Spam and Skinny Girls: Somebody Help Me

Opinion
Many times in the past I have complimented some of the thoughtful commenters on diet-blog. Many readers bring well-reasoned debate and insight on many issues (you can always see all the latest comments on this page). However, there are two other kinds of commenters that - quite frankly - disturb and frustrate me.

The Spammer
From time to time on the comments panel you will notice some weird comments coming up. Many of these offer a grammatically correct but entirely nonsensical sentence. Embedded within is a link (or 10) to a less-than-savory web site (normally falling in the PPP region - Pills, Porn, Poker). These folks are trying to get past automated filtering software - this software has rejected no less than 19,869 spam comments since I installed it earlier this year. Unfortunately almost every day some of these comments get thru the system - until such time as I can delete them. Occasionally there is "collateral" damage - for that you have my apologies.

The Skinny Girl
I am saddened and sobered by the number of (already) thin girls who obsess about their weight, the size of their stomachs, and the size of everything else. Not a week goes by when I don't get a personal email from 1 or 2 of these insecure young women - and diet-blog gets bombarded with comments:

I am [insert age here] and I weigh [insert slight weight here]. Help me - I'm too fat and my stomach isn't flat.

I have responded to each and every email I have received - reassuring the fearful young woman that she is just fine the way she is. I never get responses to these emails.

One would think that complaining about your weight is a trendy thing to do. How is it that this generation has become so utterly superficial and concerned with looks alone? I'm sure we can all come up with plenty of reasons.

What adds insult to injury is that many of these comments are in response to a post that actually challenges the very obsession that these girls are promoting. It's almost as if the blog post has not been read, and the girls are in a desperate rush to say "Yes, I hate my body too - please help me".

It seems we have put perfect bodies on a pedestal, and our young gather round to worship the god of thin.

We can blame the magazines - but who pays their wages? The people who buy them. Throw the cosmo away girls - it's full of insipid semi-porn content anyway.

Here's a final comment (ref). Trish is 14 years old, 5'6" and weighs 135 pounds (this puts her BMI at just 22). For those that need translation - IDC = I Don't Care.

I NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT IN ABOUT 1 WEEK, BECAUSE THAT'S WHEN MY FIRST SUMMER POOL PARTY IS WITH MY FRIENDS. I NEED A BETTER BODY.. IDC WHAT ADVICE U HAVE TO SAY ABOUT "INSIDE IS MORE IMPORTANT" OR "DONT SAY YOURE FAT" .. because I know I look like a beast, and all my friends are skinny and I want to just have fun.. especially in vacations!!!