Tuesday, May 13, 2008
A Web-based pro-anorexia movement provides a bizarre support network for starving girls.
Jul 23, 2001 | Michelle, a 19-year-old girl from Texas, has been battling anorexia and bulimia for eight years, her weight swinging from 87 pounds to 183. She's been in and out of hospitals; she's suffered from bipolar disorder, drug abuse and self-mutilation. After her last stint in the hospital and a miscarriage, she returned to anorexia about three months ago. She got online and typed the words "anorexia and bulimia" into a search engine, hoping to find a Web site that might help her in her battle to be thin.
Boy, did she hit the jackpot. Michelle (not her real name) is now a proud member of the pro-anorexia movement: a growing, not-so-secret online community of anorexics who have taken the "I'm OK, you're OK" ideals of group therapy to a twisted new level. Not only do the pro-anorexics offer one another unconditional love and understanding, they also swap starvation diet tips, participate in group fasts, offer advice on how to hide your "ana" from nosy family members and share inspirational pictures of emaciated models like Kate Moss.
In a world that stigmatizes anorexics as sick people who need professional help, the pro-anorexia community tells its brood that they don't need to be fixed, that weighing 87 pounds is beautiful and that being unhappy is just fine, as long as you're skinny.
"For those people who want to get better or those who think that being the way they are is good, that's wonderful that they think that way," explains Michelle. "We applaud them for being happy with who they are. We simply aren't in that position."
Anorexics have always defiantly banded together when given the opportunity, but never with such ease, on such a grand scale. Experts regard the rise of these groups with consternation: "They seek each other out as consolation," says Steven Levenkron, psychotherapist and author of "Anatomy of Anorexia." "It's a lot of denial and a lot of compensation: If you're stuck with something that you know makes you different and not so healthy, you're going to develop a whole repertoire and lexicon of 'up' statements to make yourself feel better, recruit more people, and take you out of your isolation and depression."
In other words, until forced to do otherwise, these anorexics will persist in believing that thinness will bring happiness; and not only does the pro-ana community help maintain this delusion, it's a place where anorexics can escape the concerned eyes of friends, family and doctors -- as well as learn how to fool them. As one woman put it, in the "Dying to Be Thin" group, "These sites are for people with anorexia to come and be honest about their feelings, without having to be about being judged or lectured ... So what if some people would rather be dead than fat -- society has already told us that fat people do not belong."
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The 10 Pro-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 clothes, cut your hair, take laxatives, 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.
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The term "pro-ana," as specific as it seems, has various meanings for people in the pro-ana community. One 16-year-old girl said in an e-mail interview that it simply means "people who don't want to recover yet." Michelle sees it more as a support group: "We are just saying that there is nothing wrong with each person who has an eating disorder." But many others seem to think that anorexia is a badge of honor, something to aspire to, such as Jai, who runs one of the biggest pro-ana sites: "I think that anorexia is great, just as long you know how to handle it."
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