I wrote a post last year about thinspiration (aka, thinspo) and it’s still garnering some attention. 
I just received this comment, in fact, and I do think the author of it makes some intriguing points (even if I don’t necessarily agree with her):
I think calling it demeaning is incorrect, in my opinion. Obviously your entitled to yours. I don’t get the feeling from it that anyone who looks at thinspo is supposed to be made to feel discusting or of less-worth then those in the pictures, if those viewing it have low self asteam they might… I don’t. To me it …read more

I have just become aware of pro-thinspo websites that claim to be different from pro-ana websites.  Personally, I find them rather similar… they even share many of the same “thinspiration” images”.
Have you heard of these sites?  What’s your opinion?  Can you be pro-thinspo (i.e., want to be super skinny) without having an eating disorder?

I admit it — I like Deceiver.com.  It’s a fun site to peruse when you’re determined to spend just another few minutes procrastinating.
Today, Deceiver’s uber bloggers are kvetching about Victoria Beckham.  She’s claiming that it hurts her to have people say she’s abusing (or using in any form) diet pills. 
I’m not sure where to start with that one.
First of all, the woman is obviously too thin for her frame.  As one of Deceiver’s commenters pointed out, she has a “Pez Head” look (i.e., her body is much too small for her face.) 
(I had to chuckle wryly at this one — I don’t know that the …read more

You know, I talk a lot about people I see and know who are anorexic, bulimic, et cetera. 
But I’m starting to wonder if “thin” is still “in” the way it once was?
When I look through many women’s mags, I notice that the models are lean, but not scrawny.  Typically, they look pretty fit rather than pretty deathly.
Is this a new trend?  Has thinspiration started to slowly change to “fit-spiration”?

Thinspiration — also known as “thinspo” — is all over the Internet.  Really, if you want to find it, you can do so with a few simple keystrokes. 
As the Breaking the Mirror blogger, I find myself regularly investigating images and videos that could be considered “thinspo” in the name of investigation.  But some nights, like this evening, I’ve had to deliberately stop looking at them even though I’ve found some provocative stories that I’d love to share with readers.
You see, if I’m to be perfectly frank (and I don’t think you’d want it any other way), those thinspo pics still have …read more

I am kind of a blog statistics freak in that I love to see which Breaking the Mirror posts attract visitors time and again.
Consequently, I thought I’d share the top posts (as of today, May 31, 2008) by their month of origin:
May 2008:  Pro-Ana, Thinspiration, ED Stories — Break the Mirror Today! (went live 5/1/2008) 
April 2008:  In Mauritania, anorexics looking for love would be out of luck (went live 4/27/2008)
March 2008:  Is Adderall an Anorexic’s “Best Friend”?  (went live 3/16/2008)
February 2008:  The Challenge:  Fall In Love… with Yourself  (went live 2/1/2008)
January 2008:  If Renaissance Painters’ Muses Had Been Anorexic… (went live 1/14/2008)
December 2007:  “I …read more

I became anorexic in the 1980s.  This means I had no Internet to turn to for my thinspiration, no images immediately accessible with a tap of the keyboard.
But I still had thinspiration.  It just came in the form of books and articles.
I’ve always loved to read and when I discovered there were fiction and non-fiction accounts of girls striving to be thin JUST LIKE I WAS, I greedily gobbled them up (instead of gobbling up food.) 
I learned a great deal from these thinspo devices… and what I came away with was not what the authors intended, I assure you.  In …read more

… just let me know. 
I’m not putting this here to offend anybody, so if you’re naturally thin, please know that I think you’re terrific.  I just think it’s ironic that so many non-ED people see Kate Moss as a “twig”, while those with EDs (and I would have included myself in this category once-upon-a-time) see her as thinspiration.
The photo is from Lolcats ‘n’ Funny Pictures and I couldn’t resist sharing…

more cat pictures

First of all, thinspiration (or thinspo) is used by pro-ana and pro-mia advocates around the world and provides vision cues to them to stop eating.  Pictures of rail-thin women and guys are plastered around the web, ostensibly to give willpower to anorexics and bulimics.
Of course, all pro-recovery sites like Breaking the Mirror talk about the dangers of thinspo.  That’s nothing new.
But could thinspiration be truly useful in some situations?  I mean, people without eating disorders tend to use “thinspiration”, too. 
For instance, a gal who wants to return to her pre-pregnancy weight may put pics of her years ”before kids” around the house as …read more

Little did I know that I would become a Bollywood Blogger, but here is yet another story from India and the Middle East.
I came across an article on Zee News that suggests Indian actress Kareena Kapoor’s shrinking body is a kind of thinspiration to her colleagues/competition.  (Not familiar with Ms. Kapoor?  See previous Breaking the Mirror posts here and here.)
Says the Zee News Bureau (and remember that this is kind of tabloid-y material, so it’s certainly not gospel):
“…after the hot and sultry Kareena Kapoor flaunted her gorgeous size zero body in YRF’s ‘Tashan’, her contemporaries have taken notice of it… and are wanting to …read more