I read an article today that stated Kate Middleton has now become the new source of what is called “thinspiration.” For those unfamiliar with the term, thinspiration is what is used to inspire men and women, boys and girls to slim down and follow mostly unhealthy eating and exercise patterns in an attempt to reach that ideal weight.
Bottom line: It’s ridiculous and completely contributes to the development and sustainment of eating disorders in our society.
The article, thankfully, did not site from which website its information came as it can feed any already existing negativity in young people and adults across the world. It’s aggravating that thinness is praised publically because eating disorders exist without the help from certain media outlets and we certainly don’t need to promote these disorders or this “thinspiration” any more than is done so already. It’s killing people.
What will it take for individuals to truly begin to accept themselves, their lives and their bodies and instead of finding unhealthy quick fixes to temporarily change their lives, why not find healthy fixes that will last decades?
I can promise you that being thin is not like how it seems and being thin can cause more problems than it is intended to correct. Being drastically underweight can cause numerous issues including sudden cardiac death from which my dear friend Penny died last August.
I am planning an additional advocacy effort that will address this concern. For now, let’s tell these website creators and thinspiration promoters to give it up already.
This Side of the Creek 
Love the article Meredith. Keep up the great work and good luck on your counseling degree!
Amen! It’s been “preached” for generations (just look at the 1950’s Barbie dolls or ads from any magazine from that era). Anyone with any sense knows that REAL women, and men, don’t look like that. Some people are naturally thin; some are naturally heavy —– we ALL just need to be HEALTHY.
I agree Meredith. I recently started reading your blog when I came across it on my friends facebook page (Imagine that). Anyway, I completely agree with what you’ve written. For years, messages of “thinspiration” have been bombarding youth and adults alike. I’d like to think that as an adult I can block out these messages to lessen the effect they have on me, but its hard when you’re constantly exposed to them. I tell the students that I teach that these messages shouldn’t impact their daily lives (that they’re unique people who are exactly perfect just the way God made them), but its hard when you feel so vulnerable to them yourself. I’ve struggled, for a large portion of my adult life, with issues surround eating and body image. Seeing articles like the ones you have cited make me angry because I know how easily they can negatively effect people’s lives and the damage that can cause. I applaud your efforts in bringing articles like these to people’s attention, because they are so detrimental to the lives of anyone who reads them. I applaud your obtaining your counseling degree to work with people, like me, who have needed the services you can provide. But most of all I applaud your strength to get through an extremely difficult obstacle (because I understand how hard it is). You rock, Meredith!
Rachel, thank you for your support and compliments. I don’t think we will ever not be exposed to such things and it’s a sad reality we must consider when going about our daily lives. I try to tell my clients when they say the word “perfect” that it’s my belief that there is no perfect. It can’t and doesn’t exist because we are all naturally flawed human beings. The biggest thing we can teach is acceptance of ourselves and the world around us. We can be and do what we want regardless of our body shape or size. It’s a tragedy when I now hear people talk to me about eating disorders and such because I know that struggle all too well. I know what it’s like to not feel thin enough, smart enough, good enough and to constantly worry that it was those negative things about myself that the world also took note of. In a word, I felt JUDGED.
The saddest part of it all is that people are dying. Men and women across the globe are falling prey to misconceptions and as a result, they are losing the very life they were trying so hard to “improve.”
Thanks for saying I rock. It’s great to hear that I can have an impact, even if small, on someone in this crazy world.
M
I agree about using the word “perfect”. When I was at my lowest point with my disease I just kept thinking “I have to be perfect. No one understands that I just have to keep this to be perfect… whether that was my appearance, my grades, my numerous extracurricular activities–essentially anything that was in any way connected to what I thought I could be judged by”. I had lost sight of my life in a sense. I was so consumed with this ideal of what was perfect that I was destroying not only my life but the lives of those around me. And the worst part of this mess is that this KEEPS happening to people. Millions of other people feel the same way I feel, and the media and articles like the one you found continue to fuel this flame. It is, for lack of better words, frustrating and disheartening all at the same time.
Also, this world is crazy for more than just this, because I just read an article in my college’s publication “The Link” talking about a 2006 alum named Meredith who recently received her Masters and has a blog called “thissideofthecreek”…its weird that we graduated from the same college and I didn’t know that until I stumbled upon your blog. haha.
Rachel, I just saw “The Link” myself… How funny! Although, some things have changed since I mailed that snippet in, but anyway…