"Pro-ana" websites

I ran across some pro-anorexia communitites on LJ and dude... this is sick. All these women taking about how fat they are, and how ton lose even more weight. listen to this:

"I hate the holidays, don't get me wrong its nice to see the ""christmas cheer" and little kids eyes light up when their opening gifts. But I HATE! watching people eat and eat until their so full they have to loosen their pants. Its disgusting, I can't eat with people around me, but watching fat people get fatter is nasty. I always feel more bloated around the holidays even if I don't eat much. I'm tired of weighing the same weight, I've gone on my after holiday fast till news years. I'm hoping to atleast be in the 80's. I'm 5'3 and weighing 91 lbs thats is gross! People at school call me ""skelatol"" but it seems to me they don't know what ""skelatol"" is, I want to be skelatol, I want to be so tin that I dissipate from view. I'm having the hardest time loosing weight, I havn't gained but I havn't lost either. In the long run I want to get down to 65 but for now in the 80's would be wonderful!"

This makes me so sad.

I wish they would listen...

 

It's very sad...eating disorders are so complicated. My heart goes out to every single one of those girls

 

Some of these site give girls "tips" on vomiting, concealing thier thinness from their parents, laxatives, how to feel full without eating ect.

It is very scary, as some of these sites (at least one that I have read about) were started by grown womyn, who have ED and consider it "a lifestyle" and encourage little girls to live that lifestyle.

 

I have been on one of those boreds it was "PASS" or something like that-

 

You're right on, Maggie. A lot of those sites work almost as "support groups" for others with ana/mia, keeping track of their "progress" and congratulating them as the pounds fall away. Times like that, we can see how the internet can be dangerous, not helpful.

 

Its impossible to understand for me really...especially the comment about wanting to get down to 65 pounds, freaky stuff.


Only on the interent would people support each other on this one, considering all the people who know them in real life must be horrified

 

yeah...i had to do some research on this pro-ana lifestyle for a class...one of the reasons that people are "pro-ana" is because it makes them feel like they have control over their lives...a lot of these women (and men!) know that it is an unhealthy lifestyle, but it is one of the few things in life that they feel that they have some sort of say over...that's why it's so hard for them to "give up control" and gain healthy weight...

not that i'm an expert, but that's what i got from it...

 

This is so sad, some one I know also has anorexia. Her mother advises that no one should ever say anything about it and behave as if we dont know and we have to, we have no other choice. Whenever something is wrong I guess, she feels as if she has to punish herself for it. They need therapy and for that they have to accept that something is wrong with them. I think coming together as a cult or some organization just makes their denial stronger.

 

it really brings tears to my eye

What can I DO to change the way everyone thinks and how everyone classifies beauty? We should DO something! Some way to get more people thinking that everyone is beautiful in their own way and we shouldn't try to model after someone else. Who ever came up with the idea that rail thin, blond hair and big boobs was "sexy"?

Anyone have any ideas or a direction to point me in?

 

Coming from a recovering anoerexic these sites are awful... As for people who say its about food and weight and looks its not at all and is all at once its hard to explain... its all about controlling your life... but the pro-ana movement is AWFUL... I must say I used it... but more i wanted to conceal my eating disorder because i knew it was wrong... as for doing something... Im not sure... but just remember to be proud of who you are for you not what you look like.,.. Im slowly day by day learning this lesson... and learning to love myself.

 

what really struck me from that exert was the comment she made about wanting to "dissipate from view", it seems clear from this statement her motivations for starving herself. I think doctors and families are too quick to try to treat the symptoms of anorexia (not eating) rather than the causes of it, in her case low self-worth, and self-esteem. its very sad. i think creating self-worth starts at home, children need to know from an early age that they are the most special person in the world. a child needs to sit in a room of a thousand people and know that they are the most cared for person there. i think low-self image and self confidence are the causes of many of these 'epidemics' many rapists and murderers display high levels of low self esteem. the most important job anybody can do is be a great parent.

 

Yep. It is the internet. With the exception of kiddie porn, selling stolen goods and selling certian drugs, just about everything on the net is in a limbo of "legality." (And being illegal doesn't stop the things on the net which are illegal.)

The people who run these sites are often contacted by health care professionals, recovering anorexics, ect. It does no good, they view it as a "lifestyle" and in that state of denial, there is nothing an email can do to change their POV ever.

Sad indeed, but no illegal.

 

Actually, I love skinny ass chicks. Skinnier the better.

 

i know this is going to seem REALLY weird.. but i was wondering what some of the addys of these "pro-ana" sites are... im going to write a paper on them for my contemporary english class.. and i cant find any quite like the ones you are describing!

i promise im not anarexic or anything... lol (in fact i wrote a thread somewhere in here lately about me wanting to lose a little weight, but that i love food too much!!)

thanks

 

They weren't actual websites, the one I posted the quote from was actually an LiveJournal community.

LiveJournal is currently down right now, so I can't post the links. I'm sorry.

And what can we do? Well, I think the best thing to do is just to live by example. These girls aren't going to listen to random strangers on the internet, most of them won't even listen to their friends/family! Just love yourself, and maybe others will notice that and follow suit. Mamas, don't complain about your body in front of your kids, treat yourself like nothing less than the goddess you are. And don't let others treat you like that either. To quote Gandhi, "We must be the change we want to see in the world."

 

its fine, my teacher made me switch topics anyways... she said it "wasnt appropriate"

rawr!

 

It's a tough, tough world. Hipkatmeow, I'm recovering too (for a long long time now, things are much better than they used to be) and I want to congratulate you And whoever said doctors need to stop treating symptoms alone, you're absolutely right. It's time these issues were taken seriously, for the illnesses (anorexia, bulimia, etc) that they really are.

What gets me is the advertising media, like tv and magazines. Skinny skinny girls, everywhere you go, always having fun and getting all the men and attention. And magazines will put these ads right beside a "Feel Good the Way You Are" article, which is so hypocritcal. Feel good the way you are as long as you look like everyone in this magazine, is what they're saying.

 

By that logic, this site should be shut down -- over on the Love & Sex forum, think of the potentially disturbing ideas people could get! And don't even get started on the drugs forum -- people talking about where to get more info on how to make certain stuff, what kind of cough syrup to take for a good trip, advice on how many mgs of whatever pharmaceutical is not likely to kill you but will give the best high... And how long before domestic terrorists (you know, like PETA) start posting on the various politics-related boards?

You're looking at the WRONG approach. Look how much good it has done to make pot illegal for the past, what, 65 years?

Dig deeper for the real causes. Stopping these websites won't do a damn bit of good (since new ones will just pop up again, more quickly than you can find 'em & shut 'em down) until you fix the problems that lead people to eating disorders.

 

ah, exactly dawn sky. I've always been irritated at how shallow a lot of people see these kinds of disorders. When someone is doing something so self-destructive, there is an underlying problem that needs to be addressed. You can't just force an anoretic to eat and expect him/her to be all better...or watch a bulimic constantly to make sure he/she doesn't throw up his/her food. These are just symptoms or ways of coping with a deeper issue. I always felt that the people I talked to that had eating disorders really understood me, having been a cutter in the past, even though their actions were different. The underlying feelings and things were usually very similar. And I talked to quite a few who were self-harmers, other than their ED, as well...and to be honest I've always had issues with food, and have felt like I was just teetering on the edge of a disorder at times. It really pisses me off when people assume it's all about looks...especially when a lot of ED'd people I've talked to have been so grossly underweight, knew they looked horrible, and preferred it just because they looked then, like they felt...sick, doomed, etc.....and some of the ones who hadn't gotten to that point, and were even overweight, didn't just wish to be thin, but to be sickly, to make the outside match the "inside". Unfortunately, as far as I've seen anyway, these sites as well as our annoying media version of beautiful, just feed and trigger the self-harming. I always found it so intriguing, some of the people you'd meet on those sites...there are actually quite a few therepists (specializing in EDs) who are not only EDd, but also engage in this ana/mia "lifestyle".

heh, sorry...just sort of rambled on there

 

thats really really awful, and the worst part is that yea they never listen
actually i was watching a t.v show (it was bostin public) where a teacher was confronting a gilr who had her own pro-ana site, the girl said;

'well there are website for obese ppl who say that your beutiful if your fat, so why cant we celebrate the beuty we feel for bein and staying who are skinny?'

and i find that most anorexic girls feel this way. i can see the point they make, but it doesnt justify it its still a mind thin that once your trapped in it its almost impossible to get out its basicly suicide and its false that they're celebrating their beauty b/c their starving to alter their appearance instead of just being natural