Ana embodies nervous anorexia and is the protagonist of many blogs advocating ana – pro-ana.
The authors of such on-line secret diaries talk about Ana as if she was a dear friend, they defend her when she is attacked by outsiders and look up at her as a symbol of perfect beauty.
In reality, Ana is a serious illness that can lead to death and such blogs are extremely dangerous because they list detailed instructions on how to become anorexic with their authors supporting each other in the effort of achieving their ultimate goal: lose weight.
They teach how to vomit, give advice on which laxatives and diuretics to use, praise and admire those of them who are able to reject food and bad-mouth anybody who tries to make them aware that Ana is actually an illness and that they should look for help. The problem is that these blogs are easily accessible to everybody, especially those confused teenage girls in search for a solution to their complex adolescence related problems.
Rebecka Peebles, professor of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimora surveyed 180 blogs pro-anorexia (pro-ana) and is now launching a warning to the international community.
The survey published on the American Journal of Public Healthdescribes pro-ana diaries as being extremely worrying and dangerous especially because the information they contain is easily available and accessible to everybody with an internet connection: 80% of pro-ana web-sites have interactive applications – to count calories, for instance; 85% of them publishes pictures of extremely skinny and emaciated women to serve as a source of inspiration – called thinspiration; 83% suggests ways to loose weight quickly and gain complete control over the body until reaching the final goal of weighting 45 kilos or even less.
Lastly, 24% of such sites have been stamped as extremely dangerous for its readers.
It should be noted, however, that such web-sites are calls for help: “For many patients, internet becomes a tool to express their feelings rather than doing so through the most traditional healing methods, such as psychotherapy” explain the authors of the survey.
It is of paramount importance to explain teenage girls that being skinny does not equal being perfect and to promote beauty standards which start from and are all about being healthy.
If there’s an anti, there is always a pro. But I can’t believe that pro-anorexia sites that can possibly pollute the minds of the children, young women and even adults. More power on eradicating them~
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Thank you for leading the way in this effort to expose the destructive results of marketing distorted messages of body image to our young people.
Yes, we can’t hear this message enough. Keep up the good work. I was exercise bulimic until I was in my mid-thirties. Still struggle…and I know younger women do. Your work can’t help but benefit all of us!
Are there really pro-anorexia sites???!!!
My deepest respects to you for this post and taking a stand …I hope this message spreads wide and far…good for you
Spot on! Beauty comes in different sizes, shapes, forms and colors and above all, comes from within and knowing who we are.
Thanks for posting this! Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia do terrible things to people everywhere. This mental health disorders shouldn’t be glorified or the image of glamour in any way. It’s a destruction to the mind and the body. The important thing is loving who you are and your body.
Much respect!
Recruiters outside Anorexia clinic in Stockholm, but they disappeared
))
A pity that eating disorders exist at all. Food is wonderful. Food is sharing. Food is nourishment. Food is health. Food is culture. I’m a fitness trainer, and I think my relationships with my friends who struggled with eating disorders pushed me in the direction of health and wellness in the first place.
Excelente trabajo e idea
Loving oneself is the source of true happiness….and TRUE love never involves the superficial, outer skin. It is found on the inside; written on the mind, heart, and soul. Well done on this entry CoF
The rain That, finding an increasing?Anything If If, has high PageRank.Thought Nature protects, ICAO is to.The tub afterwards September 2, an auction like tan for longer.The board and, fashioned wax paper.,
Thank you for this page.
And, thank you for following bigstoryguide.wordpress.com
As someone who has an unspecified eating disorder I find this page extremely hopeful. the difference between myself and most girls who go through it is that, though I’ve always had body image issues and a love hate relationship with food, most of my eating disorder has come on in my mid-late 20′s. I recognise that it is a mental health issue that I struggle with and it’s nice to see pages like this that are trying to show others that it is a problem, not a virtue.
Thanks for liking my blog.
Its such a sad reality check when you hear of people starving their bodies to look skinny for superficial reasons… It doesn’t make sense when theres so many countries starving to death wishing they weren’t so skinny
Growing up I was recognized with an eating disorder. I don’t know who is to blame, but the media certainly doesn’t help. In the constitution it states, ‘freedom of expression’, but what about the power of responsibility. When media loads images that can be harmful, from poor choices in editing to rape and gun-violence, where is the responsibility? We need to make better choices, how do we help our children do so when there is so much publicity to make wrong ones? Great blog, love to see more.
Wow! I had no idea that there were pro-anorexic sites that gloryfied being thin and causing young girls to do irreprehensible things to their bodies. I belive that anyone posting up any kind of material on the internet that advoctes the destruction and eventually the death of one of thier viwers should be held responsible! I’m glad that you posted up this information and for being apart of the crusade againt anorexia and the negative effects if has on young girls. For this site to be a fashion blog, this is revolutionary. Keep up the good work and many more people in the industry will follow!