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DYING |
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THIN |
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TEENS ADDICTED TO ANOREXIA MEET ONLINE |
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Inside the underground world of pro-anorexia |
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They are on television, in the newspapers and splashed
across gossip columns. Waif-like celebrities wearing
skimpy clothing, flaunting bony figures and gaunt
cheekbones.
Long gone are the days of the curvaceous icon a-la
Marilyn Monroe (who legend says wore a size 12).
Welcome to the 21st century – A time when Nicole
Richie, Lindsay Lohan and Keira Knightley are standards
of beauty. A time when a lead character in the recently
released film “The Devil Wears Prada” makes it known
to protagonist Andy Sachs that wearing size six
is just too large.
While statistics show most women are well above
size six (the average woman wears a 12-14) many
still aim for what today’s culture declares as the
perfect figure - the smaller the better.
This obsession with “skinny” has particularly negative
repercussions for adolescent girls. Their bodies
are evolving into women and developing an unfamiliar
figure complete with curves, breasts and potentially
– a lot of insecurity.
The desire to be as thin as the celebrities they
worship has developed a dangerous subculture. An
Internet |
search of the term “pro-anorexia” will lead you
to hundreds of websites where young women encourage
each other to lose weight through starvation.
This underground movement is a dark world where
girls offer advice about the best laxatives to swallow,
ways to successfully fast for days on end, and even
how to handle the side effects of starvation – such
as feeling faint. On the other hand, the site is
a place where those who tend to feel alone can go
to meet people they can relate to.
While most popular in the early 2000’s, these websites
prevail today as portholes to a world where body
image takes control of the lives of anonymous young
women.
Bloggers post pictures of twig-shaped models and
celebrities such as Mary- Kate Olsen, who famously
battled anorexia in 2004. The pictures are “thinspiration”
that motivate young women to continue along the
dangerous path of weight-loss through starvation.
They share diet tips and ways to starve while hiding
their eating disorders from family and friends.
One pro-anorexia web board boasts members with screen
names such as “I pray to waste away,” “Fatty hoping
to change” and “Stick Figure Illustration” |
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Beth, 17 Oregon |
* Name has been changed to protect privacy |
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Beth*, a 17-year old from Oregon, who has battled
bulimia and anorexia for six years, hosts a pro-anorexia
online group. She believes these web communities
are a place to befriend others afflicted with an
eating disorder.
“Some people use the sites for
diet tips,” Beth explained. “When I first began
visiting the sites, I did download tips but also,
I can connect with people who say that you are not
alone with the eating disorder. This is a common
thing and we are all living with it.”
In 2005, Stanford
University and Lucile Packard Hospital released
the first study conducted to determine the health
effects of visiting pro-anorexia websites. The study
surveyed families of adolescents diagnosed with
an eating disorder. Not surprisingly, it determined
these websites are frequently visited by those suffering
with an eating disorder. The study found that visitors
to these sites used them to obtain weight loss information.
And most frighteningly, teens that frequent pro-anorexia
websites spend more time in the hospital than those
who do not.
“These websites are founded on the mistaken
belief that eating disorders are not a disease,
but a way of life,” said Stanford School of Medicine
and Lucile Packard Hospital adolescent medicine
specialist, co-author of the study Rebecka Peebles,
MD. “They are well-designed and alluring, often
with a gateway emphasizing the danger of the site
that can be attractive to teens.”
But for Beth*,
these sites are places to share emotions. “It’s
knowing that there is someone else out there living
with the guilt of hurting their friends and families,
feeling powerless, but not alone,” she said. “All
around me, people think I am crazy,” she said.
“I
don’t understand why I can’t eat and not feel bad
about it - like everyone else. Here, I can connect
with people who understand me.”
Researchers caution
that results of this study are preliminary. Proanorexia
websites do act as peer support groups but also
as portholes to disaster. They plan a larger study
designed to further follow patients that utilize
pro-anorexia websites to determine the influences
websites are having on eating disorder patients. |
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