just realizing that. I will try to think of the context
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,341 Member
    Any site which has to do with counting calories attracts people with eating disorders. I think MFP does a good job of keeping it minimised. They can't vet every person who joins up and no one could expect them to. I'm not sure what your beef with MFP is, frankly...

    I've been thinking nand just wanted to add - I'm not saying MFP doesn't have a problem with pro-ana and people with ED. I get friend requests from them sometimes (no idea why) and there are a lot of posts from them in the forums which do get a lot of knee jerk responses from people who don't check the profile and tell people who weight 100lbs how to lose even more/faster.

    I just don't think that MFP fosters these issues, aside from existing. It's a sad state of affairs, but there's not a lot more that can be done on a generic website which is largely self regulated, without disadvantaging the majority of people who use it without incident.
  • KameHameHaaaa
    KameHameHaaaa Posts: 837 Member
    I've noticed on instagram that this kinda stuff is out of control on social networks. Hashtags like "ana(anorexia)" "mia(bulimia)" "sue(suicidal)" etc... And a lot of them post screen shots of their daily calorie intake (which is always so very little) from MFP or other calorie counting apps to get "encouragement" from other pro-ana people... =\

    ETA: Just wanted to make it clear that MFP and other calorie counting apps I believe don't make ED's worse. They're tools, and people will use tools how they wish even if it's incorrectly.
  • PrizePopple
    PrizePopple Posts: 3,133 Member
    I removed a person from my friends list for asking if others looked at "thinspiration" and if was really as bad as people claimed. The post was removed fairly quickly. I don't aim to have people who even consider looking at such stuff as a friend. There are young girls who come in asking about weight loss, and it's usually fairly obvious that they need help. Most people here don't encourage the behavior, but let her know that she needs to seek help, and link multiple resources.

    This is also why there is the warning when you eat under 1200 calories, they don't want it to be a trigger or encourage eating disorders. Hence why when people whine about it they pretty much get told to suck it up.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2398749/Pro-ana-Anorexia-blogs-nearly-killed-Starving-girl--17-says-thinspiration-sites-encouraged-her.html

    I am so discouraged seeing all these anorexic girls congregating in a space that is supposed to be a safe space for people to get healthy. I guess I was just too naïve to think mfp wouldn't be a proana breeding ground. :(

    What are you even talking about? MFP doesn't support this and the staff and community actively tries to combat it. :huh:
  • MireyGal76
    MireyGal76 Posts: 7,334 Member
    Check this out...
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1102508-mfp-fitspiration

    that's what MFP supports.
    Sadly some of the links to the photos have expired, but it is still going and is on it's 4th iteration. :flowerforyou:
  • AllOutof_Bubblegum
    AllOutof_Bubblegum Posts: 3,646 Member
    Any site which has to do with counting calories attracts people with eating disorders.

    This.
  • Cranquistador
    Cranquistador Posts: 39,744 Member
    :indifferent:
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    Check this out...
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1102508-mfp-fitspiration

    that's what MFP supports.
    Sadly some of the links to the photos have expired, but it is still going and is on it's 4th iteration. :flowerforyou:
    It is. Yes. And it's what we need to remember.
  • mrsbunbunbun
    mrsbunbunbun Posts: 49 Member
    Thanks for all the attacks, um... I'm glad a few users got the point of my post, just to bring some awareness to the issue. I didn't have to scratch very deep to find a vast pool of these kinds of unhealthy users. It wasn't a "beef" with MFP. <facepalm>
  • Muddy_Yogi
    Muddy_Yogi Posts: 1,459 Member
    Thanks for all the attacks, um... I'm glad a few users got the point of my post, just to bring some awareness to the issue. I didn't have to scratch very deep to find a vast pool of these kinds of unhealthy users. It wasn't a "beef" with MFP. <facepalm>

    Your original post certainly made it sound like it was a beef against mfp. And if you think any of the responses were attacks... how do you make it in the real world?
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    Thanks for all the attacks, um... I'm glad a few users got the point of my post, just to bring some awareness to the issue. I didn't have to scratch very deep to find a vast pool of these kinds of unhealthy users. It wasn't a "beef" with MFP. <facepalm>
    fwiw, I didn't read it as an attack, more of an observation.
    And yes, I'm quite sure every smart phone weight loss app is a breeding ground for (young) eating disorders.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
    OP's trolling I think.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    OP's trolling I think.
    I disagree
  • mrsbunbunbun
    mrsbunbunbun Posts: 49 Member
    OP's trolling I think.
    I disagree
    Thanks. So much for this little experiment. I better leave these message board things to the pros! lol :flowerforyou:
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    OP's trolling I think.
    I disagree
    Thanks. So much for this little experiment. I better leave these message board things to the pros! lol :flowerforyou:
    Nah, just ignore the "pros". Everyone gets called a troll here. And everyone gets dog piled on. Just ignore a bunch of those folks and the boards can be a nice place. (or hang out in groups)
  • lorib642
    lorib642 Posts: 1,942 Member

    Nah, just ignore the "pros". Everyone gets called a troll here. And everyone gets dog piled on. Just ignore a bunch of those folks and the boards can be a nice place. (or hang out in groups)

    Really? I wasn't sure if I should just lurk. That is reassuring.

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