What does everyone think of the whole "pro-Ana" movement

[Taverner]

I stumbled across a few of these sites and found them scary - for one the 10 commandments of ana:

"
ANA Commandments



1. If you aren't thin you aren't attractive.

2. Being thin is more important than being healthy.

3. You must buy small clothes, cut your hair, take diet pills, starve yourself, do anything to make yourself look thinner.

4. Thou shall not eat without feeling guilty.

5. Thou shall not eat fattening food without punishing oneself afterwards.

6. Thou shall count calories and restrict intake accordingly.

7. What the scale says is the most important thing.

8. Losing weight is good / gaining weight is bad.

9. You can never be too thin.

10. Being thin and not eating are signs of true will power and success. "

WTF?????

[Crazy Guggenheim]

1. What about masturbation?

[Ediacara]

2. I assume it's sarcasm

At least I hope it is...

[patrice]

8. Check out mother/daughter grocery shoppers at a place like Target,

especially the pre-teen daughters, and probably some of the boys too, helping Mom decide what goes into the grocery cart.

I'm a people person, so I observe, and I shop often enough to hear and notice things.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Very sick and very real

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

4. *sigh* Ahhh, the copycats that can never be.

One letter. Just. Add. One. Damn. Letter.

MUST... RESIST... URGE... :banghead:

[redqueen]

9. I know it's inappropriate... because this subject is deadly serious...

but damn if you didn't just make me crack a smile.

Damn you! ;)

[KitchenWitch]

5. these sites scare the shit out of me.

Egads.

[sniffa]

6. i heard about that on a Lifetime movie

[Teaser]

7. Gotta be tongue in cheek.

I can't believe that would be serious.

[Taverner]

12. Nope. Deadly serious

just google pro-ana and see some of the sites.

It's totally scary

[redqueen]

10. It's sad and disgusting.

Parents, watch your children closely. My sister was able to do this to herself for years without them catching on...

[loudestchick]

11. These sites actually give "tips" on how to hide the reality from friends

and family. How to lie to psychiatric workers, et al. These young women take pride in their self-destruction. The sites should be shut down. I know!!!!! I'm a liberal, but I have a slightly chubby 10 yr old daughter.:dilemma:

[patrice]

34. Re: taking pride - Have you ever read Kafka's The Hunger Artist?

Visionary.

[Spider Jerusalem]

13. These girls are desperately in need of counselling.

And the fact that something like this pro-anorexia and bulimia (usually shortened to "ana/mia") movement even EXISTS is proof, if any more were needed, that the impossible images of "beauty" (stick-thin fashion models and so on) that permeate popular culture can seriously fuck up women who feel compelled to live up to them.

[Taverner]

15. Yeah - these were the pics that scared me the most (TRIGGER WARNING)

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

16. Could you put some sort of trigger warning on these?

nt

[Taverner]

17. Done

What's a trigger warning tho?

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

18. Well

I post over in Mental Health quite frequently and I know there are some recovering anoretics over there that are easily triggered by images like those. Just throwing that out there. Thanks!

[Lilyhoney]

54. I had a thought like that the other day.

Someone here uses a picture of a drink in their posts. I myself am not an alcoholic, but I know others are and this must drive them nuts. But what can ya do?

[Spider Jerusalem]

20. Christ.

The first one looks like she just spent a year in a concentration camp.

The only really disturbing thing in the second is the caption...that'd be like ME saying I need to lose weight (which I don't; 6'/183cm & 135lbs/62kg)...

[Taverner]

21. Yes the caption is what I thought was scary...

[liontamer]

27. this has less to do with beauty and more with control

I'd be willing to bet you'd see a strong correlation between pro life activism and incidences of eating disorders. For a lot of people who suffer, it's about having absolute control

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

45. Um

"a strong correlation between pro life activism and incidences of eating disorders"

I don't really think that's at all valid. People with eating disorders come from all ages, races, sexes, and political backgrounds. It's not an exclusionary disease. No offense, but I don't understand how you even made a correlation between the two.

[liontamer]

46. i didn't mean among the person suffering

I meant in the environment. When I was growning up , I noticed a lot of girls who had the most issues with food, came from very right wing families.
I wouldn't say these parents were necessarily abusive, but they were almost always very strict,"always obey" types. These girls had very strict codes about how they were allowed to behave, dress, act in public in general. That coupled with such statements as, "it's not your choice, it's God's" and "wanting that much control of your body is sinful" and it seemed almost obvious why they had eating issues. :shrug:

I do know people who suffer from eating disorders who don't come from such rabid right wing backgrounds, but I said that there's a correlation; I didn't mean to imply that being pro life was causative.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

49. I know what you meant.

And I still think the "correlation" is weak. :shrug:

Going along with the whole "control" aspect of eating disorders. It is important to remember that if a eating disordered person comes from an environment where he is *not* controlled by anything and generally lives a pretty free and unstructured life (their parents are liberal), ... that he might then crave control in another form (through controlling food) because nothing in his life is structured/controlled.

[Trigger Hippie]

14. This is insane.

I don't know whether to get mad or feel pity. I guess I'll do both.

:mad:

[gmoney]

19. People will always find a way to make themselves miserable...

Young, pretty, living in the richest country on earth... doesn't matter.

Saddening... I've known a couple in my time.

[Taverner]

22. I don't think its as simple as that

certainly our thin obsessed culture has something to do with it

[supernova]

24. Sadly, it's not just young girls

I know a woman at my church who is a scientist, yet, in her mid-50s, grown kids, adoring hubby, ... by all accounts someone whom you think is successful and would be loving life.

Yet, she's slowly starving herself to death. She's been in counselling for years to no avail.

The husband, who is a real sweethart says "I've accepted that I won't gro old with her."

[Taverner]

25. Also, isn't it supposed to be about control?

I read somwhere that they profiled Anorexics and most of them had issues in childhood where they had no control over their lives, and this was their only outlet for control...

[supernova]

26. Yes, it's about control

Some say it's about having a controlling mother. I don't know if it's only the mother though. What if the father is controlling?

You don't get to make little decisions for yourself so you begin to rebel by controlling your body's needs for food.

[patrice]

36. "No blue fingernails. . . . "

"No one in you class wears blue fingernails."

Everything is controlling, not just the mother, who is often an anxious dupe who fears her daughter/son will be ostracized socially.

[Taverner]

37. Im not sure I understand what you mean

:confused:

[supernova]

38. Ugh. My fingernails are blue anyway

but that's because I'm slightly cyanotic.

Is that refering to blue nail polish?

edit: I love all kinds of nail polish color. :D Since I work in corporate america I confine it to my toes, but it's fun! Right now, my toes are purple.

[patrice]

40. Odd how pleasing color can be.

I heard a mother say that to her 10-yr-old (appx) - good message that - follow everyone else, do what they do! :sarcasm:

[LynneSin]

28. Oh, you mean like Maria Shriver?

Unfortunately she learned it from Mom

[supernova]

35. I've often wondered abut the Schrivers

those cheekbones are unatural.

And my friend at church does look positively skeletal. She always looks like she's just had some awful sickness that kept her not eating for a year. Which she does.

[LynneSin]

39. Proof that Maria wasn't always so skeletal

I think Arnold has done that to her - he probably hounds her about her weight even though he's a saggy shack of shit

[LynneSin]

23. I've seen those sites - they were crushed with Mary-Kate Olsen got help

I guess their new role model is Lindsey Lohan & Nicole Richie

[alarcojon]

29. What do I think of it?

It's very, very sad. And not a Lounge topic IMHO.

[LynneSin]

31. Yes, but what if there is a parent out there who might not be aware

of this stuff and have a daughter they think is too thin

We do aim to educate

[alarcojon]

32. Absolutely

What I meant is that this is too serious a topic to be posted in the DU Lounge.

[redqueen]

30. Possible Explanation for Symptoms of Anorexia

Saw this yesterday... reason to hope for more effective help, at least...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=139334

[El Fuego]

33. It makes me wanna puke.

:puke: (Ba dum bum.)

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

41. Not funny.

nt

[ghostsofgiants]

42. What the hell is Ana?

[supernova]

43. short for anorexia

and bulemia too, otherwise known as eating disorders.

[ghostsofgiants]

44. Ahhh...

Makes sense. That's fucking creepy.

[Taverner]

47. Even creepier, some of the sites write love letters to "Ana"

" Ana has never hurt me, Ana would never lie to me, Ana would never leave me, and Ana always welcomes me back with open arms no matter how long we have been seperated. "

[ghostsofgiants]

48. Wow, that is some really weird shit

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

53. creepy.

:scared:

[RPM]

50. Ana?

hoodat?

[Democracy White]

51. I actually had a classmate back in the 7th grade

that was suffering from anoerexia

I am not sure how she is now but if she is healed I am pretty sure she would be angry about these sites.

I actually have the opposite problem. I am a compulsive eater, not so bad but my BMI 30% over the ideal. I cannot fathom how young girls want to starve themselves, I think I would go crazy.

But do you think that girls who are anoerexic starve themselves because of a control thing or is it because of image?

Dee

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

52. Control

I think it generally starts off with self image and continues into the attempt to keep control.

[Democracy White]

55. I am plaqued

by self-image almost everyday, yet I don't want to starve myself, true I've had the urge to do it but just can't bring myself to it. I think you may be right on the control thing too so I really don't know.

Dee