Gender (Dis)identification in Anorexia: An Analysis of Tumblr and the Anonymity of Skinny Bodies

Abstract

Abstract Faced with the wide range of social networks on the Internet today, the platforms which offer anonymity have gained prominence among adolescents. As a platform which is home for much LGBTQIA+ activism worldwide, Tumblr has been the choice of many young people for sharing content about their lives. To research the manifestation of content about anorexia published on this social network, we investigated the presence of the hashtags #maletofemale and #femaletomale, which refer to bodies in gender transition, together with the hashtag #anorexia. After collecting and analyzing more than 10,000 posts on Tumblr, identifying subjects with a symptom that favors non-identification with a gender but with asexual bodies is perceived as if the ideal of thinness could hide the biological sex of post authors. The analysis shows the differences of the topics on anorexia posted by males, females and a transsexual group. It was observed that the identification with anorexia remains fluctuating in this network, based on a disidentification with sex. The transition is thus supported in different positions from similar bodies, almost identical and identified by their excessive thinness.