If you haven't, don't. It is simply horrifying. And it is just a taste of life as an anorexic...now try and imagine the real thing.
I had a friend who was anorexic. She used to study all day long in order to forget she was hungry, and she drunk litres and litres of water. She didn't even eat a little slice of pizza on her birthday.
And other people never tried to help her. They made fun of her. They told her: "You're crazy, girl!"
or: "Well just eat, my god, stop making so many stories!"
That didn't help.
Is it better in the virtual world, then?
Can websites where fellow anorexics tell you that you have to get thin, GET THIN, and that your illness is actually a lifestyle, a religion, which you should proudly follow, be helpful?
Some say anorexics already think that way, and support groups decrease isolation and loneliness.
Others, like a commenter on this article, have different opinions:
"Anyone who is pro ana deserves to die. YOU ALL RUIN LIVES. I am a twin who has lived with a sister who has a eating disorder that almost took her life and destroyed my family. How dare you make eating disorders a positive thing. Its a disease and you all are fucked in the head. I hate you selfish people. There is so many more important things in life besides being skinny. WAKE THE FUCK UP. Your wasting the life god gave you, and for that you will go to hell for. Your not striving to be thin your striving to die, and most of you will. I suggest you take control of your pathetic life and get your shit together. No man wants a fucking twig anyway its disgusting. Dont even bother talking back to me, I would snap your body with my fucking finger. If you all really want to lose weight then get of your lazy ass and eat healthy go work out, starving is the dumbest thing you can do. And who ever created this site you better wish we never meet in person for you are the fucking devil. F U C K Y O U."Umm, not that I agree with such a comment, but my thoughts on pro-ana are really ambiguous.
I don't think ana creeds, like this one, help at all. Have a look:
"Ana's creed: I believe in control, the only force mighty enough to bring onrder in the chaos that is my world.And from the same website, the ana commandments:
I believe that I am the most vile, worthless an useless person ever have to existed on this planet, and that I am totally onworthy of anyone's time and attention.
I believe in oughts, musts and shoulds, as unbreakable laws to determine my daily behaviour.
I believe in perfection and strive to attain it.
I believe in salvation trough starvation.
I believe in calorie counters as the inspired word of god, and memorise then accordingly.
I believe in bathroom scales as an indicator of my daily succeses and failures.
I believe in hell, cause sometimes I think I live in it.
I believe in a wholly black an withe world, the losing of weight, recrimination for sins, the alonegation of the body and a life ever fasting. "
And try to read this. Really touching."Thin 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, anything to make yourself look thinner
4) Thou shall not eat without feeling guilty
5) Thou shall not eat fattening food withoud punishing 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 succes."
But it sounds as helpful as "you're crazy" to me!
Beautiful?On the other hand, there are a lot of pro-ana websites out there which offer REAL support. No thinspiration photos or starvation tips...just help on what anorexia means and how to deal with it. Now THAT sounds helpful.
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I remember that site (i had a report on the affects the media has on self image).
ReplyDeleteIs that the one where it gives you tips on how to be ana?
tips like :eat naked in front of the mirror so your not tempted to eat to much.
or
(when its dinner time)say your going to eat at a friends house but instead go for a walk.
Or
in the mornings take something with you as you walk out the door. Make sure they see you take a bite, but when you step outside spit it out and discard the food in a garbage bin.
WTF people really? Its f'ed up man.
It might not help people who are completely sucked into the disorder. But I know a similar site definitely scared the hell out of me nine months ago. I went searching for a pro-ana site, and I was terrified all the while. Actually reading it made me realise how stupid I was being. The some of the Ana Creed reflects how I was thinking a year and a half ago.
ReplyDeleteI think for the majority of people with eating disorders they don't realise what's happening until it's too late, but I was always fully aware of exactly where I was going and what I was going to do to myself.
Strangely though, it was the stigma that helped me stop. As I say, I was well aware what I was doing, so I forced myself to tell my mum after about six weeks. No one else knows.
Sorry that post's so self-centred, but being able to post this somewhere makes me feel better. Not even any of my friends know about this (it was a stressful time anyway, and I managed to attribute it to that).
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ReplyDeleteWhat has Facebook become besides a dating website/breeding ground for stupid things like this pro-ana group (I reported this by the way). I've reported other groups that advocate 'hit the bitch' and other crap.
ReplyDeleteI think you're brilliant. Keep writing ;)
~ Jaded16
(Don't knock. Jaded16 is always home)
The difference between these sites is the growing separation between "pro-ana" and "wanarexia". The Wanas are just girls who think that anorexia is a lifestyle, diet, or fad. They are confused and ignorant, true, but I don't believe they deserve all the ridicule they get. Pro-ana nowadays is a group of people who recognize they have a mental illness, but are choosing to not seek recovery for various reasons, and are seeking emotional comfort in their isolation. They do not give out "tips n trix" and other such nonsense.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think both groups need to be shown greater compassion and understanding than what they generally receive from people.
Being thin and not eating are signs of true will power and success.
ReplyDeleteIt's very easy for you to judge, since you think you know, but you have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA.
ReplyDeleteYou DEMAND perfection from all of us and that is the only way we found of spitting all this back on your arrogant faces.
We are very aware of the consequences, but it is what it is. One must do what one CAN DO TO SURVIVE. SURVIVE RAPES, ABUSE, TORTURES (whether physical or physochologycal) and in the end, NO ONE THERE TO HOLD OUR HAND.
I hate using profanity, but I must say,
FUCK YOU.
ALL OF YOU, WHO DARE TO JUDGE AND DARE NOT TO LOVE.
YOU PEOPLE KNOW SO MUCH.
BUT WE ARE HERE, CRYING IN THE DARKNESS, PERISHING AND CHOOSING THIS, BECAUSE IN THE END, IT SEEMS THE MOST LOGICAL CHOICE.
Judge me and all of us.
AND GO FUCK YOURSELVES.
Well said, they have no idea! :) x your comment just saved me a lot of trouble. They think they know everything. They don't understand how difficult things are for us. I can't explain how much I respect you right now. Stay strong hunny! Xx
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