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LiveJournal for Against the Rise of Pro-ED and its Influences..
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| Sunday, May 25th, 2008 |
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My apologies if this post is somehow inappropriate, but I thought members of this community might be interested. This has also been cross-posted to a few different lj communities, so I apologize if you're seeing this more than once. I was sick of all the "yay ~*~ana~*~ let's fast until we die!" ED-related communities here on lj, so I created a community dedicated to positive ED-related challenges. ed_positivity The community is a direct corollary to all of the ed challenge communities on lj that promote negative and unhealthy challenges that only serve to immerse you further in your disorder. The focus is on more positive health-oriented challenges (such as reducing the amount of times one weighs oneself, meal plan compliance, trying to eat healthier, etc.). The community is not strictly recovery-oriented and members in any stage of an ED are encouraged to join. ( more information . . . ) |
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| 3 pleas|please die ana | ||||
| Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 |
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| 2 pleas|please die ana | ||||||
| Sunday, April 20th, 2008 |
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| 2 pleas|please die ana | ||||||
| Sunday, April 13th, 2008 |
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I was reading the newspaper and came across this article How biology trumps image as cause of anorexia Scientists now believe genes account for up to 70 per cent of risk of developing the disease April 13, 2008 ( article under the cut ) thoughts? original source |
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| 4 pleas|please die ana | ||||||
| Friday, April 11th, 2008 |
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Promoting extreme thinness will become a criminal offence punishable by a jail sentence under a government-backed law that was tabled yesterday in France to combat anorexia nervosa. The world’s first use of the law to tackle eating disorders is broadly aimed at the media and fashion world, but especially at the websites and blogs of the so-called pro-ana movement. While many are support groups, others promote starvation as a “life-style choice”, with girls and young women posting their wasting images as “thinspiration” for others. Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace have come under pressure in Britain and other countries recently to ban their pro-ana entries. Last month a website that originated in France caused an outcry for encouraging children as young as 9 to embrace plastic surgery and extreme dieting in the search for the perfect figure. The Miss Bimbo site invites users to create a virtual doll, keep it “waif thin” with diet pills and buy it breast implants and facelifts. The website attracted 1.2 million players in France. Fines of up to €30,000 (£24,000) and a two-year prison sentence will be imposed on offenders who “provoke a person to seek excessive thinness by encouraging prolonged restriction of nourishment” to the point of risking death or damage to health. The prison term is raised to three years with a €45,000 fine if the person dies. Some experts and fashion leaders oppose the Bill, which is expected to be passed by Parliament within months. “You do not solve this kind of problem with the law but with understanding,” Jean-Paul Gaultier, the designer, said. Didier Grumbach, head of the French Couture Federation, said it was not up to the state to legislate on beauty and aesthetic criteria. The law, modelled on legislation for abetting suicide, was tabled by Valérie Boyer, an MP from President Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement. Roselyne Bachelot, the Health Minister, gave it the Government’s blessing at the unveiling of a code for the media, advertising and fashion industry on “promoting healthy body images” and fighting anorexia. “The pro-ana movements which spread their messages of death on the web must be the target for special attention,” Mrs Bachelot said as she presented Mrs Boyer’s draft Bill along with the voluntary code. Up to 40,000 people suffer from anorexia in France, the great majority of them girls and young women. The 48-year-old elder daughter of Jacques Chirac, the last President, has been incapacitated for two decades with the disease. Mrs Bachelot said that the “waif-like, diaphanous, transparent bodies on the walls of our towns, in our magazines and on our computer screens are exerting their power of harmful fascination on our society”. Anorexia was one of the most lethal of mental disorders, killing 20 per cent of long-term sufferers, she said. Mrs Boyer, who has two teenage daughters, said that the new offence was necessary because “it was not possible to deal with the pro-ana sites under the law against provoking suicide or promoting cults”. She added: “We do not know who is hiding behind these sites, but there is real mental manipulation.” Her law was also aimed at magazines, she said. It would probably be left to judges to define “excessive thinness” but this might be defined as a body mass index, she said. BMI rules have been set by some model agencies since 2006 when the Madrid fashion show imposed a minimum index of 18 for cat-walk models. This translates as a minimum weight of 56 kilos (8.8 stone) for a height of 1.75 metres (5ft 9in). France banned last year a controversial Nolita advertisement featuring Isabelle Caro, a French model-actress who has written a book on her continuing battle with the disease. The French voluntary code, which was drawn up by a panel headed by two eminent psychiatrists, commits the fashion, media and advertising world to raising acceptance of varied body shapes. “We undertake the promotion of diversity in the representation of the body, avoiding all stereotypes which could favour potentially dangerous canons of beauty,” the signatories said. Marcel Rufo, a celebrity child psychiatrist who headed the code panel, said that he fully backed the use of the criminal law in fighting anorexia. The disease remains a mystery but everything had to be done to prevent vulnerable girls being encouraged to starve, he said. Among other new rules, magazines should be forced to mention that 60 per cent of their pictures are electronically retouched, he said. Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/wo What do you think? |
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| 10 pleas|please die ana | ||||||
| Thursday, April 10th, 2008 |
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lol_anaz A community basically for making fun of wannarexics and people who think eating disorders are cool. Thinking an ED is a great way to lose weight so they can look like people in magazines. We're a bunch of eating disordered girls and boys, who are tired of all the people who think they have a disorder by skipping dinner one day. Fantastic place to join if you have a sense of humour and tired of people not respecting what an eating disorder really is about. |
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| 9 pleas|please die ana | ||||
| Monday, March 31st, 2008 |
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I am a current graduate student researching the social history of food-related disorders, inspired, in large part, from my own struggles with anorexia and bulimia. I'm conducting an anonymous survey of bloggers who blog about eating disorders or eating disorder recovery in partnership with a clinical psychologist for joint research and publication purposes. I'm hoping our survey generates lots of responses so that our findings are well-rounded, inclusive and convincing. The only two requirements are that you must have an active blog and that it must address, at least in part, your experiences with an eating disorder. I'm hoping for responses from people of all ages and genders who are in all stages of recovery and who suffer from a diversity of eating disorders, from anorexia to binge eating disorder to ed-nos to orthorexia. If the scope of the study pertains to your own experiences, I invite you to participate by taking it. More information and a survey link can be found here or http://the-f-word.org/blog/index.php/200 Thank you! Rachel Richardson |
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| Saturday, March 29th, 2008 |
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I'm new here... I've been going through a lot of rough things with my family lately... and I'm afraid I may be relapsing. ( May be triggering... not sure. ) |
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| 7 pleas|please die ana | ||||||||
| Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 |
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| how do you look in the mirror and see the good parts of your body. is it actually possible to see yourself as beautiful? | ||||||||
| 5 pleas|please die ana | ||||||||
| Saturday, March 15th, 2008 |
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I'm new here, but I wanted to post the reason I joined. <3 |
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| 6 pleas|please die ana | ||||
| Friday, March 14th, 2008 |
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I was on the pro ana website today and here is the biggest problem that I have: of all the advice and “tips” the members there give each other, no one ever suggests RECOVERY! Even the members who have been in recovery. One user wrote this: In the time i've been a member here people have... But no one has ever mentioned to this girl: “Maybe recovery” Now believe me, when I was in active addiction, the last thing I (thought) I wanted was to give up my drugs. If anyone in my family (normal, non-using people) ever suggested rehab to me, I got the hugest resentment. But I think if I had someone like me suggesting recovery, I might have been more open to it sooner. Eventually I became more afraid of living with drugs than living without them. I feared for my life daily and feared I would burn my house down with my aunt living next door (I am a smoker). I weighed one hundred and four pounds and five foot six. I thought of suicide everyday. By getting sober I found out my primary purpose: to help other recovering drug addicts. And hopefully a few ana/mias. Love. " |
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| 7 pleas|please die ana | ||||||||
| Thursday, March 13th, 2008 |
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| 6 pleas|please die ana | ||||||||
| Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 |
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My Official Report And Opinon [on pro-ana communities] So I just checked my email and read all the responses to the question I posed about what anti-ana is. I personally don't have anything for it or against it yet but I want to do more research. I've spent a lot of time in the pro-ana community, although I'm not anorexic and have never had an eating disorder. I have other similar issues though (major depression, bipolar disorder, ocd, add, generalized anxiety, panic disorder, ethnophobia, insomnia and supposedly a personality disorder, however I would prefer to say that my condition is chemical and not psychological because although I am miserable a lot, I'm still level headed and sensible). Anyway, I started hanging out in the ana communities because I'm always looking for support groups, but I have such a myriad of issues going on that it's hard to find a niche. I also was drawn to how accepting the group mentality is, and probably also that I'm one of the older people there (maybe that makes me feel more secure or something, I don't know). As for my condition, I do take medication and although I'm well managed I still feel quite poorly most of the time. So, I ran into this community on here today and I started thinking about both sides of the ana issue. I have personally never paid much attention to it even though I was smack dab in the middle of it because I've felt that most of their site content does not apply to me, however I do enjoy certain forums and chats. Okay, this is going to be long but I think I have some important concepts to bring up. I thought I would give my two cents here since I'm probably not the average or typical person associated with ana content at all. I feel pretty neutral about it, because I really don't think it hurts anyone unless they want to be hurt. I've been friends with hundreds of different girls on these sites now for several years and I've yet to see a victim. There are two types of common profiles. First, I want to talk about the girls who don't have eating disorders, however they claim that they do, and are a large population in the community. Most of them are under 18. What I see all the time is incredibly disturbed girls with terrible coping skills. Most of them are needy and enjoy talking to me because I'm 21, laid back, just hanging out online and don't mind listening to them. I usually have to hear about bad parent-child relationships, incredibly poor self-esteem but also a lot of their behavior reflects a manner of attention-seeking. Only rarely do they actually have an unusually low or dangerously low weight. Most of them are physically healthy, but also slightly overweight. To get attention, they will say things, for example, like that they intend to go and drink an entire bottle of ipecac to purge. I'll mention the lethality of that and they will try and argue with me, making things more and more dramatic, tending to try to argue their "right" or "freedom," basically a lot of "you can't make me or control me!" So there is definitely a major factor of passive aggressive rebellion. Perhaps they like to play this game with anyone who will play along because it allows them to act out a parent-child relationship problem by putting me or whoever else in the parental position of eldership and then proceed to act out in the way the wish they could with their own parent or older family member who they have a disturbed relationship with. It seems like a release of frustration and desperation. By the way, I don't talk to girls like this anymore. After about one month of figuring out these types, I will now just block them immediately, which is unusual for me because, like I said, I'm just really laid back and don't mind talking to strangers with problems. I have a lot of patience, but not for this kind of non-sense. Once a girl tried to rile me up by saying she was going on a fast of no liqiuds for ten days. I knew that she knew it was a crock, and I didn't feel like entertaining her so I just kind of said, "Oh. Okay." She immediately spun out of control saying that no one loved her or cared about her. I minimized the IM box and later reopened it discovering a long and passionate one-sided conversation that had gone on without me. There is also a large population of girls who come into the chatrooms to ask how to "get it up" or ask something similar in which they ask for purging instruction, leave the chat, return and report success or failure, often with colorful descriptions of the process. Sometimes there is group purging. It's just that the girls honestly seem to love it - purging in specific. I think this is because when you're a fifteen year old girl, the "bravery" of doing something so condemned excites them, makes them feel hardcore or special, and once the physical act has happened, they then get a rush of dopamine which rewards them for their behavior. To sum this up, these girls are miserable and depressed, for sure, but I think that a lot of their efforts and behaviors are indicative of psychological disorders, rather than eating disorders. I believe the majority of these anas are not actually anorexic or bulemic. To them, it's just the throw-up game or something. I have actually read about about, "the throw-up game" in a psychology textbook that was explaining abnormal social cohesion through purging, passing one another out, punching or hitting one another, cutting each other as well as themselves and even some bizarre cohesion that involves unusual sexual situations. Oh, and these are the girls that are into tips, tricks, suggestions, instructions and directions. They are usually the authors of the pro-ana sites that seem the strangest - their sites seem more like a vanity/lonlienes club with "right" ways to purge or restrict, bizarre tips and preoccupation with red ana bracelets. The second, and other main profile type of anas in the pro-ana communities are girls mostly 18 and older who genuinely have eating disorders. These girls are not interested in tacky things like tips, tricks and thinspiration. Most of them are insulted by the phony, younger crowd. Their websites have content more along the lines of lists of negative calorie fruits, BMI calculators, and scientific articles on "systematic underfeeding" or "entering keytosis" and other complex articles on dieting that pertain to nutritional science and weight loss theory. I've made friends with quite a few of these girls and they're ill but very genuine and mature. If it weren't for them, I would have no reason to ever go in any ana chatrooms anymore. I really only put up with having to ignore the bizarre munchkin types because I have long-standing friendships with a fair group of the older girls who are worth the inconvenience. They will discuss how much they weigh, a current diet they're on or how guilty they feel from binging, but they don't stir anything up over it and seem to prefer confidentiality with a couple members vs. talking about much in the main flow of chat. If the topic in the chat is something that can actually be discussed and debated, they will participate in group conversation. So, my conclusion to this is that I'm trying to give a realistic portrayal of the ana community from an insider's perspective. I'm trying to assess whether or not I'm pro-ana, or if I'm anti-ana or completely neutral. I do feel mostly neutral about it because I believe the first type of girls I described are disturbed, but they are having fun at the same time, want to be there and enjoy the club-like atmosphere. These are the girls that everyone assumes are vulnerable to the scene, but I see it just the opposite. They clearly do not have eating disorders and I've never seen any of them actually develop an eating disorder while, however, it's obvious that they're trying to "catch" an ED which is probably part of the acting out issue. The result is becoming upset, distraught and angry at themselves because they can't mimic the behavior of an anorexic because that's just not what they are and starvation is obviously uncomfortable and unedurable to people without eating disorders. As for whether or not the general atmosphere is dangerous to them, I would say, yes, moderately, in that they have their little purging parties. They also love to get into cyber cat fights and pick on one girl and get completely aggressive and verbally vicious, just like a pack of hyenas. However, I don't think it would matter or make any difference if they were not in pro-ana chatrooms. They are drawn there because they are already sick. I don't think they become any sicker. It's just that they choose that setting as an outlet for whatever their problem is. If they didn't have the chat, I'm sure they'd be doing something just as destructive anyway, like self-injury, running away from home, sneaking out at night, usings drugs and alcohol, getting pregnant, going on wild and manic sex binges or submitting to the will of an older, violent boyfriend they, "love." The other type of girls are embarrassed by the behavior of them, and mostly dislike the typical websites with pictures of emaciated women and advice like smoking cigarettes to curb hunger. They use the chat and forums to relate to one another during deeply depressing and difficult times. I think the communities have probably saved some lives for those that are seriously ill with eating disorders and would otherwise, have no other support group. Finally, I think the issue I'm debating right now is really a chicken and egg situation in reference to whether the sites attract people who are already sick or if the sites cause people that come there to get sick. Finally, my official opinion is that these pro-ana groups have little to no effect on visitors or members and that censoring or banning any of their content is just concealing the problem and trying to look away. Pro-ana portrays a very grim picture of something going on within our society amongst adolescent girls. I do not and will never support censorship of any speech, literature, press, web content or suppression of any club or group. It is just so sad to see how disturbed these people are and you have to wonder where their parents are in that they often spend hours upon hours in the chatrooms all day. So, I'm going to hang around this group for a while because I've become quite interested in this issue and would like to pursue it further. By the way, I'm an anthropology major and a sociology minor with a second minor in psychology. Could you tell? ;-) Haha, sorry if I wrote too much or over analyzed. I'd appreciate any feedback, comments or questions in relation to this theory. Thanks! |
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| 15 pleas|please die ana | ||||||||
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| What exactly is Anti-Ana? I know what pro-ana websites are and I'm familiar with them. So is anti-ana a hatred thing for ana websites, or anas themselves? Do you believe in censoring their content? | ||||||
| 6 pleas|please die ana | ||||||
| Sunday, February 3rd, 2008 |
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| So I've been vegetarian for several years and it's definitely an ethical thing for me, but I've always been interested in the potential health benefits of it. Recently, though, I've heard that vegetarianism and veganism are sometimes used to cover up EDs. The various vegetarian communities I belong to tend to deny this, but other sources make me believe that it's true. So I thought this group might have useful opinions? Is it common to use these as a weight loss strategy or an excuse not to eat? Is vegetarianism a risky lifestyle for those recovering from EDs? It seems like it might be in some cases. I've never had an ED, so I don't worry about triggers in myself, but I worry about encouraging problems in other people. | ||||||||
| 6 pleas|please die ana | ||||||||
| Saturday, February 2nd, 2008 |
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Are there any foods that make you feel really good after you eat them? Regardless if you've struggled with eating problem or not, what meals make you not give one damn about Hollywood and tabloid figures in make your insides explode with happy? I was in a treatment facility 4 years ago. About 2 weeks into the program I decided to have PBJ on a bagel with a glass of milk and a few sides. After every meal we would process our feelings in a group. When it came to me I took a good look at our group leader with the biggest smile on my face as told him "I'm feeling pretty amazing. I don't have anything to tell you tonight because I am awesome right now. Jesus christ, Do you know how good that stuff is on a bagel?" He laughed and said "I think I might know." I had this endorphin rush because it finally clicked. My body loved feeling healthy. My body did recall good associations with food. I can't help to feel that I genuinely inspired some girls in the at that table, even if only for one night. I began cooking for my family. I never really tasted before so I wanted to know what I was missing. To this day I'm always baking for friends and family not only because the foods I make make me feel good about kicking a disorder straight in the ass 3 times a day, but because I can make them happy, too. Don't even start me on grilled cheese, tomato soup, and fucking cupcakes. |
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| 14 pleas|please die ana | ||||
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Hi, my name is Kathrine, and I'm new to the comm. Does anyone have any tips to help out? I'm going to try to assign times to go eat, to get myself on a regular eating schedule, but does anyone have any other tips? |
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| 6 pleas|please die ana | ||||
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I find this video rather good. It's about how advertisement influences us, to put it short and nice. What do you think? Warning: Features pictures which might be triggering. However, they are used to illustrate the lecturer's point. ( Over here )
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| 6 pleas|please die ana | ||||||
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I was thinking that as this community needs to be more active, maybe we could introduce some daily features? I got this idea that we could every day do an entry about why we don't want to succumb to the ideals of this obsession of being dangerously thin, and what keeps us from going that way, what keeps us on recovery? Pro-ED communities do a lot of 'inspirational' entries, so maybe anti-ED community could do ones inspiring us to be healthy and reach for the world rather than turning to self-harm? One of my reasons to keep healthy is to be one day able to see all of Monet's works, especially Waterlilies. I love art and museums, and connect intensely with colour and pictures. Perhaps the most significant work of art in my life has always been this one by Monet. |
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| 7 pleas|please die ana | ||||||
| Sunday, January 27th, 2008 |
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Hi Everyone- I am brand new to this community. I never thought I would be wanting support from an online community as it always seemed a little strange to me. But after reading some of your posts I seem to be in a similar predicament as many of you are. I am a recovery binge, ana and mia "er" and I am just seeking some friends and support I can give and receive from. I do receive "mentral help" but often find myself "thinking too much" when it's quiet. Well, this is one of those times I'm obsessing over eating too much throughout the weekend and longing to embrace previous destructive thoughts that currently attempt to penetrate my esteem. I wish it was so simple as ignorance and instantaneous recovery. But unfortunately, for most of us, it is quite a lengthy road to recovery. One I been traveling for years and harvesting many relapses. But I want this time to be better. I actually want to get better this time, but somehow that's not making it any easier. Thanks for letting me write and post to this community. EK |
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LiveJournal for Against the Rise of Pro-ED and its Influences..
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depressed.
drained.
grateful.
contemplative.