A touched a little bit on pro anorexic sites in my last post and that seemed to generate a bit of interest. And since I’m not anorexic nor have any desire to be one I can’t add a personal flavour here (I suppose I shouldn’t really use food puns…) I did however go to school with an anorexic, but I think its standard for an all girls high school to have the token ano.
Anyway, if you are a young teenage girl (or boy) the internet is a great source of information about getting into anorexia. Especially social networking sites that offer support and helpful hints to maintaining a waif like figure.
Social utility sites are fast becoming a portal for pro-anorexics to network with each other. I was amazed to see how many groups on Facebook there were that were pro-anorexic and the sheer amount of videos posted on YouTube that are “thinspo” (thin-inspiration) related.
What surprised/ shocked me the most was that on Facebook these girls who join these groups are openly stating their anorexic desires. And as I recall I don’t think I have ever heard a girl say out loud “I’m ano and proud!” Anorexic people never openly admit their disease –well certainly the ones I’ve known, normally you hear the “I have an overactive thyroid” excuse. So I was quite amazed that a lot of people on the web are out and proud of something that is normally so hush hush in real life.
What made me feel sick were the thinspo videos on YouTube. People post picture slideshows of their thin inspiration. Mary-Kate Olsen and Nicole Ritchie come up tops in thinspo along with skeletal models.
But anyway my point is not to slate anorexics. What my point is, is that shouldn’t social networking sites take more responsibility into what gets posted onto the sites. Anorexia is a mental illness and shouldn’t be allowed to be displayed as positive thing that girls should aspire to. Sure people have the freedom of speech but there should be a line as to whether what you are saying is intended to promote harm to other people. It’s a topic that highly debatable and I’m interested in what you all think.
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I'm interested to know more about social networking sites (because of the anonymity) that allow anorexics to come forward and feel safe enough to state their thoughts. On the positive side: social networking sites might bring socially awkward people out of their shell and allow them to be part of a community. The down side is of course that with networking sites promoting harm there is a danger. I say get some regulation into sites like these. Journalists do not have unlimited freedom of expression - I would not be allowed to publish an article in a newspaper or magazine that was pro-ano, so why should social networking sites be allowed under the 'freedom of expression' defense? No way - its a disease and mental sickness that does not need to be given a virtual space to corrupt minds!
I really enjoyed this post - i think it deals with something extremely relevant: where the Internet can cause more harm than good. I think its interesting that a site like Facebook - where you set up a profile of yourself - has people openly stating their interest in anorexia. This seems to imply that a lot of people on Facebook have probably created fake identities? Surely most people wouldn't want friends and family to know they are 'pro-ana'?
Perhaps sites like those with 'pro-ana' content should be encouraged/ forced to have some kind of warning at the top with links to official anorexia help sites? This does open a can of worms with regard to freedom of speech though? How free should the web be?
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