Blog Post #5: Pro-ana and Pro-mia in Social Media

  

“I don’t want to be fat anymore… I just want to be skinny forever… I feel guilty whenever I eat… If I eat a lot I want to purge them… I don’t want to eat that it will just make me fat…” 

If you have a friend who is already suffering from anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, do you usually hear those phrases from her? What do you feel when she utter those words? Do you feel happy or sad? Do you pity or just support her? If you ever tried to tell her to stop because anorexia nervosa/bulimia is really bad for her health, what was her reaction? Girls who have anorexia nervosa always have the thinking that if they eat something, it will make them fat already, so they are scared to eat, they know to themselves that they should be skinny now and forever and being skinny is their basis for the perfect body. On the other side, girls with bulimia nervosa are also scared to put weights in their bodies so after they eat a lot of foods, it would just be normal for them to go to the toilet and purge the food they ate.

 

Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are well-known eating disorders especially to girls but boys can also develop these illness. Having anorexia and bulimia can be developed from some reasons. If a girl is being teased or bullied because she was fat or obese when she was young, she could start being body-conscious when she becomes a teen, she would realize that being fat is embarrassing and people will just always tease you. It can also be developed if a girl always sees or watches models, actresses, and celebrities in televisions, magazines, newspapers, and in social media. They will admire those models that have svelte bodies. Since they admire and idolize models, they also want to have a body like theirs. A body with no fats, very thin, and any clothes will fit and look good on them. In order to be thin, these girls start to eat less and search in the Internet some tips on ‘how to lose weight’ or ‘how to be skinny forever’. They would already have clicked all the sites that seem helpful for them and they would have started doing what they had read.

Aside from the psychological, biological, emotional, and social factors, there is also a contributing factor of eating disorders that affects many teenagers nowadays, and this factor is the social media. I read an article Eating disorders soar among teens- and social media is to blame by Emily Dugan from the site independent.co.uk, Dugan wrote, “The number of children and teenagers seeking help for an eating disorder has risen by 110 percent in the past three years, according to figures given exclusively to The Independent on Sunday. ChildLine says it received more than 10,500 calls and online inquiries from young people struggling with and weight-related anxiety in the last financial year. The charity believes this dramatic increase could be attributed to several factors, including the increased pressure caused by social media, the growth of celebrity culture, and the rise of anorexia websites.”

ChildLine is a charity which is concern about counseling children and teenagers who have eating disorders. People with eating disorders contact them to seek help from them. They said that many girls had talked about the concerns they had about their body image and how they dislike the way they looked. They also mentioned how they compared themselves negatively with their peers and celebrities. Eating problem become more significant once children and young people have reached secondary school age. During 2012-2013, 96 percent of counseling about eating disorders was with those between the ages of 12-18.

“Young people suffering from anorexia often emphasized how they felt they would be much happier and more accepted if they were slimmer. In other cases, young people under-ate because it was something they could be in control of when other things in their life were going wrong.” ChildLine reported.

The most common eating disorder of the children and teenagers are reported to be anorexia. Anorexics are never contented with their bodies. They want to be slimmer and thinner so that they would be much happier, and social media as the common source of photos of models and celebrities is the one to be blamed for the unending body dissatisfaction on children and teenagers. 

Teenagers are the most exposed to social media sites. They like looking at many photos of models and celebrities and comparing themselves is automatic. Another article which also blames social media for teenagers’ eating disorders is an article Socialmedia helps fuel some eating disorders by Marcela Rojas from the site usatoday.com, Rojas said, “Social media, where users exchange information and photos and communities from over common interests, has become a bastion for some struggling with eating disorders. Images of spindly legs, concave stomachs and jutting ribs emerge on various sites by searching hashtags like #thinspogram #thighgap or #bonespo.”

The girls who see those disturbing photos are often accompanied by even more shocking “thinspirational” messages such as “pretty girls don’t eat”, “skip dinner, be thinner”, and “you have to exercise for a week to work of the thigh fat from a single Snickers.” These messages and photos are advocated by people who are known to be “pro-ana” (pro-anorexia) and “pro-mia” (pro-bulimia). Pro-ana and pro-mia websites have existed since the inception of Internet. But social media sites- Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Pinterest have given the communities a global platform on which to share ideas and photographs. Users promote one another self-destructive behaviors through shared tips and tricks and promote the notion that an eating disorder is a lifestyle choice, not a serious mental illness. 

I read an article Socia Networking Sites Promoting Eating Disorders by a staff reporter from natureworldnews.com, the staff reporter wrote, “Experts say that social media forces teen girls into adopting unhealthy eating habits that often lead to eating disorders. A latest fad among teen girls is the thigh gap. The impossible weight loss goal is to become so thin that there is a gap between the thighs even when the feet are together. Apparently, the wider the gap is the sexier is the person.”

According to health experts, social media sites fuel such trends. A person needs to lose a large amount of weight to achieve the kind of thigh gap that is being promoted. The pictures of super-thin models with thigh gaps pressurize young girls into achieving an impossible body shape.  The staff reported also wrote that there is as study conducted by researchers at the University of Haifa reported in 2011 that teen girls who spent more time on social networking sites had higher risk of developing eating disorders, according to the Associated press. But, now social media sites discourage users from posting pictures of self-harm, but the images still get through. 

Teenagers who have anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa and those who want to be anorexics and bulimics are both exposed to social media sites. Most of the girls who have eating disorders have joined a group known as the “pro-ana” and “pro-mia” that is a short term for pro-anorexia and pro-bulimia. In an article Seeking ‘thinspiration’ by Jacqueline Head from the site news.bbc.co.uk, Jacqueline Head said, “ Pro-anorexia websites offering tips on extreme dieting are nothing new, but their growth on social networking sites is a disturbing new twist and brings them within reach of a wider audience.”

The author said that websites that are offering tips on extreme dieting are not new but there is an increase of growth in people who are seeking extreme diet tips to be thin because of the popularity of social networking sites. The pro-anorexia and pro-bulimia websites are advocates of these extreme dieting. Members of such groups are posting pictures of painfully skinny girls for “thinspiration”, comparing dangerously low goal weights and measurements, and are teamed-up to “keep each other strong” in their quest to lose weight. Previously, people on such internet groups remained anonymous, and the groups are sometimes hard to find. But, on social networking sites, users have real names and faces, and are more accessible than before. Such groups can be found in social networking sites, and the biggest group is found in MySpace named Pro Ana Nation which has more than 1,000 members, and another group is Pro Extreme Dieting, which states: “we are here to support each other in our choices, even if they are to recover, or try to put on, or lose weight.” Facebook includes groups such as “Getting thin or die trying”, “Yes, I have an eating disorder. No, it’s not your problem” and other more groups.

   

Jacqueline Head also stated in her article that a 21-year-old girl named Andrea Scheider from Columbia, Missouri, has struggled with anorexia since she was 16. She used to be a member of Pro-ana to seek justification for what she was doing.

“When you are actively in your eating disorder, you desperately want someone to understand, and a lot of times you find groups like the pro groups on Facebook that are supportive of you continuing your eating disorder.” Andrea says

Andrea wanted a support from other people who are just like her, and luckily she had found a group where she really belongs. She is in a middle of her eating disorder and doesn’t want to give up. The group said that recovery is hard and staying sick isn’t, so it’s easier to hide behind these sites claiming that she is making a lifestyle choice, rather than admitting that she is sick and trying to get better. Andrea said that they always want to be the thinnest and ‘thinnest is the winner’ is the quote they live by.

There is an article I read which also believes that pro-ana websites are seriously affecting a lot of teen girls. It is an article by Sara Song entitled Health: Starvation onthe Web from the site content.time.com, Song wrote, “Click on “disclaimer” on the website ceruleanbutterfly.com and instead of the standard fine-print legalese, you get a rant. “If you don’t have an eating disorder, it says at one point, “I wonder what the bloody hell you’re doing here. If you’ve come to yell at us, please realize that it’s pointless- we’re going to ignore your point of view just as you ignore ours.”

The creator of Cerulean Butterfly- a site which deals frankly and approves with anorexia and other eating disorder, is an intelligent San Francisco college student who asked to be called Lizzy has been anorexic since 2002 and is candid about her belief that eating disorder is less a disease than a lifestyle choice- a “decision to pursue perfection”. Lizzy says that the mission of her website is to provide support for people who already have eating disorders, not to encourage or promote self-destructive behavior. She said that the term pro-ana is widely misunderstood and misused. For many girls who are struggling with low self-esteem and a negative self-image, the pro-ana sites can be seductive.

“The anorexic voice inside my head seems to be winning.” Lizzy says.

Although Lizzy knows that many people especially doctors and health care professionals are bashing the pro-ana and pro-mia websites, she still wants to believe in her belief that eating disorder is not a disease or mental illness but a lifestyle choice. Not only Lizzy the creator of a pro-ana website believes in it, but also the people who are advocate of these groups and of course the members and victims of anorexia or bulimia. For Lizzy, anorexics voices and feelings are more important. She cares and supports for them and she wholly understands the dangerous lives they are currently living in.

Social media is a powerful factor which contributes to eating disorders because many people especially teenagers are now addict in social networking sites. They are happier when they chat with their friends, post statuses, upload photos, like, comment, share, tweet, pin, and etc. Social media or social networking sites is one of the source of happiness of teenagers and they are using it 24/7. In social media, they usually see a lot of pictures being uploaded and shared. Girls are automatically feeling bit envy toward girls they see that are more attractive than them and they couldn’t blame themselves for having such a feeling. Since they envy others’ looks especially their bodies, it can sometimes lead a girl to develop an eating disorder. Eating disorders are becoming more popular because of the help of pro-ana and pro-mia sites. Girls who have anorexia or bulimia are attracted to join in pro-ana and pro-mia groups since they feel belong and they are being understood by these groups. These groups are not just attracting girls who already have eating disorders but also girls who want to be thin and skinny. In spite of the very risky like they are in, pro-ana and pro-mias are aware of the people who contradict and continually argue with their belief. They know they are wrong but for them, being a pro-ana or pro-mia will not make them weak of their eating disorder but instead it will make them stronger.