Pinterest Bans Pro Eating Disorders Boards
The newest kid on the social media block, Pinterest has taken a stand against pro eating disorder media on their site.
The Victorian is a community of professional women who work very hard, day in and day out to nurture our clients back from their eating disorders. Many people are shocked to hear that there are communities of women all over the world trying to do the exact opposite. Widely known as communities that call themselves Pro-Ana, meaning Pro-Anorexic or Pro-Mia, meaning Pro-Bulimic. They have community sites called, “Pro Ana Blogs” and “Thinspiraton Websites.” These communities encourage starvation, purging and other eating disorder behaviors in order to obtain thin figures.
Due to the work of Social Media Watch Dogs, like the National Eating Disorder Association many of these community sites have been shut down. The groups that have spoken up on behalf of all women in eating disorder recovery have blasted against social media in news, magazines, twitter and more. They demand these social media enterprises be responsible for the content they allow on their sites. In the past they have been successful with cooperation from Facebook and Tumblr who have shut communities down.
This week they came to a healthy agreement with one other social media mogul Pinterest. Pinterest is the newest social media kid on the block; the website allows users to link images of their favorite images, crafts, recipes, articles, clothing and design inspiration from around the web. The unfortunate thing was many people from the Pro-Ana and Pro-Mia community were using the site to post images encouraging each other of their unhealthy and deadly pursuits. Thankfully Pinterest has sent out new terms of service prohibit posting content that "creates a risk of harm, loss, physical or mental injury, emotional distress, death, disability, disfigurement, or physical or mental illness to yourself, to any other person, or to any animal.” In other words as of April 6th 2012 thinspiration boards will be banned.
To check out The Victorians healthy, inspiring Pinterest board click HERE!
Happy Recovery,
Irvina
