Open Letter to Six Apart: On Anorexia
Aug. 11th, 2007 12:16 pmThere are many reasons to be irritated at Six Apart right now. The piss-poor customer relations. The unclear standards. The sudden deletions. The double standards that seem to be impacting fandom more than anyone else. The blanket label of "child pornography" in reference to art depicting Harry Potter at the age of 18 or higher, because Harry Potter is always a child, even though he was 38 at the end of the canon books and has fathered three children of his own. Yeaaaaaaaaaah. So, yes, there are many reasons why Six Apart is currently worthy of extreme bitch-slappery right now.
However, one thing pissed me off more than anything else, and on a deeply personal level. The people of Six Apart want to ban LJ users under the guise of child pornography accusations, on the premise that our fanart is harmful and subversive and horrible. However, somewhere in the middle of this stupid wank-fest, Six Apart is presented with the fact that there are pro-anorexia groups (not support groups for anorexic people trying to recover, but groups that actually treat anorexia like the best fad diet and a positive lifestyle) using LJ communities are their bases of operation. In response,![[info]](https://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
coffeechica simply states that they think those groups are fine, and that there's nothing wrong with wanting to be thin.
I don't think I have ever, EVER been more DISGUSTED by a blatant display of idiocy than this. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be thin, right? Oh, my dear, dear![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
carrie, you know not what you say. Or, at least, I HOPE you don't have a bloody clue as to the filthy can of worms you just opened. I really HOPE you don't know how ignorant and stupid you're being. Because if you actually have a clue as to the real nature of anorexia and other eating disorders, then you are lower than a foul, loathesome, evil little cockroach. Let me tell you a few things about eating disorders, seeing as it seems you can't tell the difference between a diet and a mental illness.
So,carrie, is that what you want to support? Is that Six Apart's stand on eating disorders? There's nothing wrong with wanting to be thin, right? Even if young, impressionable teenage and pre-teen girls are reading this stuff and starving themselves when they've barely reached puberty? Even if these girls, after getting sucked in, aren't "good enough anorexics" and kill themselves out of sheer self-loathing? Or if they overdose on diet pills and suffer heart attacks at the age of sixteen?
You say you want to snuff out child pornography to "protect the children". Do you know how many teenage girls develop eating disorders because of the pressures of society? Do you understand that by condoning and publicly stating your approval for these groups, more little girls will probably begin starving themselves? The pressures of society are already there. For many young girls, it might only take the smallest suggestion to tip them over the edge. After that, it's a long, dark slide to the bottom of a horrible fate, and not everybody manages to climb back out.
Maybe you should stop worrying about who Harry shags after he leaves Hogwarts (as an adult, might I add), and start worrying about what will happen when people see your thoughts on horrible things like anorexia. It's not a joke. It's not a fad diet. It's a mental health crisis and a tragedy of society... and you're doing your part to make it worse. Congratuations, I hope you're proud of yourselves.
However, one thing pissed me off more than anything else, and on a deeply personal level. The people of Six Apart want to ban LJ users under the guise of child pornography accusations, on the premise that our fanart is harmful and subversive and horrible. However, somewhere in the middle of this stupid wank-fest, Six Apart is presented with the fact that there are pro-anorexia groups (not support groups for anorexic people trying to recover, but groups that actually treat anorexia like the best fad diet and a positive lifestyle) using LJ communities are their bases of operation. In response,
coffeechica simply states that they think those groups are fine, and that there's nothing wrong with wanting to be thin. I don't think I have ever, EVER been more DISGUSTED by a blatant display of idiocy than this. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be thin, right? Oh, my dear, dear
carrie, you know not what you say. Or, at least, I HOPE you don't have a bloody clue as to the filthy can of worms you just opened. I really HOPE you don't know how ignorant and stupid you're being. Because if you actually have a clue as to the real nature of anorexia and other eating disorders, then you are lower than a foul, loathesome, evil little cockroach. Let me tell you a few things about eating disorders, seeing as it seems you can't tell the difference between a diet and a mental illness. So,
carrie, is that what you want to support? Is that Six Apart's stand on eating disorders? There's nothing wrong with wanting to be thin, right? Even if young, impressionable teenage and pre-teen girls are reading this stuff and starving themselves when they've barely reached puberty? Even if these girls, after getting sucked in, aren't "good enough anorexics" and kill themselves out of sheer self-loathing? Or if they overdose on diet pills and suffer heart attacks at the age of sixteen?You say you want to snuff out child pornography to "protect the children". Do you know how many teenage girls develop eating disorders because of the pressures of society? Do you understand that by condoning and publicly stating your approval for these groups, more little girls will probably begin starving themselves? The pressures of society are already there. For many young girls, it might only take the smallest suggestion to tip them over the edge. After that, it's a long, dark slide to the bottom of a horrible fate, and not everybody manages to climb back out.
Maybe you should stop worrying about who Harry shags after he leaves Hogwarts (as an adult, might I add), and start worrying about what will happen when people see your thoughts on horrible things like anorexia. It's not a joke. It's not a fad diet. It's a mental health crisis and a tragedy of society... and you're doing your part to make it worse. Congratuations, I hope you're proud of yourselves.
