Leave Eugenia Cooney Alone

For those who don't know, Eugenia Cooney is a young self-proclaimed 'emo' YouTuber who makes videos about clothes, makeup and the like. She's also incredibly thin. Like, almost unbelievably thin.

See what I mean?
Recently, she has attracted enormous amounts of attention from both the online world and the real one. There have been movements to try and help her and even petitions trying to ban her from YouTube.

Another YouTuber, who goes by the name Onision, has recently been devoting a lot of attention to her. Almost borderline-obsessive amounts of attention. His videos started out very concerning, claiming he wants to help Eugenia but then (I assume because he failed to garner any attention from her back) the videos quickly turned malicious. He made fun of her body, her diet -- which we know nothing about -- and generally belittled eating disorders and those who suffer from it.

Eugenia's YouTube popularity has soared in the last couple of months with heaps upon heaps of new subscribers, however, many of her viewers are trolls who leave abhorrent comments on her videos and there has been a massive spike of dislikes on her videos. More recently, there's even been a petition, started by Onision I believe, to ban her from YouTube entirely, their reasoning behind that being that her physical appearance is a bad and damaging influence on young and impressionable girls who may be watching.

There's only one thing I can say to all of this: leave her alone! First of all, we don't know if she even has anorexia nervosa (though it is likely) as she has neither confirmed nor denied the rumours. However, even if she does have anorexia, it's unfair and unethical to ban her from YouTube. That would mean taking away her income, her livelihood and her hobby. Especially since moving out of her mum's place into her own apartment, YouTube is how she makes her living and you cannot deny someone their job because of their appearance. We don't ban people for having an illness, even an eating disorder. In that case, we should also be petitioning to ban Boogie2988 from YouTube too! But there is no petition for that. Instead, we get this poor girl being attacked for her appearance. I should also note that banning her from YouTube would do absolutely nothing to help her anorexic mindset, if she has it. If anything, it would make her worse.

One of the main justifications for the petition is that Eugenia is potentially harming other people, specifically young girls who may look to her as 'thinspiration' or 'thinspo'. Firstly, it's not just young girls who suffer from eating disorders. Also, if people are looking to her as inspiration and encouragement to lose weight, then they're probably not all that healthy-minded to begin with and they most likely already have some form of disordered eating.

Furthermore, it hasn't even been confirmed that Eugenia has anorexia or any other eating disorder. Her medical history is none of our business and she has every right not to disclose any of it to strangers on the internet.

In my opinion, people should just leave her alone. Politely ask her to get help if she needs it, if you must, but don't attack her, leave dislikes on her videos or sign the petition. It'll only end up doing more harm than good. Leave her health to herself, her friends and family around her and medical professionals.