Pro-Anorexia Links

So in my last post I discussed pro anorexia websites.

Here are some links I have found if anyone is interested in finding out more about them:

“The Truth about Online Anorexia” with Fearne Cotton -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnR-PxboxdI

“Pro-Ana Websites” -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AEO1rWJgGc

“Pro –Ana Websites Turn Girls On To Anorexia” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6ee_vMatRY

Pro-Ana websites

I first heard of Pro Anorexia – sometimes referred to as Pro- Ana - websites on a documentary on TV a few years ago. Before then I was completely unaware they existed. When I recently searched them online I was very surprised at the amount of pro-ana websites there actually are out there. These sites are criticised as being very harmful as they encourage eating disorders and basically promote the idea that the thinner you are the better.  When I went onto some of these websites I was shocked at what I found. One website that I went onto – which claimed to be the leading Pro-Ana website – contained forums in which members appeared to be encouraging and trying to motivate each other to become as thin as possible. Most of the members on the website were teenage girls. It was disturbing to read what some of the girls were saying. It was clear to see many were suffering from extreme body image issues. One girl posted about how she felt really disappointed in herself that she had 50 calories in one day. A particularly disturbing post I came across was a girl who wrote about how she was at a stage where she was unable to eat without binging and she didn’t see how she could recover and then stated “I know where my dads gun is and where the bullets are”. There were many other posts I read that appeared to be similar topics the members were talking about and there were many which appeared to be suffering from extremely low self esteem and mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. As I looked through other websites the word “Thispiration” often appeared to be coming up. It is defined as  “Images and ideas posted on social media sites that are supposed to inspire women to lose weight, but all too often fuel eating disordered behaviour and the pursuit of skeletal thinness” (http://girlsinreallife.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/thinspiration-what-is-it-and-what-is-it-doing-to-us/) These websites also often contained photos of  celebrities, extremely skinny models and girls who were part of these communities. These photos are posted as a way of trying to encourage people on these websites to lose as much weight as possible.

I personally think these sites should be shut down as they appear to be extremely dangerous. They are brainwashing people (particularly young girls) into thinking they need to be very thin and encouraging them to put their health at risk to become dangerously skinny. I am clearly not the only one person who holds this view as I found many websites and news articles that were highlighting the dangers and the concern over these websites.

http://www.myproana.com/

http://pro-thinspo.com.p12.hostingprod.com/skinnythinspiration.htmla

http://25.media.tumblr.com/b753b1b21ea42353862b1e5712e2ed5f/tumblr_mj5l5oHpug1rl79rdo1_250.jpg

http://cdn.blisstree.com/files/2012/02/pro-ana.jpg

http://popsmarts.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/bulimia-anorexia.jpg

Is Facebook promoting poor body image? 

Facebook is the most popular social networking site and has around 1.06 billion monthly active users (http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/resource-how-many-people-use-the-top-social-media/). Many of us have become addicted to the social networking site and will spend hours a day on it.  I would probably say I was one of these people. As soon as I get up in the morning one of the first thing’s I do is check Facebook and I know I’m definitely not the only person who does this. The site however has been criticised by some for promoting poor body image. As soon as you type body image and Facebook into Google you are flooded with sites explaining its harm on body image. There have been studies that have found links that the amount of teenage girls who are more active on Facebook are more at risk of developing a negative body image and eating disorders. A survey that was taken of 600 Facebook users found that more than half of survey-takers admitting that they feel more conscious of their weight because of the social networking site, and only a quarter said that they are happy with their body.

These days we can’t seem to go any social event without someone taking photos and posting them up on Facebook. I myself, hate getting photos and the fact that I know the photos are probably going to end up on Facebook just adds to my insecurity. I am constantly untagging myself from hideous or embarrassing photos on my Facebook but why is this? Facebook is basically an online profile of someone and just like we are judged in outside world when we’re not staring at our computer screens, we are also judged on Facebook. We want to try and make our profile look as attractive as possible to our friends and other users. Every time we like a page on Facebook it is telling other users something about our personality, every time we write a status we are showing the world what we’re thinking or feeling and every time we post or are tagged in photos this shows other users what we've been up to, who we've been with and how drunk we got on Saturday night. Something that many people have become obsessed with is photo “likes” sometimes it almost seems as if it’s some kind of competition of who can get the most profile photo likes. The amount of likes or comments their photo gets appears to play a huge part in either boosting or lowering their self esteem. This is a danger particularly to those already with low self esteem. Some teens think the less clothes they wear the more likes their photos get and this is often true. Another similar issue is the amount of time people - particular young people and teens - spend comparing themselves to others on Facebook. Many of us automatically do it without even realising. Again this can be a danger as it can be lowering our self esteem and making us wish we could look more like someone else.

http://expandedramblings.com/index.php/resource-how-many-people-use-the-top-social-media

http://www.care2.com/causes/facebook-use-leads-to-negative-body-image-and-eating-disorders.html

http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Family/2012/0330/Facebook-may-amplify-eating-disorders-and-poor-body-image

 http://www.leadcreative.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/facebook-like-button.jpg

http://s3-ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/site-assets2/site-assets/article-facebook-obsession-3.jpg

http://www.clicktube.com/shop/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/f92997629fbd20f015125d0401183a62/a/a/aamsh9114_full.gif 

Body Image

Body image is “the perception that a person has of their physical self, but more importantly the thoughts and feelings the person experiences as a result of that perception. These feelings can be positive, negative or a combination of both and are influenced by individual and environmental factors” (http://www.nedc.com.au/body-image)

 Body image is something we have become totally obsessed with whether we’re complaining about being too fat, too skinny, too short, too tall or just wishing we could change our nose, eyes or our hair.  I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who is 100% happy with their body or how they look. We are constantly looking for ways to criticise or change something about ourselves. Many of us will go out and spend lots of money on new clothes, make up, hair products, diet pills, sunbeds, spa treatments or cosmetic surgery. All in an attempt to make ourselves feel better about our body image. It’s not only women who will spend money on these things, men are also starting to spend more money now on products and even cosmetic surgery to try and improve themselves and feel better about their body.

 There are many factors out there that cause people to have a negative or a positive body image. Digital Media is one of them, it can be criticised as having a negative effect on a person’s body image for various reasons, Pro-Anorexia websites are one example of this. However it could also be argued that digital media can be a positive influence towards a person’s body image. I will be discussing the negative and positive effects of digital media on body image in depth and more detail in future posts so watch this space...

(http://s3.amazonaws.com/voy/attachments/1506/inline/an.jpg)

What is Digital media? 

So as part of my coursework for Uni I've been told I need to keep a blog on something that digital media effects . As you can see I have chosen to do my blog on how digital media effects body image.

So what exactly is digital media, Digital media according to Microsoft Windows website is “Any media that is electronic. All digital media is stored in binary numbers and today, we access this media using our desktop computers, laptops, handheld devices such as PDAs, IPhones and even MP3 Players”

Digital media plays a massive role in our lives today. In 2012 there was estimated to be around 2,405,518,376 internet users in the world compared to 2000 where there were only 360,985,492 this is a growth of 566.4%. The internet is become easier than ever before to access. Many of us couldn’t go a day without looking something up on Google, tweeting, YouTubing or posting something on Facebook. We have become obsessed with the internet. 

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/what-is-digital-media-2.aspx

http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/00002/ARV_30_INTERNET_2187f.jpg