Fitspiration and thinspiration: a comparison across three social networking sites

Alberga et al. Journal of Eating Disorders https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-018-0227-x (2018) 6:39 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Fitspiration and thinspiration: a comparison across three social networking sites Angela S. Alberga1, Samantha J. Withnell2 and Kristin M. von Ranson3* Abstract Background: Fitspiration, or images and text promoting health and fitness, and thinspiration, or images and text promoting thinness, have both received criticism for their negative effects on body image and dieting behaviors. In this study, we critically examined and compared the content of fitspiration and thinspiration on three social networking sites (SNS). Methods: Fitspiration and thinspiration posts (N = 360) from three photo-sharing SNS (Instagram, Tumblr, and Twitter) were collected quasi-randomly on four days over two weeks. Image and associated text content were coded for variables related to weight and shape, muscularity, thin ideal, and eating. Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests compared content of fitspiration and thinspiration posts overall and among the three SNS. Results: Thinspiration images portrayed body parts more frequently than fitspiration (69.8% vs. 30.2%). Similarly, posts highlighting bony body features and references to mental illness appeared only in thinspiration. No differences were found between fitspiration and thinspiration posts with regard to sexual suggestiveness, appearance comparison, and messages encouraging restrictive eating. Fitspiration and thinspiration posts included similar images across the three SNS—focusing on appearance, sexually suggestive images, and restrictive eating—with three exceptions. Fitspiration posts exhibiting body positivity were found only on Tumblr. In thinspiration posts, references to mental illness were more frequent on Tumblr and Instagram than on Twitter, and bone emphasis was coded more frequently on Twitter than on Instagram. Conclusions: Although fitspiration posts were less extreme than thinspiration posts on the whole, notable similarities in their content support that fitspiration endorses problematic attitudes towards fitness, body image, and restrictive eating in pursuit of a fit-and-thin body ideal. Keywords: Social media, Thinspiration, Fitspiration, Fitness, Body image, Eating disorders, Appearance Plain English summary We analyzed images from three social media sites (Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter) to describe and compare the content of fitspiration (images and text promoting health and fitness) and thinspiration (images and text promoting thinness) posts. Overall, the fitspiration and thinspiration content of posts was similar across the three social media sites studied, with three exceptions. Thinspiration posts showed more images showcasing bony body parts and mental illness. Both thinspiration and fitspiration images reinforced body image issues and restrictive eating. Thinspiration posts included mention of * Correspondence: 3 Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive N.W, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada Full list of author information is available at the end of the article mental illness more often on Tumblr and Instagram than on Twitter. We conclude that fitspiration showed problematic image content similar to thinspiration in emphasizing a fit-and-thin body ideal. Comparing fitspiration and thinspiration content on three social networking sites Mass media has been identified as an influential cause of body dissatisfaction in women [1, 2]. In recent years, social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and MySpace have been the subject of much investigation to determine their positive and negative impacts on body image [3, 4]. A systematic review of 20 studies (including 16 cross-sectional and four experimental designs) showed that overall time © The Author(s). 2018 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Alberga et al. Journal of Eating Disorders (2018) 6:39 spent on SNS is associated with body image disturbances and disordered eating [5]. Thinspiration, or inspirational messages promoting thinness, has received criticism for its detrimental effects on body image [6]. Existing research has analyzed thinspiration content on SNS platforms such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram [7–9]. These content analyses have found that thinspiration posts feature images of extremely thin or underweight women, often in sexually suggestive poses focused on the pelvis and abdomen, and the bony features of those parts. Thinspiration content may also contain references to other mental health problems, such as depression, suicide and self-harm [9]. Additionally, researchers [7] have found differences in the severity of thinspiration content between SNS and the hashtags used to identify content. SNS have also become places to post messages and images “intended to inspire people to live healthy and fit lifestyles through motivating exercise- and diet- related images and text” [10]. Such content is referred to as fitspiration. Researchers have begun examining the content of fitspiration on websites as well as SNS [5, 10–17], and have found that fitspiration posts emphasize appearance and attractiveness, rather than health, as motivation for engaging in fitness behaviors. Female subjects in fitspiration images are frequently thin and sexually objectified [10, 13, 17]. Additionally, Boepple et al. [10] found that 45% of fitspiration images included figures posed to appear thinner or smaller than reality (e.g., positioning the camera from above or tilting the hips to minimize body size). These findings suggest a problematic emphasis on thinness and physical attraction as the motivation and reward for exercise and suggest that the female body ideal has shifted to emphasize both extreme thinness and fitness. However, it is still unclear if fitspiration content warrants as much concern as thinspiration. There is evidence that, like thinspiration, fitspiration content may be detrimental to the mental health of its users. For example, Hefner et al. [18] found that use of fitness-related mobile phone applications and SNS use in general were significantly associated with disordered eating and compulsive exercise behavior. In a comparison of women who posted fitspiration versus travel images on Instagram, Holland and Tiggemann [5] showed greater disordered eating, drive for thinness, and compulsive exercise (...truncated)