Race, Online Space and the Feminine: Unmapping ‘Black Girl Thinspiration’

Abstract

A major component of the online pro-eating disorder culture (‘pro-ana’ and ‘pro-mia’) is what is referred to as ‘thinspiration’ or ‘thinspo’, which consists of images, slogans and videos aimed at inspiring the pursuit of extreme thinness. More recently, there is a specific kind of thinspiration, labeled online as ‘black girl thinspiration’, that seeks to inspire black women to reject fuller-figured body shapes as beautiful and responsible. Through the application of a spatial analysis, I contend that pro-eating disorder environments are spaces where women attempt to de-mark their racialized bodies through hard work, will-power and mastery over their desires. Theorizing from critical race and feminist postmodern perspectives, this article disrupts the white hegemony and privilege of the thin ideal. This disruption is achieved through unmapping how modern capitalism, sexism, and racism operate in unison to produce women who starve, purge, abuse laxatives and hate their bodies, while highlighting the tremendous violence embedded in these practices.