Tuesday, March 6, 2012

My Opinion: Tumblr's New Self-Harm Policy

Hello you all, I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while but I swear have several drafts that just never got finished!

So, as you may not know, I write for my school's online newspaper and one of the other journalists (Hannah Ellefritz) wrote about Tumblr's new policy on the promotion of self-harm, which they're defining as content promoting self-mutilation, suicide, and eating disorders.

As you can imagine I'm going to be primarily talking about my opinion regarding their new ban on the glorification of eating disorders. You probably think that I of all people think this is a great policy change, and I do in most respects. The reason Tumblr is just now updating their site with this policy is because they wanted the website to be a place where users can fully express themselves, their ideals, and their feelings regardless of the content.

Most of you probably know that I have a blog on Tumblr, I have 2 actually. One is my public page that I tell my friends about, but the other is a blog promoting my eating disorder. I reblog thinspiration pictures and my progress; well, I used to. I am subscribed to a lot of thinspiration blogs on Tumblr even though I eat relatively normally now and I still reblog some of the pictures they post because even though I know it's unhealthy I think it's beautiful and that's still what I want my body to be.

When I heard about this policy change, I will admit, I felt worried, sad, and anxious. I've been fighting with anorexia for a long time and this past year or so...it's been taken away from me. Yes, anorexia is terrible and I felt weak all the time, but it's a part of me. It's a part of who I've been for the majority of my life. I've grown accustomed to hating myself and the way I look and that became my life, it still is my life. Now I go about the whole thing in a healthier way but...I'll be honest, it's hard to have this taken away.

Whenever I logged onto Tumblr and I saw all those perfect girls I felt somewhat comforted. Now, my blog will probably be taken down along with all the thinspiration blogs I follow. I do think this is a good policy change and it will probably help to prevent people like me from relapsing, I feel a strong sense of loss.

Please don't think that I'm against this change. I don't think that thinspiration, self-mutilation, suicide, or any other self-harm should be promoted or glorified. It just may take me a while to "recover" from losing this part of my life entirely. Losing those pictures, that community of people who are all going through exactly what you're going through. I'll get over it. Hopefully this policy helps everyone with this disorder and prevents future  men and women from having this terrible disease.

If you'd like to read the article on the M-A Bear News website, click here.

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