I’m a recent convert to Pinterest. Pinterest is a site where you can literally pin your interests. For example, if someone is interested in jewelry, she/he can create a board to display pictures of jewelry she/he likes. The person can upload these pictures or repost pictures already posted on Pinterest. I became interested in Pinterest after a friend was talking to me about workouts she found on the site. I joined and started a board where I pinned various workouts I found. I tried one of them on Sunday, and it definitely had me breathing hard! But what bothered me when I searched for workouts and exercise on Pinterest was the lack of actual workouts and instead the numerous thinspiration photos. Thinspiration is basically what it sounds like–online communities where people post motivational pictures that promote thinness as the ideal. I find the thinspiration movement really disconcerting. For one, it equates thinness with health, which is not necessarily the case. Second, thinness, rather than health, is the goal. Losing weight is difficult, and to obtain bodies glorified in the thinspiration photos is nearly impossible for the majority of people. Followers of the thinspiration movement are striving for the unobtainable, setting themselves up for failure and chastising themselves when they fail to meet the ideal. Finally, the thinspiration movement is basically the opposite of self-acceptance. Improving your health is an admirable goal, but trying to become somebody you’re not is dangerous and mentally and physically unhealthy.
However, you really can’t blame thinspiration followers for equating health and self-worth with thinness. We’re inundated with images that constantly reinforce the thin ideal and images that tell women that their value as people rests solely on how they look. It would be a huge undertaking to change this dialogue in the media, but it’s an undertaking that should at least be attempted.
Photo attribution: tollieschmidt on Flickr.
I couldn't agree more with your points, Katie! Thin is not necessarily healthy, and the obsession too many women have with thinness often makes them physically or mentally ill. I have a relative who's been fighting anorexia most of her life, and it's a day to day struggle for her.