"Pro-Anorexia On Twitter : Site Allows "Thinspiration" Accounts

                  I recently read an article called, "Pro-Anorexia On Twitter : Site Allows 'Thinspiration' Accounts", on Huffington Post. This article is mainly about the "Thinspiration"(Pro-Ana or Pro-Mia) accounts that are still allowed on Twitter, which may influence several teens. Such accounts may influence the reader to want to become 'beautiful' in which in the minds of anorexic teens is being extremely thin.


              According to this article, several Pro-Ana twitter users post pictures and quotes with the hashtag #Pro-Ana or #Pro-Mia(which stands for Pro-Bulimia). Posts such as; ''I want nothing more than to be skinny. Be THAT beautiful girl everyone takes a second look at. ''. This twitter post, available in the article on Huffington Post, shows me just how many teens, adults and children can believe that being 'super skinny' is the ideal body shape. It sickens me a lot, to believe that many people get eating disorders because of what the media today represents as 'beautiful'. Usually on television, you see very tall, skinny girls represented as 'beautiful', but you never really see other types of beauty shown. Another post like, "Starting fruit diet today! Only fruits for 1 week! Who wants to join?", sickens me as well because it tells me that these girls don't even want to eat fruit which is extremely healthy and can help maintain a healthy diet, which in my opinion is better than not eating anything at all.


         If one wants to become skinny(beauty comes in all shapes and sizes), but not extremely skinny in which you're considered severely underweight, they should have a healthy lifestyle such as exercising daily, eating enough fruits & vegetables, etc. They shouldn't just eat nothing, that's not healthy.


      Pro-Anorexia sites and accounts encourage the readers and viewers lose an unhealthy amount of weight and also tell them to not seek help for their eating disorders. But looking at the other side, these sites and accounts are a place where girls can build a bond with others who feel the same way. In a way, they could help each other by talking amongst people who feel the same way, but exchanging ''thinspirational' quotes, discouraging treatment for eating disorders, and losing an extremely unhealthy amount of weight is just not right.




   The author wants me to think about this problem, by showing us some of girls' tweets. The author doesn't really have a side throughout the article because she does mention what Elizabeth Nolan Brown said about the Pro-Ana accounts & sites, because Elizabeth herself used and went on these sites & accounts. Elizabeth Nolan Brown had argued, " Is part of this about swapping eating disorder tips? Of course. but in addition ... it's about building friendships, building community, building a support system. It's about realizing that you are not the only one who feels and behaves this way".


   Well after reading this article, I've started thinking about this problem more. I could see what these teenagers are going through because I was once anorexic, myself. I used to believe that being extremely skinny was considered beautiful, and the media may have influenced me to believe this. I had lost an unhealthy amount of weight that year, and I'm glad I came to realize that what I was doing wasn't good or else I still would've been that girl who believes that she'll never be beautiful because she isn't 'thin enough'