Kay Smetsers (Girlnah on Tumblr)

I don't remember finding her too gaunt, but she sure does have some depressing posts.
 
I just always notice she constantly quotes Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath. Nothing wrong with that...but they did both have troubled lives and I feel like that gets romanticized on tumblr a lot.
 
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Wow... I follow a lot of people on tumblr so I guess her posts just got drowned out ):
It's so sad that she feels this way but I don't think it's unusual for a lot of people
 
I just always notice she constantly quotes Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath. Nothing wrong with that...but they did both have troubled lives and I feel like that gets romanticized on tumblr a lot.
Or she took a lot of Women's Literature courses
 
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That is true. I have taken those courses and have a few peers who unhealthily obsess over Sylvia Plath and authors like her which is the only reason I pointed it out. I am not making judgements over her choice of authors, but I have to consider her choice of quotations from said authors. I don't follow her and really don't check her blog unless someone posts something interesting on here, but every time I visit I find it very sad, like @Odile said.
 
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Or she took a lot of Women's Literature courses
She is obviously quite intelligent but I find her more and more irritating. She flaunts her thinness but then attributes it to whatever bullshit excuse, exhibits a variety of abnormal mental behaviors (which is fine, as we're all fucked), but her romanization of her poor pitiful life really drives me nuts. Maybe she really doesn't have any friends/support but just ughh.

Actually I think what annoys me more are the idiots on her tumblr saying "look she obviously eats a LOT!!! every other picture is food!!" Kinda like Snejana saying she's natural thin... c'mon we're not all idiots here.
 
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look she obviously eats a LOT!!! every other picture is food!!" Kinda like Snejana saying she's natural thin... c'mon we're not all idiots here.

Lol, even if she eats everything she posts, her portions are tiny and it's mostly fruit.

I don't really care about her personality, she has a great body & gorgeous face and that's why I follow her. The posts Odile linked were definitely a surprise for me though.
 
She is obviously quite intelligent but I find her more and more irritating. She flaunts her thinness but then attributes it to whatever bullshit excuse, exhibits a variety of abnormal mental behaviors (which is fine, as we're all fucked), but her romanization of her poor pitiful life really drives me nuts. Maybe she really doesn't have any friends/support but just ughh.

THIS! :highfive:
 
Or she took a lot of Women's Literature courses
I just always notice she constantly quotes Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath. Nothing wrong with that...but they did both have troubled lives and I feel like that gets romanticized on tumblr a lot.

Just defending Virginia Woolf really quickly, I've spent the last few weeks studying archives, and there's no way her suicide could be romanticised through the context of her writing, interiority comes through but more through a failed accomplishment/lack of satisfaction and conclusion in her writing. Outside of Street Haunting I don't see why she could be romanticised in this way (in my opinion, this upsets me) she was such a complex and intelligent writer and as a high Modernist author and critic I don't think she should even be on syllabus in a women's literature class unless it's a 20th century women writer course because her and Djuna Barnes and Gertrude Stein stray so far from the female stereotype.
Plath, yes can be romanticised in this way because Ariel is quite disturbed in a lot of places but she wrote quite similarly to the Romantic poets.

But if she is actually understanding and quoting Woolf appropriately she's quite intelligent. I think her misread of Franny and Zooey is more indicative though.
 
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She is obviously quite intelligent but I find her more and more irritating. She flaunts her thinness but then attributes it to whatever bullshit excuse, exhibits a variety of abnormal mental behaviors (which is fine, as we're all fucked), but her romanization of her poor pitiful life really drives me nuts. Maybe she really doesn't have any friends/support but just ughh.

Actually I think what annoys me more are the idiots on her tumblr saying "look she obviously eats a LOT!!! every other picture is food!!" Kinda like Snejana saying she's natural thin... c'mon we're not all idiots here.

In my opinion, she romanticizes depression, which makes me doubt the actual extent of her own sickness. (Sorry if this sounds rude or ignorant)
 
In my opinion, she romanticizes depression, which makes me doubt the actual extent of her own sickness. (Sorry if this sounds rude or ignorant)
Yes, I don't understand it. I was actually hesitant to follow her because some of what she posts is sad/depressing but it's like she's happy being in that state or like she wants to because of her Tumblr followers. Like she wants to please her tumblr followers. I dunno. Or I imagine for someone going through a sad time maybe it's comfortable/familiar so it might actually be scary for someone to get out of that position and seek happiness. I dunno, I'm just guessing here, trying not to judge.
Anyhoo, I still find her gorgeous (and I do follow her) but I ignore her sad/personal posts or what she eats, I just couldn't care less about all that.
 
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In my opinion, she romanticizes depression, which makes me doubt the actual extent of her own sickness. (Sorry if this sounds rude or ignorant)

I understand the impulse to romanticise what you're feeling, to romanticise your depression. It makes it feel a bit less painful to find something pretty in your sadness, focusing on the YA novel sense of loneliness, and confusion. I'd rather be some tragically beautiful poet/smoker/writer than a real depressed person that doesn't shower and cries about dropping a book, yanno? And when you're getting this validation from your audience because you're some sort of pretty, depressed heroine to them, it feels better than just being miserable on your own, with all these ugly thoughts and no outlet.

hope it made sense, and sorry for the tangent :blahblah:
 
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In my opinion, she romanticizes depression, which makes me doubt the actual extent of her own sickness. (Sorry if this sounds rude or ignorant)

I agree based on my personal experience. When I was in a bad place but still had some things going on for me, I romanticized my "depression" in a similar way. However, when years later I found myself inmersed in some real, hardcore depression, it was so devastating that I could just find no enjoyment on anything, much less in that crippling horrible feeling that stole my desire to do anything or interact with anyone.
 
On romanticizing depression - when my anxiety gets bad/I get sad (I've never been diagnosed with depression so idk) I get similar thoughts and have a lot of awkward thoughts cycling through my head... I wish I could express them but I'm always scared of what people would think. If I had a tumblr audience that didn't think I was insane you can bet that I would post my thoughts on my blog. I don't think it's always about being ~oh-so-special-and-poetic~ but also about getting your thoughts out.

She does obviously enjoy the attention & romanticize her feelings but I wouldn't be so quick to judge.
 
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In my opinion, she romanticizes depression, which makes me doubt the actual extent of her own sickness. (Sorry if this sounds rude or ignorant)
Yes this is what mostly annoys me. I can't figure out if she's romanticizing** because she's attention seeking, or that she's soo sick she actually absolutely lacks any insight. I don't doubt romanticization of this type would be detrimental to her recovery, and correct me if I'm wrong, I haven't seen her post anything that would hint to recovery. I know for me, when I'm in a bad headspace, I just want to get out out out... not self-prolong my misery. Maybe I'm reading too much into this but bottom line, her posting food constantly then posting her body in various contorted poses to show off her skinniness, THEN claiming the weight loss isn't intentional etc annoys me, and I find it insincere. I'm getting a similar vibe from her "depression" posts, kinda like "look at me, I'm such a poor beautiful tortured soul, love me love me love me"... and her followers DO respond in a very validating way.

**sorry for my butchering of this word in my last post - can't always catch autocorrect, esp after a long day
 
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I understand the impulse to romanticise what you're feeling, to romanticise your depression. It makes it feel a bit less painful to find something pretty in your sadness, focusing on the YA novel sense of loneliness, and confusion. I'd rather be some tragically beautiful poet/smoker/writer than a real depressed person that doesn't shower and cries about dropping a book, yanno? And when you're getting this validation from your audience because you're some sort of pretty, depressed heroine to them, it feels better than just being miserable on your own, with all these ugly thoughts and no outlet.

hope it made sense, and sorry for the tangent :blahblah:

Yeah but the thing is, if you are really depressed to the point where you are not showering, can't get out of bed in the morning (or afternoon, or evening), etc. then you most likely won't be sitting in a cafe writing amazing poetry while gazing into the horizon with a cigarette on one hand and a glass of wine on the other. I mean... maybe the right word isn't to romanticize, but to glamourize. I think she does glamourize depression and, as @ZeroDiet says, it makes me uncomfortable and makes me think that maybe she is not that depressed after all.
 
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Yeah but the thing is, if you are really depressed to the point where you are not showering, can't get out of bed in the morning (or afternoon, or evening), etc. then you most likely won't be sitting in a cafe writing amazing poetry while gazing into the horizon with a cigarette on one hand and a glass of wine on the other. I mean... maybe the right word isn't to romanticize, but to glamourize. I think she does glamourize depression and, as @ZeroDiet says, it makes me uncomfortable and makes me think that maybe she is not that depressed after all.

I understand that absolutely, but I don't think it's possible to assume someone does or does not have depression based on what they're posting on their blog. Who you are online is not who you are in real life, and speaking personally it was sort of cathartic for me to feel like a suicide chic, Plath-like being with a higher level of consciousneess, instead of just a sad little girl. I know I tried to achieve that with my tumblr. That said, I'm not susre if she has ever described herself as depressed... maybe she's just morbid, if not clinically depressed. But I'm not disagreeing with you, anything's possible - I don't really know her from Eve.
 
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Yeah but the thing is, if you are really depressed to the point where you are not showering, can't get out of bed in the morning (or afternoon, or evening), etc. then you most likely won't be sitting in a cafe writing amazing poetry while gazing into the horizon with a cigarette on one hand and a glass of wine on the other. I mean... maybe the right word isn't to romanticize, but to glamourize. I think she does glamourize depression and, as @ZeroDiet says, it makes me uncomfortable and makes me think that maybe she is not that depressed after all.
I know nothing about her but reading the things she post on tumblr and the way she turned down her modelling agency (Or something like that) it seems like she's not happy with herself and is probably going through anxiety or depression, I don't know, there are different types of depression and not everyone reacts the same. Anyway I agree with the fact that teens in general tend to glamourize things like depression on tumblr, it's sadly becoming a trend.