I love using Pinterest, but there’s a phenomenon that’s inescapable.
Thinspiration. (aka thinspo)
Thinspiration is content (generally, images and mantras) designed to motivate people (mostly women) to stay on their diets. While health motivation is a good thing, thinspo often goes too far, and promotes becoming too thin. Some women claim to be naturally extremely thin, but for many women, it’s unhealthy – but thinspo encourages women to strive for that goal anyway.
There are two main types of thinspo: typical and reverse.

This is a typical piece of thinspo: showing a real-life woman who is extremely thin.

“Reverse thinspo” is usually images of extremely obese people.
Thinspo generally presents these two extremes as one-or-the-other: if you’re not thin, you’re obese.
Sometimes, thinspo doesn’t have an image of a person at all, but instead glamorizes not eating with words.

This type of “motivation” was started in the pro-anorexia (pro-ana) movement, so girls with eating disorders would stay committed to their dysfunctional relationship with food. It’s risen in popularity – even though some social networking sites are banning it. In all fairness, Pinterest has technically banned it, too – but the ban is only as good as its enforcement, and I still see lots of thinspo posted.
So, it’s time for body-positive people of every size to take back social media sites. It’s time for us to stand up against thinspiration on all of our social networking sites, because it’s at best damaging to self esteem and at worst, dangerous.
It’s time for…. (dun dun duuunnnnn)…. GRINspiration!
So, help me, readers. On your Pinterest, Tumblr,Facebook, Twitter or other favorite social networking site, spread this new idea. Let everyone know there’s an alternative to thinspo, and it’s grinspo!
Beyond just posting the image I created, post photos that demonstrate beauty in all sizes. Show bodies in action, people laughing, and the rich colors of international traditional clothing.
We only get one body, so we might as well love it!




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