Pro-ana websites: Communities and catastrophes

1. Against Pro-ana websites
The SADD website shows that throughout the nation, "12.3% of high school students had gone without eating for 24 hours or more to lose weight or to keep from gaining weight during the last 30 days" 2005 CDC Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance. This goes to show how concerned society is with their body image.
After viewing various Pro-ana(Anorexia Nervosa)/Pro-mia (Bulimia Nervosa) websites, I was shocked to see many of them full of "thinspiring" photographs to keep girls determined to be as thin, however they lacked substancial moral support. Yes, there are chat room and forums, but these consist of girls/women who already have a certain mindset, and are not likely to listen to anyone with a differing opinion. These websites are not helping anyone get healthier, they're only continuing a life-threatening disorder. Although the girls and women would most likely not see the termination of the website as a benefit, they may eventually come to realize that they needed help from doctors, family, and friends who cared about them increasing their life-span. If these websites were shut down, pro-ana and pro-mia individuals could gain the mental and physical strength that they needed to become relatively healthy again. As Davis mentioned in the article "A Secret Society of the Starving", "the sites reinforce the secretiveness and the 'specialness' of the disorder" (pg.273). When someone has a health problem, their initial instinct may be to not worry about it, because it could be something simple. Often that is the case, and the problem disappears. In this case though, a simple goal to loose 5 pounds can turn into a goal of 50, and can develop into OCD behavior ("Pollack mentions that both anorexia and bulimia are highly O.C.D.(pg.274)". If the sites are removed, pro-ana and pro-mia individuals will have to find another outlet that will help get them out of the all-consuming and dangerous lifestyle they're in. If they were given positive messages, and not bombarded with negative poems with phrases about not being able to do anything right, and never winning fights in life (see http://www.proanamia.com/welcome.html for poems), then they may have a more optimistic and positive attitude about changing their lifestyle. And hopefully, they could come to realize that there are other ways to live. For once, these individuals (primarily young adult girls) could worry about how they'll do on a test, rather than how many calories they've consumed in the day.

2. For Pro-ana websites

Imagine you're dealing with a life-threatening condition, and are scared and maybe even embarassed to talk about the issue with your parents, friends, and possibly significant other. Where would you turn then? To an intimidating doctor to tell you what you already know? A doctor that would tell you that if you dont change what you're doing, you might die, then may show you statistics, and mention that "20% of people suffering from anorexia will prematurely die from complications related to their eating disorder, including suicide and heart problems" This may be a little too intimidating. You probably wouldn't go to the doctor, or to your family, or your friends, or your significant other. A lot of pro-ana and pro-mia inviduals find release and support on many websites that are aware of the dangers of anorexia and bulemia, but also realize that they can get people overwhelmed that they feel there is no way out of the disorder. Like a patient for any life-threatening disease, a lot these individuals want to escape it, and they understand how degrading it can be to their health, however they still can't run away from it because they're addicted to it. They need support, and these websites provide a community for these individuals. These websites display statistics about the diseases, have poetry, low-fat and calorie recipies, pictures, ways to calculate your BMI, and even humorous tips (i.e. 2. If you drink a diet soda with a candy bar, the calories in the candy bar are cancelled out by the diet soda.) These websites have information like most diet websites would have, except that these websites are not for people who want to loose a couple pounds, or lose weight in a healthy way. These individuals realize they have issues, but need someone to share them with, and the best way to do this is through an anonymous website.

3. Middle Ground
It's difficult to decide whether pro-ana/mia websites should be terminated so that these individuals can find other outlets to get help with their condition, or if the websites should be kept so that these people can get support and live in a virtual community of people with common viewpoints. I've caught myself saying "i need to stop eating!" and "if i could just loose 15 pounds..." I dont really think about the seriousness of it, and am glad that i havn't taken drastic measures to lose weight or anything, but i can see how easily it is to becoming wound up in an idea like that.
If these websites were terminated, and the pro-ana/mia community was left to find these new outlets, would their conditions worsen? Would they be courageous enough to tell someone about their problems? Honestly, I dont know. I understand that the issue is potentially life-threatening, and could see people becoming involved in other self-destructive beheviors (cutting, drugs, alcohol, etc.) if they didn't have this personal website. On the other hand, i can take an optimistic view and hope that people would find confidence to lead themselves away from such a consuming disorder. One day they may see a rerun of Oprah's show on body disorders, and see a woman with an eating disorder who is hospitalized many times, and eventually dies. There are always people, events, and certain conversations that can change someones perspective about something, and make them strive to be different. These websites can be both communities and catastrophes.