Happy with Tumblr's new policy.

February 23, 2012

I don’t know if anyone here has read Tumblr’s new policy regarding the promotion eating disorders and self-harm blogs, but I have to say I applaud them on this. This is coming from someone who has a strong moral against censorship, as well.

I know a lot of people who have struggled with anorexia and bulimia, I find the trend for positive support for these horrible mental illnesses really heartbreaking and scary. Among the many people I’ve known, I almost lost my sister to anorexia when she was only 9. While the reason people chose to harm themselves may be wide-ranging (even I was a cutter in my teens) I think what people need is help, not support in harming themselves further. Supporting that is really criminal, to me.

In many ways it’s bad enough to live in a society which promotes a standard of beauty which so few actually can attain. To have blogs promoting damaging and even deadly ways to attain these standards makes me feel so upset. Telling and teaching people how to destroy themselves is really hurtful—to society and to people on a one-on-one basis. I really cannot think of any reason that supporting a blog promoting how to harm yourself is ever a good thing. The only good thing I can think of, if someone DOES want to harm themselves, is offering help. For this reason, I strongly support that the blogs will be removed and that help will be given to people doing searches for these types of blogs.

And to have a slight digression, I hate how society places such a strong importance on physical appearance when it comes to a person’s worth. While we have some influence on how our bodies look, and how we adorn our naked flesh, we are born into the bodies we have. I may hate the fact that I’m really tall, and people may poke fun at me for being tall, but really I have little say in this. Why make fun of someone for this? We are at the core all the same. Someone’s character is what really adds value and worth to someone. I wish this was more of the focus on our assessment of someone’s values. Suffice it to say, I support censorship in this case.

4:24pm | URL: http://tmblr.co/Z8ktjxGvq73x

(Notes: 38)