The battle with #thinspiration: the growing popularity of anorexia on social media

With young women obsessed with the ideal image of a perfect, model body, they’ve been turning to social media sites like Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr to help find weight loss motivation and incentive. This is popularly known as #thinsporation. With national eating disorder and awareness week starting Feb. 23, it’s important to come back to this question of where does someone cross the line between healthy and hurtful?

Instagram image #weightloss

Since April 2012, the pro-anorexia terms #thinspiration and #thinspo were officially banned from Instagram. But determined pro-anorexia enthusiasts have not let that get in their way and have begun using #th1nspo or #thingspogram as new hashtags according to this Huffington Post article.

It’s not a new trend, but it is still apparent in high school and college age women and it’s still growing.

“I think those who have eating disorders probably had multiple small things add up to their decision to stop eating, or whatever habits they may be, instead of just seeing these photos,” Elon University sophomore Emma Sales said. “The difference between seeing models in a magazine and seeing these photos on social media is that magazines are everywhere and models with unrealistic bodies are on the cover. But with social media, you can pick and choose what you want to follow.”

Many of these photos have before and after shots, showing a woman usually of a slightly over average size and then a photo next to the first of her after a period of time looking very thin. With the banning of certain terms along with ideally the good judgment of women being educated on the topic, people are leaning toward the healthier looking after photos rather than shooting for the bones-sticking-out look.

“There have been a few before and after photos on the Instagram accounts I follow, but I have never used a site specifically for that,” Elon University senior Kathryn Ryan said. “I think they are appealing because they show me what can happen with a little hard work, and they inspire me to workout, eat healthy and transform myself.”

Wordcloud made from various #thinspiration searches.

The idea with weight loss motivation and inspiration photos is that they say anyone can do it. But with the millions of body types out there in world, that idea as become misconstrued and over-simplified and there are young women more likely to take up unhealthy lifestyles rather than accept that fact.

Infographic from http://aa400415.wordpress.com/tag/anorexia/

“I don’t doubt that some girls are developing eating disorders due to these sites,” Elon University sophomore Brittany Crimmins said. “Sometimes those pictures make me feel so lousy about myself, but I love food too much to ever take it that far. It made me unfollow a lot of the sites with just before/after pictures and follow more of the sites with the recipes and work out tips.”

Instagram image

There are ways to combat these negative thoughts though. First, by pulling your motivation from healthy sources promoting an appropriate and non-harmful diet. Second, these young women should focus on the message that they send over their own social media sites. Instead of using #thinspiration or #skinny, a more positive #healthylifestyle would give a better understanding of healthy goals.

“I would also add words that inspire you to be the person you want to be, like ‘strong,’ ‘confident,’ ‘bold,’ and ‘daring,’” Seventeen Magazine fitness blogger Jess Weiner said. “Doing this will inspire your soul, thus giving you more inner-strength and confidence.”

“It makes you feel as if you can do anything after seeing them,” Crimmins said. “But it also worries me that many people are looking at these images and doing almost anything to get to the way these skinny girls look.”

Even for social media users that are hopeful to start leading a healthy lifestyle with these photo motivations are not immune to seeing the pro-anorexia movement.

Instagram post

“The only photo I ever saw that disturbed me was of a very thin girl, and it looked like you could almost see the outline of her stomach,” Ryan said, “It definitely didn’t inspire me like the other photos do.”

Luckily, it’s not all negative and there are many fitness accounts with positive idea and inspirations trending on the web.

Gay marriage decision in Virginia and bans in Sochi spark up controversy

Sochi 2014: where expressing beliefs or identity has the power to jeopardize athletes’ olympic dreams. Putin classifies Russia’s laws as promoting family values.

Image of Belle Brockhoff from http://www.pinknews.co.uk

Australian snowboarder Belle Brockhoff said in an interview with BBC that speaking out against the Russian “anti-gay” laws in Sochi is not worth ruining what she’s trained so hard for.

“Russia is being really strict,” Ian Luther, an Elon student from North Carolina said. “Like don’t ask don’t tell. I think people are picturing [these Olympics] to be a lot like during civil rights. But I think more likely there will be several tiffs and nothing in the long run.”

No Homo Promo Laws

Here in America there are eight states that have gay propaganda bans, which are similar to Sochi’s. Six have “no homo promo” laws and two have laws that prohibit enumeration. These limits, of course, are not as severe as those in Sochi. Visit an interactive map here that WordPress cannot support: http://www.thinglink.com/scene/490991440764076032

Map from Washingtonpost.com

Students and faculty around Elon born in North Carolina all seemed surprised that their home state did not make the list of eight. But in 2012, amendment 1 passed making it unconstitutional to recognize or preform same sex marriages or civil unions in North Carolina so a further ban on top of amendment 1 would not have a large impact.

“I think they’re moving backwards,” said Amy Glazer, an adjunct teacher at Elon University.

Is all this constitutional?

While laws are different in Sochi, are these bans limiting our free speech in the United States unconstitutionally?

“The Supreme Court has consistently found that the governments have a great deal of leeway in regulating their own speech,” said Elon media law professor Jonathan Jones. “A regulation on what can be taught about a specific topic in local school districts may very well pass constitutional muster as a valid restraint on government speech.  beyond these eight states under fire, Virginia is making news in their attempts to get the Supreme Court to decide if states banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.”

Infographic posted on June 3, 2013 on from statesthatallowgarmarriage.com

Jones said that while it’s possible to be constitutional, he believes it’s morally wrong. But a law like what is in place in Russia’s is much different and further reaching. It effects everyone in the country. Jones said a law like Russia’s applying to all citizens would clearly and unequivocally violate the First Amendment here in America.

Judge overturns same sex marriage ban in Virginia

A federal judge on Thursday ruled that the same-sex marriage ban in Virginia is unconstitutional. The original constitutional amendment passed in 2006, which respected same-sex marriages that were carried out legally in other states.

The real question though is what effect with this have on other states. According to the New York Times, many legal experts believe that Virginia’s decision along with many other states currently being in the process of deciding where they stand could send the matter to the United States Supreme Court.

“Legalize it all the way,” Elon sophomore Shelby Lewis said. ” I’d jump for joy if it was passed.”

Continuously growing support for same-sex marriage rights in America

From the http://www.washingtonpost.com

According to an article in the Washington Post, support for same-sex marriage throughout the United States has reached a new high. The survey they took shows that 58 percent of Americans now believe that it should be legal for same-sex marriage couples to get married and 36 percent say that it should be illegal.

This highly debated topic has been on the forefront of people’s minds now as change and progress continue to happen. But how much longer?

“I think it’s silly we’re even still talking about it,” Alex Lewis said, an Elon staff member from Virginia said.