| | Yet another other posts inspired post.
Since Xanga has switched to the random top blogs (a change which I rather enjoy, but this isn't about that), I have seen a number of "thinspo" sites hit the front page. Now I'll be blunt, these sites make my stomach churn. They are full of people, usually girls, starving themselves to death, only to have other girls encourage and congratulate them on their "progress." It is absolutely disgusting.
I have mentioned before that I was once underweight. Not for image reasons, but due to being unable to afford more than 100 or so calories a day. For the sake of illustration, I'd like to show you me from then.
First off, here's me today. Or moreso, yesterday at the time of this posting:
That's me, 5'8", 135 lbs. Waist size 31" (Apologies for the camera in the way and the poor white balance, my camera is a bit broken at the moment, and that was the best of the two usable shots of about 30). At that weight, there is a hint of a stomach, but also the hint of a ribcage. All and all, I'd say I look rather healthy at that weight.
Que me, circa 2007:
This is the only photo of me from that time. I took it as a pose reference for a drawing. In any case, notice the pose os rather relaxed, shoulders slouched forward slightly, no precaution to make me appear thinner. In fact, that pose probably makes me look larger than I was. Then note that my left three ribs (your right) are visable. That's what happens when you are 5'8" and 120 lbs. The extent at which my pelvis jutted out cannot be seen in this photo, but to give an idea, I had a 28" waist. Not very attractive, is it.
And therein lies my first point. A skeletal figure is far from attractive. In fact, it's fucking gross.
At the time, I had friends express concern about my weight and eating habits. I'll be honest, I didn't think I had a problem, and thought I looked healthy. I thought they were overreacting. Looking back, I now know they were right.
So what is "healthy?" One main guide is the Body Mass Index (BMI). Admittedly, BMI tends to place those with large muscle mass into the overweight category, but that's not the end we're concerned with, and regarding the muscle issue, well, considering the concern these "thinspired" people tend to have with weight, this problem would end up meaning that with decent muscle mass, they appear on the BMI scale as higher than they should, which you will shortly see is a bad thing. Also note the underweight limit varies from 18.5 to 20. For this exercise, we'll give the thinspos as much leeway as possible and go with the 18.5 figure.
Anyhow, the chart.
I've placed a few points of interest. First off, the red dots. Those are my lightest weight, current weight, and heaviest weight. You'll notice that at my lightest, I was plainly in the underweight section, and have approached, at most, the upper end of healthy. That combined with the photos should give an idea of those ratios.
The green x's, that's some common weight goals I see these thinspo people after, compared to the maximum healthy height for that weight. So girls going after 90 lbs, unless you are 4'10" or shorter (and I know almost none of you are), your fucking underweight. 100 lbs? 5'1 1/2." An allegedly fat 110 lbs? If you're 5'4" or taller, it ain't fat, it's too skinny.
The pink x's, well, that's a couple points I brought in for added effect. Those dots represent this woman:
That's right. Marylin freaking Monroe. A woman widely regarded as one of, if not the most beautiful women in history. Admittedly, these figures were from a simple google search, but they seemed rather common. At her lightest, Marylin was 118 pounds, putting her 5'5" self solidly in the healthy range from her lightest weight of 115 lbs to her heaviest of 140.
The point in that figure: Marylin freaking Monroe was heavier than you freaking thinspo girls. And she looked damned good.
Anyhow, let's get some more charts:
(Note: These charts use 20 as BMI healthy/underweight cutoff)
These charts show BMI, as well as the Devine, Robinson, and Miller formulas for ideal weight. A quick explination
The Devine formula was developed for administering proper doses of a few medications. It has the problem of giving very low ideal weights for short women.
The Robinson formula was developed after the Devine formula to compensate based on population data. It's biggest problem is low ideal weights for tall men.
I was unable to discover any history on the Miller formula
In any case, my same three sets of data points are available, with the added bonus of the 90, 100, and 110 weight points plotted on the ideal weight formula lines. Even the Devine formula, which is known for giving low ideal weights for short women, agrees that a 4'10" girl should not be lighter than 90 lbs.
And I still have one more chart.
This one also has the healthy/underweight cutoff at 20, rather than 18.5. The reason I brought in this chart is the furthers left bar, the bar between underweight and severely underweight/anorexic. International BMI standards place that line at 16.5, but again, let's give the thinspo people the edge here, just to show how unhealthy it is.
90 lbs. If you are 5'3" or over, you are severely underweight. 5'4" is the US average for women. Sorry to break it to you, thinspo girls, because I know a lot of you meet this or have this as a goal, but you are fucking dieing here. Pretty is no good when you are dead.
Moving to the magic 100 lbs. 5'6 1/2" is the cutoff. I still know plenty of girls this height, so there's still a fair share of girls out there killing themselves the drop that digit off their weight.
The dreaded 110, well, at this point you're taller than me, standing at 5'9 1/2" Tall for women, but consider that. 110 seems to be dreaded by the thinspo girls, and if the height cutoff for killing yourself at 110 is almost as tall as the average man (5'10"), then odds are you aren't fat, you're dieing.
So I have said it before and I mean it. If you are one of these people trying to kill yourself over these absurd weight goals, I will do to you what my friends did to me. I will force a god damned double quarter pounder with cheese down your throat so you don't fucking die. When you come to your senses, you'll thank me. I thank my friends who did it to me. |
| | Posted 6/22/2009 5:26 AM - 96 Views - 18 eProps - 15 comments
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I came across this blog thanks to a recommendation from a fellow Xangan. If I could, I'd give you a literal standing ovation for this post. I was diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa when I was 14, and the past 6 years have been a constant effort to maintain a relatively normal mindset/physical state. I'm still underweight according to statistics, but I'm in a healthier, more goal/happiness-oriented mindset--so the weight will arrive with time. Seeing my own jarring before and after pictures has helped me see just precisely how terrible I looked when I was at my sickest, and how genuinely happy I appeared at my healthiest. This is all extremely helpful and informative, even from my standpoint, where I already know the reality as your text delivers it. It puts things back into perspective for me, because mental disorders ( or diseases, whatever one wants to term them ) have a talent of muddying otherwise clear, straightforward waters. I guess one thing that a lot of people tend to forget is that there are issues underneath the battle with food. People wouldn't starve themselves, binge, or cause themselves other forms of bodily harm unless there was something, some notion inside of them driving them to it. I'm not saying that makes it any less of a choice--because people can make the choice to get better--but it's not as simple as forcing food down their throats. Basically, from my personal experience, weight-loss is a symptom of deeper trauma. Treating the weight-loss will cure physical disruptions, but it will not alleviate the mental disturbances, thus the disordered will resort back to old behaviors. Generally, anyway. It's a tricky thing to fight, because it appears under the disguise of vanity, which makes it all the more difficult to comprehend for 'normal' non-sufferers when they are told that it's got little to do with it. The whole 'Thinspiration' trend, at any rate, absolutely disgusts me, and has from the beginning. I've never divulged in such things, and though I can understand how some might find it appealing, I can only imagine the problems they have that drive them to find it so. Great, informative, eye-opening blog. More people should see this.