PrettyThin

I think this is the most common question I'm asked. And this part is not one I am going to go to the members of the community to answer. This is something about ME, because I run this website.

PrettyThin is NOT a Pro-Anorexia website.

PrettyThin IS an anorexia website.

What's the difference?
This site is not a place that advocates the lifestyle or encourages the disorder. That's right; lifestyle and disorder. We don't assume to know the answer, nor do we assume to care. People are here for different reasons. Some to help others. Some to make friends. Some to find acceptance. Some to find thinspiration. Everyone has their own reason, and PrettyThin thinks that's the point.

PrettyThin is here for you no matter why you're here with it. PrettyThin allows you to be here, and give to it what you want, and take from it what you want. 

PrettyThin is a place where ana lives. PrettyThin is a place where you may find balance.

PrettyThin is NOT a Pro-bulimia website.

PrettyThin IS an Anti-Bulimia website.

Bulimia is looked down upon by the owner of this website, and it is the hope of the website owner that it would be looked down upon by the PrettyThin community as a whole. It is not a healthy lifestyle. It is not the only way. It is not something that offers you a balance.

This site is taking on a new direction. For over a year now, this site has been about thinspiration, and a location for those choosing to take the Ana lifestyle upon themselves.

Pretty Thin is going to be about beauty. We will ask the question of "what is beauty" and allow everyone to contribute and find inspiration and meaning in the ways in which everyone defines beauty. We will not point fingers; we will not define beauty based on weight of height or color; we will allow you to see what people find beautiful, and allow you to gaze upon whatever you find to be beautiful.

Want to help contribute? Sign up for a free membership. This will allow you to create a profile (if you like), add images, contribute to the forum, and help build this site that now strives to share the many ways in which people define beauty.

This is not about you; this is not about me; this is about a world at peace with what they find beautiful.

Because of how it started, and because of the nature of human beings, this is site on the surface is about eating disorders. You rarely see people going online and searching for "fatspiration" or "how do I get obese. I guess in sense, this is IS about anorexia and about eating disorders, but it is about so much more.

PrettyThin is about acceptance; about confidence; about opinions that we all hold within ourselves about how we see ourselves, and how the world sees is. This site, in the most general sense, and also at it's core, is about the word "beauty."

Just as I said that you won't find people going around and searching for "how do I get fat" online, you also won't find them going around and looking for "how do I become ugly." You won't find ads on popular sites trying to sell products on getting fat or ugly.

But what is fat?
What is ugly?
Are these just terms related to beauty in the same way "slow" could be related to running?

Different cultures define beauty in different ways. Within cultures, different people define beauty in different ways. And even people, at different phases in their lives, may define beauty in different ways. If one thing is certain, it's that people have different opinions, and these can change depending on where you are, what you're life looks like, and even what century you were born into.

This site is about beauty.
This may be the one place where it is okay to say "this is what I define beauty as." You determine what you want for yourself, and for once, be in a place where people will respect you for it. It may not be what they want for themselves; it may not be how they view beauty. But that doesn't mean YOU have to see it their way to be their friend. It doesn't mean that you have to be one way or another to respect them.

First, share what you have to say. Before you are influenced by others on this site, see if you can contribute to the site with your own definition.

This site has forums and blogs and image and video galleries that you can add content to as a member. Do it. See if you can tell others what you think in the form of a story, a diary entry, a poem, a picture, what you think beauty means to you.

Then read what others have to say and make friends.

This is NOT a place where others should be trying to change your opinion.
This is NOT a place where you should come to try to form your opinion or have others change the one you have.

This IS a place to come to feel welcome; to ask questions if you have them; but more than anything, contribute to the global understanding of beauty and understand that one way is not better than another; it is just what makes you feel more comfortable in your own skin.

If you're using this site, you should be careful what you share. Unfortunately, there are creepers and stalkers all over the place, and a couple have been found on this site. Do NOT share your MSN or IM information with anyone. I would not share my email with anyone either. Want to talk? Use the profiles and send messages there. Chat in the forums or the blog. But do not share information, and trust me on this....DO NOT EVER try to meet anyone outside of this site. Just because someone says that they are your age and would like to hang out doesn't mean they actually are who they say they are. BE CAREFUL! and report anything you find suspicious to me.

There is not need to fight battles on this site. There will always be bullies, and people who do not want to be respectful of others feelings and beings. So not fight with them. Ignore them fully, and let me deal with them.

A common question is "if you don't have ED, why do you run this site?"

First, I was asked to take over this site, or to close it by a close friend who does have ED. We debated on closing it, but then what? Where would all the people who use this site go? What what experience would they have there?

So the answer is simple.
Create a place where people can feel welcome, respected, and appreciated.
Allow people to share their life, their stories, their pain and art and fears and wants.
Allow a community to grow where everyone knows they are cherished for being who they are; and that no matter how they see themselves, someone sees them as beautiful.

This is very easy to do.

1. Log onto PrettyThin using your email address
2. Click Edit Profile
3. Click the second tab about Account Settings
4. Remove the checkmark next to PrettyThin and Save

Ever decide to come back? Just come back to the site and sign in using that email address. It will ask if you want to join or not.