health

Thousands of people want this 22-year-old banned from YouTube.

 

 

Before it was removed for “violating community standards”, thousands of people signed a petition to have popular video blogger Eugenia Cooney removed from YouTube.

The 22-year-old has nearly 900,000 subscribers on her channel, where she posts on everything from fashion, to make-up tutorials to videos of her mum.

Yet many are concerned her tiny frame could be triggering for her young fans, most of whom are aged between 12 and 21.

“Eugenia Cooney has a serious medical condition and needs to seek help,” Lynn Cloud creator of the change.org petition calling for her temporary removal wrote, adding that she did not want to” insult her, nor belittle her.”

“She may not be intentionally influencing her viewers, but showing more than 50 per cent of her body in her videos and pictures [is] not helping girls with anorexia or any eating disorder,” Cloud said.

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A photo posted by Eugenia Cooney (@eugeniacooney) on

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Cooney has addressed the criticism in a video posted on her channel earlier this month, which has been viewed almost a million times already (a snippet can be found above).

“Some people are saying I’m a ‘bad influence on girls’ and I just want you guys to know that I’ve never tried to be a bad influence on YouTube,” she said.

“I would never tell anybody to try to lose weight, or to try to change the way they look, or to look like me or anything like that.

“I would never tell anybody to do that because I just think that everybody should be themselves and do what makes them happy and be happy with themselves.”

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In April this year she also addressed concerns over her thinness in another video, saying, “I’m just kind of naturally like that, I guess. There isn’t really a reason.”

Additionally, on her Ask.fm page in 2015, when asked what she ate she said “I have a disorder” and has previously alluded to seeing doctors over her struggles to gain weight.

Aside from the petition, Cooney has been trolled repeatedly in the comments section on her Instagram with followers posting “ALL HAIL THE SKELETON QUEEN,” hundreds of times across her posts.

Hey guys I uploaded a new q and a video yesterday ☺️ link in my bio to watch

A photo posted by Eugenia Cooney (@eugeniacooney) on

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When you consider the reach of Cooney’s influence, concerns over her weight are, of course, warranted.

Even before the advent of social media, pro-anorexia blogs have long been worryingly popular among young women struggling with body image issues.

But attacking an individual, particularly one who may well be suffering anorexia nervosa, will only cause her harm.

For help and support for eating disorders, contact the Butterfly Foundation‘s National Support line and online service on 1800 ED HOPE (1800 33 4673) or email atsupport@thebutterflyfoundation.org.au. You can also visit their website, here.