пʼятницю, 24 вересня 2010 р.

Pro-Anorexia Messaging On Web, In Teen Mags

It’s National Eating Disorder Awareness Week. Amazingly, in recent years, Eating Disorders (ED) have gone from disturbing to almost glamorous. Given the user-driven content of the internet, pro-anorexic websites have provided millions with tips and the tools to achieve unhealthy behaviors. In response to these “support groups,” social networking sites are being forced to monitor their group pages.

Given Facebook’s popularity among the teen/college crowd, one would naturally think first to look there for pro-“ana” sites, right? (ana is slang for anorexia) Well, no, not me. As an avid F’book user, the option never crossed my mind. Given I’m not looking to join a pro-ana site, but I didn’t even think Facebook had them!
B-eat, an eating disorder charity is calling on MySpace and Facebook to do something about the pro-anorexia groups. As of right now, both social networking sites remove content that is seen as “dangerous”, or could encourage young people to do dangerous things, but these groups until now have been left untouched. Research shows that young women exposed to pro-ana websites feel more negative, have lower self-esteem and are more likely to compare their bodies with other women, reports BBC News.

To take matters into my own hands, I picked up my detective badge and went straight to …. Facebook. I searched the groups with the keyword “pro-ana.” Someone apparently made a group called Pro-Ana but it’s actually in support of a friend named Ana, who is apparently super nice and has friends who lack something most of us have, common sense. My search for pro anorexia provided more accurate results, yielding 49 groups.
Apparently there are 1,386 members of the “Facebook to remove pro-anorexia and bulimia groups” Group, which is great and all, but still isn’t a pro ED group. I found one group with 16 people that claims it is pro-ana… hardly a “community.” “Get Thin or Die Tryin’” has over 2,000 members. Their community appears to be fairly tight however it is not exactly pro-ana, but rather they want to end discrimination against thin people. Here is an except that I actually think is pretty funny:

“PURPOSE: TO END DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THIN PEOPLE!
Thinspiration: We love Gisele Bьndchen and Kate Moss!
**IMPORTANT: PLEASE DO NOT post pro- eating disorder content. We are strongly against these practices. You will be deleted and banned. The title is a spin on 50 Cent's album Get Rich or Die Tryin'. For people who actually take the name seriously, they really need psychological counseling. There's no substitute for common sense. We also do not care to be politically correct.
Would you assume that a group called "Get Rich or Die Trying" is intended for suicidal CEO wannabes? Why does "Get Thin or Die Trying" - one word of difference - imply that we're goddamn anorexics?-Laura LeGault!”

Немає коментарів:

Дописати коментар