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.
No comments:
Post a Comment