Have You Heard of the Pro-Ana Movement?

So I was searching for some healthy recipes on Google, and this site popped up and when I clicked on it I could not believe what I was seeing. A website about how to become anorexic. It had pages like pep talks, which went like this:

Oh, you are craving food right now, huh? What do you think you are doing? Don't you dare go anywhere near food! Don't touch it. Don't even think about it. What do you want to do, become a fat cow? I am your best friend & if you eat then you are failing me & letting me down. If you eat right it shows what little self-control you have. That pain in your stomach right now, that is me & that is your fat melting away. When you feel empty it means you are empty of your sins.

www.emaciatedbarbiedoll.page.tl...

There's pictures of emaciated girls, real girls that are skin and bones, which they call "thinspiration", tips and tricks on how to distract yourself and hide it from loved ones, reasons like this: "Fat people are attracted to fat people. You don't want pigs coming after you because you're one of them, do you?", "You can see your beautiful bones", etc., and also links to other "pro-ana" sites.

I decided to follow one of these links and came across a "school", where the maker of the site laid out lesson plans and gave people "homework". one that I read was that a person can only eat 200 calories in a day and if they eat more they have to punish themselves with fasting. See for yourself. I went into one of the forums and the girls were saying how hungry they were and that they were starving. It kind of made me panic a little.

It also scares me that these sites came up in a search on Google. What if one of your kids was looking something up and came across a site like this? These girls calling themselves fat and saying that the only way to be beautiful is to starve (they literally say that), and then explaining how to do it?

I believe in the freedom of speech but this?

This has to be the sickest thing that I have ever heard of!
I don't think that the net should ever be censored....but it is things like this that make me wonder at times!

There were some exposes on this topic a few years ago and a lot of debate went into if google should drop the links to the pro-ana sites from their search engine. I thought something was done so that the sites weren't so easily found but obviously that isn't the case if you stumbled onto them.

It's really sad that you actually found a school that offers homework to help people with their anorexia. As the mother of four daughters I have to say that it is VERY worrisome that this information is so easily found on the Internet.

Jemison

reply to post by Shystargazer


Exactly, it's kind of a catch 22. I can't begin to think of a way that they could stop something like this except not let it come up on internet searches but...idk

I'm fascinated by the entire thing. Not titillated, or amused, or aroused or anything, just fascinated. One of the biggest pro-ana blogs is this:

community.livejournal.com...

it has hundreds of brutally honest comments posted on it daily, like this one:

i really havent eaten much. a peice of sugar free gum, 0.5 cal worth of sweetner, and, umm.. a tiny mouthful of 1 cal per serving elderflower cordial.
i feel so sick. i burnt over 300 cals, in the rain, so i dont know how much that actually burnt because of the cold. all i want to do is break this fast but i know i cant.

and also the comments of those that haven't accepted it as a disease, or have unfortunately embraced it (perhaps still a form of denial?):

11 days 5 hours - 269 hours fasted so far
all my friends ate a take away in front of me today
i didn't even want any
they started to piss me by the end of the night and all i could think was at least im losing weight not eating 1 or 2 takeaway's a day and fattening up super fast!

and

I JUST BINGED ON 2 CUPS OF SPECIAL K CEREAL & A HANDFUL OF THOSE WHEAT THINS CHIPS... ughhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I SUCK

I've noticed that a majority of the pro-ana sites are owned and/or populated by mostly girls that want to be actresses, or other image-related careers. I think that the whole pro-ana movement is influenced by the media. So much so, that it's not even exclusive to people with actual diseases, it's now become somewhat of a trend, and a way of gaining acceptance within social circles.

This stuff is really sad. I read an artical about some of this stuff, and a girl said that her modeling agency told her they "didn't want her to be anorexic, they wanted her to look like she is anorexic." She was 16.

this is so disgusting!! I feel for these girls because it is such a horrible disease, but then again I don't. They all know about anorexia, and how it can damage everything, sure they may end up skinny, but they may also end up toothless. Anorexia also rottens your teeth, and i don't think many girls realize that. I am sorry but i would rather eat, be healthy, have all my teeth, then be a toothpick!

There is NO impressing you people !!!!!

Seriously, everytime something hits the media about fat people, most flock to it with a passion only you guys can understand. All to bash on fat people. Nothing productive, nothing even worth reading. Many pages upon pages fill up quick, with insults.

As one who used to be fat, I can understand why young girls have such a fear of gaining weight. People are cruel. The way you treat overweight people is hideous, and I don't blame young girls for turning to such an idea, to gain acceptance and avoid the pure hatred.

Reply to LostNemesis

It's definitely society's fault that these girls are doing this to themselves. Putting down fat people and hammering into young people's head what's beautiful and what's not.

That's no excuse though, these girls need help and they definitely should not be making websites that contribute to this behavior in any way and teach young girls to hate themselves and starve themselves. If you look at those sites the makers are doing the same as the media does, telling people that they are fat and need to starve themselves. It's unacceptable.

reply to post by Shocka


Those sites are not there to "teach" people how to become anorexic. They are there so that people with anorexia have somewhere to go and talk with others with eating disorders. Almost every pro ana site you come across has a disclaimer telling you that people without eating disorders or who are just looking to lose weight shouldn't be on that site. These sites are only a safe haven for those with eating disorders.