Thinspo: What It Is and How It Impacts Body Image

The term "thinspo" is short for “thinspiration” and refers to content that promotes thinness and encourages disordered eating and exercise patterns to become thin. The trend began on social media and has reached a large following. 

Understanding Thinspo Culture

Thinspo promotes thinness and is intended to be inspirational in order to achieve an unhealthy body goal.

Images on social media promoting thinspo include protruding backbones, shoulder blades, and emancipated-looking faces, along with messages promoting unhealthy habits like “Pretty girls don’t eat” and “Skip dinner, be thinner.” Some hashtags tied to the content include #thinspiration #thinspo #skinny and #thin. 

“This content is extremely harmful as it encourages eating disorder behaviors and increases body dissatisfaction,” said Elizabet Altunkara, LMSW, director of education at the National Eating Disorders Association. 

What Is Pro-Ana and Pro-Mia?

Pro-ana refers to websites and content that put anorexia in a positive light despite it being an
eating disorder.

People with anorexia tend to avoid food or severely restrict what they eat or they may diet or exercise too much due to fear of weight gain, no matter how underweight they are. This is because anorexia and other eating disorders are mental health conditions in which an individual often has a distorted perception of their body weight.

Pro-mia refers to websites and content that promote bulimia. Bulimia is an eating disorder involving a person binging or overeating food regularly and then vomiting or using laxatives to rid themselves of the food to prevent weight gain.

While pro-ana and pro-mia overtly praise anorexia and bulimia as lifestyles, Cynthia M. Bulik, PhD, founding director of the University of North Carolina Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders, said thinspo more subtly encourages the same behaviors.

Thinspo Can Be Triggering to Those With Eating Disorders

“[Thinspo] can be highly triggering for people with current eating disorders, with past eating disorders, and those vulnerable to developing eating disorders," Bulik said.

Bulik also notes that it can wreak havoc on people's self-esteem as thinspo sets impossible standards.

Is Thinspo the Same Thing as 'Heroin Chic?'

Heroin chic refers to a style and look that became popular in the 1990s due to the ways models looked in advertisements and commercials. Think Calvin Klein ads. The look of the models resembled how those who use heroin or other heavy drugs might look—extremely thin, with dark circles under the eyes, and unkept hair. 

“The underlying notions in thinspo and heroin chic are similar, in that they both glorify an appearance that is achieved by engaging in dangerous health behaviors,” said Altunkara. 

Thinspo and Eating Disorders

Thinspo can drive eating disorders since it may lead to an obsession with thinness, which may trigger disordered eating and exercise patterns, said Altunkara. 

In a 2023 study, researchers examined whether exposure to content that promotes thinspo and fitspiration (extreme exercise to reach ideal body image) predicted women's body dissatisfaction (BD), happiness, and disordered eating (DE) such as binge eating/purging, restrictive eating, and exercise.

The researchers found that thinspo was related to BD and DE urges.

Thinspo and Body Image

Body dissatisfaction is a risk factor in developing an eating disorder, explained Altunkara. 

“Individuals who are exposed to [thinspo] content may experience body dissatisfaction, a distorted perception of their own appearance, and feelings of shame, anxiety, and self-consciousness,” she said. 

Research shows that age is an important factor when it comes to being influenced by highly-visual social media content, mostly affecting:

• Younger adolescents
• Women and other groups who strongly associate their appearance with attractiveness and self-worth 
  

She pointed out that thinspo impacts body image in the following ways:

• Comparison to people who have a certain “look” that is held up as a body ideal
• Feeling inferior to others who meet the societal thin ideal
• Feeling like a failure in trying to meet thinness goals
• Encouragement of unhealthy behaviors to try to reach a thinness ideal
• Never feeling like you are good enough or thin enough
• Failing to understand that for many people who appear to meet a thinness ideal, it is their full-time job and might have personal trainers, budgets, and time that many people don’t have
• The constant feeling that you “should” be doing more
• Taking away the joy in movement and exercise because you are always using it to try to reach some ideal
  

How to Develop a Healthy Body Image

The following can help nourish a healthy body image. 

Examine your views on food and body perception

Looking at your beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors around food, physical appearance, and body image and identifying behaviors that could contribute to a negative body image is a start, said Altunkara. 

Appreciate What Your Body Allows You to Do

Rather than focusing on what is “wrong” with your body, try feeling grateful for what it allows you to experience in the world.

One way to do this is through mindfulness techniques that encourage you to become more attuned to your body, such as square breathing or wave breathing, which can help you get in touch with the power of breath in helping your body to feel alive and calm.

Bulik suggests doing a body inventory and focusing on all of the ways your body helps you move through the world. For instance, think of how your lungs help you breathe or how your nose lets you smell the scent of beautiful flowers.

Avoid the Comparison Trap

When exposed to social media content and images that promote a certain ideal appearance, try to gain perspective of what the content is pushing. By doing this, you can avoid comparing your body to those images and messages. 

Remind yourself that many images on social media have filters on them and are usually someone's highlight reel. Always be mindful of the content your are consuming and take note of how it makes you feel.

Create a List of Things You Like About Yourself

Write down between five and ten things you like about yourself that have nothing to do with your physical appearance, such as being a good friend, performing well at work, volunteering for your favorite organization, and so on.

Keep adding to the list as you think of more and read it often, especially when you find yourself critiquing your physical appearance.

Spend Time With People Who Build You Up

If you’re constantly around people who put a lot of value and conversation around physical appearances and body size or who feed into the thinspo culture, it can be hard not to think about those things all the time.

Try to find people who support you for who and what you are now. Their positivity can make it easier to feel good about yourself.