Pro-Ana and Pro-Mia sites.

Pro-ana refers to the promotion or support of anorexia nervosa as a lifestyle choice rather than an eating disorder. It is often referred to simply as "ana" and is sometimes affectionately personified by anorexics as a girl named Ana.

Pro-ana is a loosely descriptive term rather than an organized social movement, and as such encompasses a wide range of views. Many pro-ana organizations state that they do not promote anorexia and acknowledge that anorexia is a real medical disorder, and that they exist mainly to give anorexics a place to turn to discuss their illness in a non-judgmental environment: some promote recovery while still supporting those who choose to defer or refuse medical or psychological treatment. Others go further, disputing the prevailing psychological and medical consensus that treats anorexia nervosa as a mental illness rather than a "lifestyle choice" that should be respected by doctors and family.

Pro-mia is the same thing only with bulimia and is sometimes personified as a girl named Mia.

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Nearly every pro-ana site includes the Thin Commandments and the Ana Creed.

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The sites are extremely luring. My sophomore year, we had to write a research paper. My topic was original the dangers of these sites and that they should be taken down. Halfway through my research I changed my topic to anorexia and bulimia as lifestyles and not disorders and supported the sites. I also began throwing up again.

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I'm for freedom of speech. But I can't support these sites. Thoughts?

Also... DO NOT link pro-ana or pro-mia sites, please.

I've heard of those, my friend was on one thinking she could start eating normal if she talked to people about it. But the people on there aren't really the best, they also brag about how they haven't eaten, or how much they weight. I think they should be taken off the internet. It's not as much helpful as it is harmful. No, they shouldn't be allowd.

The people who supprot pro-ana and pro-mia sites are out of their minds. The first time I heard about pro-ana was because of the death of a young girl. She had starved herself to death and her mother found out she was part of the "support group" that believed in perfection by starvation.The mother wanted to take the main girl behind the group to trial, at least to get the site shut down, but it never pulled through.

People die because of anorexia and bulimia. I bet the people behind the pro-ana groups don't tell girls that while they strive for "perfection". It's upsetting to read those commandments. It's hard to believe how easy it is to be brainwashed into that type of thinking. Sure, we all see the imperfections in ourselves, but is it right to risk your life to lose baby fat? Is it right to "punish" yourself for eating a meal?

It's not.

I support the groups out there that help girls move on, recover, and pull out of the awful medical disease that holds them down. I can't support people that encourage such behavior. It's just sick and if the people behind it had any common sense they would know to stop.

Do I support these sites and do I think they should be allowed are two very different questions. I do not in any way, shape or form promote or approve of the content of these sites, I think they're disgusting and misleading. The example Kara posted about the girl seems rather mild compared to some of the stories I've heard about anorexia and bulimia, it's a tragic disorder people have to deal with their entire lives.But, could someone write a book saying they approve of Anorexia/Bulimia? Yes. Could they physically speak those thoughts? Yes. They should be able to publish them on the internet too, as radical and stupid as they may be. The internet is just one more place where you can express ideas, and even if I disagree to the strongest extent with what you're saying, you still have the right to say it. That's what makes freedom of speech so difficult; people say things you detest with every fiber of your being, but they have that right. Fortunately, that also means we have the right to oppose what they say and speak out against it.

It's up to parents to monitor what their kids do online and see if they're going on these kinds of sites. Sadly, not all parents do this, but that isn't a reason to take away someone else's freedom of speech.However, I'm not against regulating these sites. make them accessible to those of a certain age, make a disclaimer. It isn't much but it could help some.

I fully support people who want to help others beat anorexia and bulimia, of course, but I cannot support people who encourage other's to slowly kill themselves. It's just horrible. So many people die from anorexia and bulimia, and not only does it destroy them, it destroys their friends and family. I do believe in freedom of speech, so the people have a right to keep those sites up on the Internet, I just don't agree with what they're saying.

Freedom of speech ?
There are a lot of false sites full of false information out there but that doesn't make them illegal. Lord, there are sites that tell you how to build a bomb or plan a terrorist attack.
I don't think we should ''ban'' any kind of site and any part of the Internet actually.

However I don't agree with such sites, and I think we should teach kids nowadays to tell the difference between true and false online information.

I was in an EDU... we used to take the piss out of pro-ana. We'd all joke about the sayings and go on about how they were such 'fakers' (oh yes, elitists) and then during home leave, you know everyone spent every waking moment trolling the thinspiration sections. Hell, I still do it.

I think the 'support' is a joke, and that anyone who truly thinks anorexia is a great idea should take a look at what it does to the lives of sufferers and their families... actually, I can joke about them in the most vicious ways, act high and mighty to what they say, but at the end of it - I look at 'thinspiration'. Sorry, it's true. I think anorexia is a disorder, I think it's sickening, I think truly supporting and 'believing' in it is horrifying, I think anyone who believes Ana is a goddess should cut back on the hallucinogens...

I also look at pictures of women dying of anorexia and feel a pang of jealousy.

Okay, I'm not as heartless as I try to seem. I look at images many a time and here's where it's funny... I feel sick. I think of the pain these people have caused to themselves, their family. I know first hand what comes along with anorexia. I know exactly how it ruins lives and I know how out of control it is when in full-swing... I can look at an image and feel sick, immensely sad. But I'm not going to deny that I feel slightly jealous. I'd never join a pro-ana site, I'd never undermine the 'power' of anorexia as a mental illness, but God knows I'll look at someone's bones and think "I wish mine looked like that".

I think 'pro-ana' as a movement is a joke, but freedom of speech comes into it. For some people, maybe it's for the best? I don't know, but the thousands of young kids who can easily fall into all the 'glamour' of something so over-romanticised is awful. However, there are sites on the internet that do more harm.

And anyway, pro-ana is old news. If people want to be stupid, let them/tell their parents. I think the best answer to the problem of pro eating disorder sites is simply to roll your eyes...

... Maybe I am heartless.

I've heard of these sites, and I honestly think they're disgusting.
Freedom of speech is fine and all, but has this not gone too far?
To me, this isn't someone's point anymore. It's simply gone too far.
I just think of the young and naive girls that might wander into this trap and go by the 'rules'. This leading to the girls themselves turning anorexic/bullemic.

Well that's just the way I see it, and I can't see these sites being taken off the internet. But I think they should.

I've been on one and I left really quickly. There are commandments and it sickens me that people are trying to persuade young girls to manipulate and harm themselves in this way. To me it's just as bad as some terrorist site or something homophobic or racist, only it's almost pushing people to do these things.
Anorexia is not something to be proud of. I'm not saying you have to be ashamed of it, because it's not your fault but trying to help people become anorexic and supporting them is dangerous and even cruel.

Even now sometimes I remember the headline on that site which was 'a pleasure to the lips is a pound to the hips' and it makes me feel terrible.

Most have disclaimers telling people that they enter at their own risk, but I don't think it would put many people off.
I don't support these sites, I wish I could say that they should be banned but as Kurtni said they have the right.

Woah.

One word.. Sick sick sick sick SICK.

I'm sorry but who would even LOOK at those sites and take it seriously? We all want to lose a bit of weight now and again but.. Eurgh.

Amanda Palmer.:

Woah.

One word.. Sick sick sick sick SICK.

I'm sorry but who would even LOOK at those sites and take it seriously? We all want to lose a bit of weight now and again but.. Eurgh.

These are sites supporting eating disorders. These girls don't just 'want to lose a bit of weight now and again'. It's far more serious than that, and the girls can't be blamed for having them with people like these making it sound like some fucking diet plan.

I think they're wrong, but where do you draw the line between support groups and these 'it's a
lifestyle' groups?

You couldn't really say where the support stops and the encouragement starts.

No, they shouldn't be allowed because they just make it harder to recover.

Rise_from_the_West:

No, they shouldn't be allowed because they just make it harder to recover.

These are the people that don't want to recover. The people that go on these sites are desperate for anything to lose the weight.
They're not recovering at the time anyways.

I understand support groups and such but promoting it is not right at all.
I don't understand how you could be suffering from something so terrible like anorexia but then go and pushing other people to such dangerous and terrible extremes. Like it's okay, like it's enjoyable.
I just don't get why they would make it sound so appealing when they know there would be people recovering or people who have been thinking about going there seeing it. Reading enough of that could make anyone feel guilty for eating and thinking about trying it, even if you don't have an eating disorder.
Why would you want to pass that on when you knew what it felt like?

Jepha Howard.:

Rise_from_the_West:

No, they shouldn't be allowed because they just make it harder to recover.

These are the people that don't want to recover. The people that go on these sites are desperate for anything to lose the weight.
They're not recovering at the time anyways.

They don't even believe in recovery. One of the ones I went on yesterday [they're important to my new story] had in large print There are no victims here.
They don't believe in recovery because how can you recover from something that is simply a "lifestyle"?

Rise_from_the_West:

No, they shouldn't be allowed because they just make it harder to recover.

Should we ban everything that makes it hard to recover from an eating disorder?

Geocities, tripod, angelfire, homestead, and myweb.ecomplanet consistently remove pro-ana/mia sites.

druscilla; bones.:

Geocities, tripod, angelfire, homestead, and myweb.ecomplanet consistently remove pro-ana/mia sites.

Well, that's why you have to force them to recover. I have known people that have recovered from eating disorders and they are GRATEFUL for the forced recovery their parents, friends, teacher etc pressed upon them. They may not want help now, but they will be glad once they get it.

And what I meant by not banning things that make it difficult to recover is that the people on these sites are murdering each other. That's what it is. I don't think websites promoting bodily harm should be allowed. In a way, though, they could never be banned, because of first amendment rights. Just goes to show you how many holes our founding fathers left in our, "Testament of Freedom".

I am totally against those sites and don't think that they should be allowed, but....freedom of speech. A sick thing, at times.