Thinspired?

August 29, 2006

This is probably a really strange post. There are a few things I don’t really have much of a grasp on. British comedy is one. Scheduling is a second. Taxation and superannuation are another couple. However, one thing I definately struggle to understand is the pro-ana concept.

I mean, I get the whole self-image thing, the self-esteem thing, etc., but after somehow coming across a few of the thinspirational videos up on YouTube, the phenomenon as a whole just escapes me. It just seems like people hoping to be in a car crash or something.

If you have the stomach for it (maybe a bad turn of phrase), there are plenty of video blogs kept by pro-anas to be found, although the title seems to mean different things to different people, and the thinspirational clips are an (I’m not quite sure what the correct adjective is here) insight into what makes some people keep ticking. The fanatical overuse of ‘perfection‘, Olsens and other motivators are a little bit eerie.

Just for the record, I’m neither pro- nor anti-ana, nor do I find it a particular turn-on or turn-off, it’s just something that piqued my interest tonight after YouTube stumbling. Whether social-networking sites, such as YouTube or LiveJournal, have played a part in the slight repopularisation of these types of concepts and what effect that is having is a topic for another day.

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