Thinspiration (thinspo)
Thinspiration is material created to motivate those trying to loose weight, and commonly comes in the form of quotes, lyrics, gifs and photos. Thinspo can range from being very mild and promoting healthy weightloss, to glorified images of extremely emaciated bodies. Thinspiration is often featured on pro-ana websites, and is often used by sufferers to compare against their own bodies.
This material can be harmful as it is manipulative and provides a very skewed image of body image and what is good or healthy, even if it may seem harmless, positive and motivational.
It often associates food with guilt and corruption and thinness as an 'achievement' that is pure, beautiful and correct. More extreme thinspo often uses religious imagery- associating 'glorious' emaciation with angels and heaven.
The majority of pro-ana blogs and forums have specific sections for posting and sharing thinspo. However, it is also almost un-avoidable on websites such as tumblr, weheartit.com and instagram, and very easy to find or stumble across despite efforts to censor this material.
When someone is exposed to these messages frequently- whether intentionally seeking out thinspo or just regularly coming across it on their instagram feed- it can easily begin to subconsciously distort their own self image and idea of what is 'normal' or 'desirable'.
Below: Examples of mild and moderate thinspo
 
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