I never heard of pro-ana or pro-mia sites prior to reading about them in this class. My overall view of them is a pretty negative one.
Three “advantages” to these sites:
1) People with any kind of disorder often feel secluded like they are the only ones with their problem. These sites help create a community where males and females with eating disorders can feel like they have a place and a sense of belonging. These sites can help boost their moral and give them healthy ways of living with an eating disorder (if that’s really a thing). I haven’t done enough of a thorough investigation but these sites may have unwanted posts about ways to get help or to seek a healthier lifestyle without an eating disorder.
2) One tip in the “day to day”
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These sites make anorexia and bulimia seem as if they very acceptable and good pathways to choose. They praise the skinnier an individual is and the unhealthier they are. Some adolescents or young adults may not have even thought about being anorexic or bulimic until they found these websites which provide individuals with a step-by-step guide and praise they needed to fall into saddening lifestyle/ disorder.
2) The sites motivate members to continue the unhealthy lifestyle and to fight off their weaknesses. They provide the visitors to the site with quotes to keep their focus on losing weight and pictures of what they should strive to be, along with photos of what they are trying to prevent.
In the article I found online one of the interviewees, Sarah Robertson, entered in a daily log of what she was planning to eat for the day as a way of holding herself accountable. She states “I lived in fear that someone would comment, ‘You’re eating too much, no wonder you’re not thin.’ It was bullying in a sense, but friendship in another” (Rainey, 2013). This is the same kind of motivation my friends and I give each other at the gym. The motivation is good and seemingly healthy it’s just what they are encouraging one another to is