Can We Stamp Out Thinspiration on Twitter? Torri Singer Thinks We Can

Pro-anorexia (or “pro-ana”) groups have been around online for over a decade, and we first discussed them here five years ago. More recently, with the rise of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, these groups have found a new life. Often associated with the label “thinspiration,” these groups elevate the idea of being thin to a virtual religion. People who are all about thinspiration engage in disordered eating in order to be as thin as possible — a common symptom of anorexia. But they don’t see it as a disorder or a problem, making this an insidious problem. Nonetheless, such eating and self-image problems can result in health problems, even putting the individual’s life at risk. Some people have sought to get common words or terms that people engaged in thinspiration use banned from social networking websites. One such woman is Torri Singer, a broadcast journalism major who has recently begun a petition to get such terms banned from Twitter. Many social networks have already climbed aboard the bandwagon, including Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. And while such policies have been implemented, thinspiration content is still easily found on many of these networks. I suspect that’s one of the challenges of implementing a policy like this — it’s extremely difficult to police, especially if people can just slightly alter the terms they use to talk about these issues. But that hasn̵...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Tags: Anorexia Bulimia Disorders Eating Disorders General Health-related Interview Mental Health and Wellness Motivation and Inspiration Policy and Advocacy Women's Issues Adult Life Bandwagon Beautiful Girls Broadcast Journalism D Source Type: blogs