Nobody deserves to inflict pain on themselves. Its horrible, and it ruins lives. I’ve struggled with anorexia and cutting since I was 13. Its something nobody should go through.
Follow-up: Tumblr’s New Policy Against Pro-Self-Harm Blogs
Last Thursday, we posted a draft of a new policy against blogs that actively promote self-harm, along with some PSA-style language to appear next to searches associated with self-injury. The reaction was overwhelming. The post itself provoked more than 25,000 likes, reblogs, and replies; and more than 2,500 of you sent in comments by email. Thank you.
By far, the most common comment was some variation on this:
This is really great, but what about people who just talk about it? They aren’t promoting it in any way, but like some of us just express ourselves through posting about it. I don’t promote self-harm or eating disorders or anything, but I do talk about my experiences with these things. Do those count as something that’s going to be banned?That’s an important concern, so we want to be totally clear: While we won’t allow blogs dedicated to triggering self-harm, we will not act against blogs engaged in discussion, support, encouragement, and documenting the experiences of those dealing with difficult conditions like anorexia, bulimia, and other forms of self-injury. We absolutely want Tumblr to be a place where people struggling with these behaviors can find solace, community, dialog, understanding, and hope.
We will apply this policy on a blog-by-blog basis. There won’t be any wholesale suspension based on tags or text. We’re not under the illusion that it will be easy to draw the line between blogs that are intended to trigger self-harm and those that support sufferers and build community, but, thanks to the tireless efforts of our amazing Support team, we will do our best.
With the benefit of all your input, we’ve written a new draft of this policy, changing some wording and adding some clarifying language:
Promotion and Glorification of Self-Harm. Don’t post content that actively promotes or glorifies self-harm. This includes content that urges or encourages readers to cut or injure themselves; embrace anorexia, bulimia, or other eating disorders; or commit suicide rather than, e.g., seeking counseling or treatment, or joining together in supportive conversation with those suffering or recovering from depression or other conditions. Dialogue about these behaviors is incredibly important and online communities can be extraordinarily helpful to people struggling with these difficult conditions. We aim to sustain Tumblr as a place that facilitates awareness, support and recovery, and to remove only those blogs that cross the line into active promotion or glorification of self-harm.In addition, we got some helpful suggestions from the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) to improve the language that we’ll start showing alongside searches for tags associated with the promotion of self-harm, such as “pro-ana”, “pro-mia”, “thinspiration” and “thinspo”. Here’s an example of the revised language:
Eating disorders are not lifestyle choices, they are mental disorders that when left untreated, can cause serious health problems, and at their most severe can even be life-threatening. For treatment referrals, information and support, please contact the National Eating Disorders Association’s Helpline at 1-800-931-2237 or www.nationaleatingdisorders.org.We’re working with other health organizations to help us craft similar language around pro-cutting and pro-suicide search terms.
After the jump, we’ve pulled out several thoughtful messages from the community on both sides of this issue:
Fuck you Schue you can’t even fucking compare
“I had a baby when I was 16.”
“I was dragged out of the closet before I was ready for the sake of a political campaign.”
“My father disowned me because I love to dance.”
“My family is on a different continent.”
“I had to become a stripper to support my family.”
“One time I cheated on a test and I wanted to kill myself so I wouldn’t have to look my dad in the face.”
This needs more notes.
^ agreed.
He looked over at her and shrugged slightly. “I shouldn’t. That’s why I’m doing it, I like doing what I shouldn’t be doing.” Damien smiled slightly and threw the photos down on to the concrete as the flame started getting closer to his fingers. “Yeah, it is. Some memories are shit so you drink them away but we aren’t allowed drinks in here.” He grumbled, he hated that rule with no alcohol. He’d broken it but luckily no one had found out.
“And speaking of here…I heard that you escaped this hell hole, how did you get out?”
Trinity pulled out a flask, took a sip and passed it to Damien. “I know a guy with a welding torch.” She said with a smirk.
“I’ve still got it, I could get out tonight if I wanted.”
Trinity’s little trip was great. She felt…..alive. For once. Sunnyhell was full of depressed people, which sucked some major ass, but sneaking out gave Trinity a thrill that nothing could be compared to.Damien smirked then removed the cigarette before grabbing the flask and taking a swig. “Yeah but you got caught and now security is even worse. We’re not even meant to be up here now.” He laughed slightly and handed the flask back to her. “I’d like to escape but I wouldn’t leave someone here who I care about…But if you can sneak out anytime then the three of us can get out of this hell hole soon and party all fucking night.” He said with a grin.
Trinity smiled. “Ah. Who’s the girl? Well, I got out once, and I can get out again. There are cameras everywhere, but I’ve already got a plan.” Trinity smirked and put the flask in her pocket.
Trinity always had a plan. Always.
And this one was fool-proof.
He looked over at her and shrugged slightly. “I shouldn’t. That’s why I’m doing it, I like doing what I shouldn’t be doing.” Damien smiled slightly and threw the photos down on to the concrete as the flame started getting closer to his fingers. “Yeah, it is. Some memories are shit so you drink them away but we aren’t allowed drinks in here.” He grumbled, he hated that rule with no alcohol. He’d broken it but luckily no one had found out.
“And speaking of here…I heard that you escaped this hell hole, how did you get out?”
Trinity pulled out a flask, took a sip and passed it to Damien. “I know a guy with a welding torch.” She said with a smirk.
“I’ve still got it, I could get out tonight if I wanted.”
Trinity’s little trip was great. She felt…..alive. For once. Sunnyhell was full of depressed people, which sucked some major ass, but sneaking out gave Trinity a thrill that nothing could be compared to.
He looked over at her and shrugged slightly. “I shouldn’t. That’s why I’m doing it, I like doing what I shouldn’t be doing.” Damien smiled slightly and threw the photos down on to the concrete as the flame started getting closer to his fingers. “Yeah, it is. Some memories are shit so you drink them away but we aren’t allowed drinks in here.” He grumbled, he hated that rule with no alcohol. He’d broken it but luckily no one had found out.
“And speaking of here…I heard that you escaped this hell hole, how did you get out?”
Trinity pulled out a flask, took a sip and passed it to Damien. “I know a guy with a welding torch.” She said with a smirk.
“I’ve still got it, I could get out tonight if I wanted.”
Trinity’s little trip was great. She felt…..alive. For once. Sunnyhell was full of depressed people, which sucked some major ass, but sneaking out gave Trinity a thrill that nothing could be compared to.
When we sleep, the subconscious mind takes over. It can reveal more about what’s disturbing us in our waking hours and there are rare occasions in the state between sleep and consciousness where the things that are troubling us the most can emerge. That’s where Lucy found herself now - in that…
Trinity walked down corriodr after corridor until she forgot where she was. She did this often; it calmed her. In this place, sometimes it was good to forget for a while.
She walked about a hallway in the east wing when she saw a shadow walking toward her. Trinity hurried to the figure.
Maybe it was a murderer.
At least if she died, she would be out of here.
Damien sat on the roof, looking through his old family photos. He frowned as he looked through them, he’d never be able to see them again and even if they did they’d hate him, except his young brother. He was the only one who understood, his mother thought that Damien’s brother would grow to be as…
“You shouldn’t do that, you know.”
Trinity had been leaning against the door from the roof to the asylum for about ten minutes, smoking a cigarette and watching the sunset.
“But then again, its good to forget sometimes.” Trinity said with a smile and sat next to Damien, staring at the scape below her. She could see the garden, and the spot in the fence where she got out. But of course that was all blocked off now.
Stupid killjoys.
