A blog called FitshionVsFatshion received the following from Tumblr after the account was deactivated:

The blog had been reported repeatedly by some “fatshion” bloggers because they felt that the blog was mocking them. In response, Tumblr shut down the blog and sent that message about eating disorders.

A Bit on Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are a real problem that affect a small portion of the population. These are not a new problem, they are not due to “wanting to be thin because of thin culture” or being inspired by a slim woman in a magazine. In fact, the first eating disorders recorded in the western world were mentioned centuries ago; anorexia is recorded as early as the 12th and 13th centuries, with bulimia in the Middle Ages[1].

Eating disorders are signs of an underlying problem; they are the manifestation of a problem in the suffer’s life and, often tied to an issue with anxiety[2]. The eating disorder is not the problem, but a manifestation of a problem such anxiety or depression. Skipping a meal, focusing on appearance, and eating too much in one sitting do not an eating disorder make. If you decide to go on a crash diet by eating 200 calories a day, this does not make you anorexic. It is a mental condition, not just a behavior.

Not everyone who has an eating disorder is thin. Binge Eating Disorder (BED), for example, is characterized by consuming far too many calories and marked by a feeling of being out of control. This is not bulimia as it is not accompanied by purging, and thus the person experiences a weight gain.





Yes, this could be the face of someone with an eating disorder.

Eating disorders also occur in athletes[3]. Women who are judged aesthetically in their sport, such as with figure skating, are at the highest risk for developing an eating disorder. Males and females participating in individually-scored sports as opposed to refereed sports are also at a higher risk (13% vs 3%).

You cannot diagnose someone with an eating disorder simply by looking at that person. In the United States, eating disorders affect between 2% and 6% of the population. “Anorexia nervosa, a potentially fatal disease, is estimated to affect approximately 0.5-2% of the U.S. population, while bulimia nervosa is estimated to occur within the U.S. population at 1%-4%. Binge Eating Disorder is thought to affect up to 25 million individuals.”[4]

In other words, no one body type can be tagged as, “That person has an eating disorder”, and the prevalence of eating disorders in the population is so low that you’d probably be wrong anyway.

For more information, please read through the sources and educate yourself on the diagnostic criteria for eating disorders[5].

Why That Message Promotes Hypocrisy and Ignorance

That being said, let’s get back to what inspired this post:

After reading through the above on eating disorders, hopefully you can immediately spot why Tumblr was in error sending this out to a blog simply because it included bodies that were well within a normal BMI range. “But Lee, perhaps they’re just covering their ass, just in case” you might be thinking. If that’s the case, knowing that BED affects the population as well, it seems that every fatshion blog should likewise be shut down for potentially promoting eating disorders. According to the above quote, bulimia might affect as high as 4% of the US population but BED may affect as high as 25 million people in the US.

Current US population: 318,884,000

BED sufferers in US: 25,000,000

Percent of US that may have BED: 7.8%

Even using the more conservative 2.8%[6], that’s still higher than those with anorexia and bulimia.

That is to say, if Tumblr is covering their ass by shutting down blogs that might promote eating disorders, they would be more likely to hit an ED blog by shutting down the blogs of those that promote fat bodies.

What About All the Other ED Blogs?

Of course, this is all under the assumption that Tumblr shut down the account (and the previous one) in order to prevent eating disorders from being promoted. It seems strange, then, that Thinspo101, Forever-Ana-Mia, Fat-Ana-Mia, Bonequinha-Ana-Mia, Anamiathinspiration, Broken-Mia, Ana-Mia-Universe, etc. all are allowed to exist.

It seems to me that the blog was reported too many times by fatshion bloggers, people who claim to be body positive and promote body acceptance while promoting that health can be at any size, no one should be ashamed of their bodies, and more high-five-we-all-are-awesome platitudes.

Why, then, would people who claim to be body positive report people for having different bodies that they’re positive about? If health can come in every size, why not slim?

What is this really about, and why does Tumblr enable this mentality? Is it just lack of care with receiving reports? This post from the Tumblr staff might help:

If you do not appreciate Tumblr’s selective enforcement on eating disorders and their willingness to label people well within the BMI as having an eating disorder, please sign this petition.

In short:

-It is a slap in the face to people that work hard on their bodies to have them written off as “anorexia” or “bulimia”

-It is a slap in the face to actual sufferers of eating disorders

-If we’re taking the “better safe than sorry” approach, based on the statistics Tumblr should be jumping on every fatshion blog for potentially promoting ED as BED affects more of the population than ED types that cause thinness

-There are many pro-ED blogs on Tumblr that aren’t shut down

Sources

1. Psychology Today. A History of Eating Disorders.

2. Anxiety and Depression Association of America. Eating Disorders.

3. National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. Eating Disorder Statistics.

4. Rader Programs. Prevalence of Eating Disorders.

5. The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness. What Are Eating Disorders?

6. Eating Disorder Hope. Eating Disorder Statistics & Research.