The topic de jour over at Shopping Cart Disco is the appearance of a Flickr group devoted to skinny avs called "Thinspo". This in and of itself might not be problematic, but the pro-eating disorder mentality it fosters is. You've not heard of thinspo? Read this. Now I know what you're saying. You're saying, "But Dot, people can be anything they want in SL." I agree. But do we really need yet more advocacy of unrealistic body images? And that's what bothers me: the active promotion of such an insidiously destructive lifestyle. Go over to Shopping Cart Disco and read Stein Shilova's comment about the effects of eating disorders. What, you're still here? Go!
I suppose the counter argument is that the Thinspo Flickr group will get lost in the tidal wave of pretty skinny girls that inundates us every single day in sl and rl and people are just over-reacting to the latest provocation. Still, I can't let this pass by without comment. I spent so much time coming to terms with my RL body that to have another shape in SL seems almost a betrayal of that effort (please note: I am not saying that my AV looks like me. The phenotype, however, is accurate. I'm *much* cuter in RL.) When I was but a young av, I was asked many many times if I were pregnant and was offered many suggestions about how to be taller, thinner, "prettier". Fuck. That. There is enough cultural bias and bullshit surrounding body images to last us our first lives, second lives, and third through tenth lives. So, here I am, in all my glory, and I'm happy to be me:
