I don’t post or follow thinspo. I unfollow any blogs that do. Don’t take it personally.
I also don’t follow thinspo masquerading as ‘fitspo’. In general, anything involving “oh my gosh I wish I had this person’s ____” where ____ is a body part rather than a skill or talent or incredible ability puts me right the hell off, even if the person in question is extremely athletic. Again, not personal, but it really, really bugs me when I browse the fitness-related tags on Tumblr and all I see are very lean (usually tall, white, etc) Crossfit girls or fitness models or what have you.
I’m not denying these folks are athletic and inspiring, but seriously. If you want Hope Solo’s shoulders because they help her be an amazing goal keeper, great. If you want Serena Williams’ ass because it makes her a fucking awesome tennis player, awesome. But if you’re writing the sentence “oh my gosh I want [athlete]’s abs” for any other reason than the fact that maybe that athlete has crazy core stability that allows them to excel in their sport or whatever the hell else, I really don’t understand how it’s any different than the fetishization of thigh gaps and rib cages over at #thinspo and #skinny.
I don’t mean to shit all over the people who have aesthetics in mind as their fitness goal (and, let’s face it, almost every human being cares about that at least a little). Bodybuilders and all you other folks, keep on with your bad selves; your goals are not my goals, but I’m not trashing you. What I mean, I guess, is this weird body-worship of one aesthetic (white, lean, thin women), that’s very similar to the thinspo generally posted (white, thin women who are not necessarily lean), in almost the exact same manner as the latter community while bending over backwards declaring how you’re ‘not like those people’ and how ‘healthy’ you are is really fucking weird, especially to someone to whom thinspo stuff is very, very familiar. It’s like saying ‘don’t worry! It’s okay to look at thinspo, so long as we pretend it’s not really thinspo!’ And while I’m sure there are people who have recovered, or have never had EDs, who haven’t struggled with this stuff enjoy and post it, and maybe just really like that particular physical ideal, but I feel like that for a certain percentage of folks, a lot of the ‘fitspo’ posted to Tumblr might be just as triggery or harmful as the ‘thinspo’.
Just my $0.02.
