Pro-ana Communities Research Articles

“Nothing Tastes as Good as Skinny Feels”

There has always been something compelling about extreme bodies. Kate Moss exemplifies “the waif,” a body type both frightening and appealing. She is one of the most common celebrities discussed on pro-anorexia (or, pro-ana) websites. To explore the connection between Moss’s body and pro-ana participation, this article examines the potential for an extraordinary body to solidify the aims of an extremist group and to draw in new members. Her unusually slender form affirms this pro-starvation cluster by physically representing the emotional distress that lies at its core. There is no conclusive evidence that Moss suffers from an eating disorder, and she has been open about discouraging people from starving themselves to look like her. Nevertheless, she has been framed as a unique icon in the pro-ana sphere, despite her personal intent, due to the extreme nature of her body. She helps members to express mental illness and severe emotional distress via an emaciated frame and grungy-but-cool aesthetic. She therefore gives people a way to explore sickness and femininity concurrently, which is especially relevant for young women with eating disorders. The pro-ana community has adopted her as a cult icon for these reasons. Here, I analyse this process using Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge’s sociological scholarship on the social role of religion broadly and “cult formation” more specifically. This raises important questions about consent in cult formation and the role required of a leader.

ПРАВЕДНЫЕ АНОРЕКСИЧКИ: ПРО-АНОРЕКСИЯ (ПРО-АНА) ДВИЖЕНИЕ КАК АУДИТОРНЫЙ КУЛЬТ

The article considers the pro-anorexia (pro-ana) movement an audience cult. The author defines the pro-ana movement as an Internet movement whose members view anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders not as severe mental illnesses, but as a lifestyle choice. The audience cult is a term proposed by sociologists R. Stark and W. S. Bainbridge in the framework of the theory of religious movements. According to Stark and Bainbridge, an audience cult is a community of people who are not bound by a fixed membership, but are united by a set of ideas spread by the media. Adherents of the audience cult act as “consumers” of cult ideas, and not members of a religious organization. The author considers the materials of Russian-speaking pro-ana communities, collected by the methods of the virtual ethnography. The author uses research conducted by Olivia Knapton, Beata Hoffman, Grace Overbeke, Michelle Lelwica and other authors who researched English-speaking pro-ana communities. The article describes the mythology and practices of the pro-ana movement. The article also uses the research of Rudolph Bell and Caroline Walker Bynum on medieval women mystics in order to separately discuss the similarities between the food restriction practices of the pro-ana movement and the ascetic practices of the Middle Ages saints. The author concludes that there are features of an audience cult in the Russian-speaking pro-ana movement.

Folk Devils or Moral Entrepreneurs? Gap Bridging in the Social Studies of Pro-ana Communities

ABSTRACT In moral panic studies, pro-ana communities are usually considered folk devils. Namely, pro-ana culture is investigated as an object of ‘moral crusades’ led by scientists, physicians, activists, politicians, mass media, parents and many other social actors concerned about the epidemics of restrictive eating disorders. In this paper, I put aside this strand of moral panic research and discuss the role of pro-ana communities as facilitators of moral panic to bridge the macro-micro divide in scientific investigations of the pro-ana phenomenon. I propose to examine pro-ana people as entrepreneurs of the moral panic over obesity. This means that pro-ana communities can be analyzed as creating and spreading contemporary legends on obesity in their communication processes. Furthermore, I discuss and exemplify the roles of pro-ana people as amplifiers, supporters and enforcers of this panic. In addition, while reconnecting micro and macro levels in the explanation of the pro-ana phenomenon, I contribute to the development of moral panic theory, as the application of the concept of ‘moral panic’ to pro-ana communities facilitates niche formation in biomedical social research.

Digital Waistlands: Pro-Ana Communities, Religion, and Embodiment

Abstract Pro-ana is an online community that shares resources that support the progression and maintenance of eating disorders. It simultaneously offers participants anonymity and visibility in virtual space as well as the chance to develop social connections with other like-minded individuals who support, rather than censure, their “deviant” behaviors. This paper attends to the intersection of religion, embodiment, and digital culture in the pro-ana movement by exploring how anas embody religious values through their performances of pro-ana culture. We see this both in terms of the more obvious mobilizations of religious rhetorics common with some of the pro-ana community, as well as in more subtle manifestations of Protestant values embedded in key pro-ana commitments and behaviors. By analyzing the popular pro-ana site “MyPancakeAddiction,” I explore how anas embody this digital culture through performances of a shared value system rooted in commitments to individualism, self-control, and mastery – themes often associated with Protestantism.

Inducing Behavioral Change in Seekers of Pro-Anorexia Content Using Internet Advertisements: Randomized Controlled Trial.

BackgroundThe influence of pro-anorexia (pro-ana) websites is debated, with studies indicating both negative and positive effects, as well as significant variation in the effects of different websites for those suffering from eating disorders (EDs) and the general population. Online advertising, known to induce behavioral change both online and in the physical world, has not been used so far to modify the search behavior of people seeking pro-ana content.ObjectiveThe objective of this randomized controlled trial (RCT) was to examine if online advertisements (ads) can change online search behaviors of users who are looking for online pro-ana content.MethodsUsing the Bing Ads system, we conducted an RCT to randomly expose the searchers for pro-ana content to 10 different ads referring people to one of the three websites: the National Eating Disorders Association, the National Institutes of Mental Health, and MyProAna. MyProAna is a pro-ana website that was found in a previous study to be associated with less pathological online behaviors than other pro-ana websites. We followed participants exposed and unexposed to the ads to explore their past and future online searches. The ads were shown 25,554 times and clicked on 217 times.ResultsExposure to the ads was associated with a decrease in searches for pro-ana and self-harm content. Reductions were greatest among those referred to MyProAna (reduction of 34.0% [73/215] and 37.2% [80/215] for pro-ana and self-harm, respectively) compared with users who were referred elsewhere (reduction of 15.47% [410/2650] and 3.21% [85/2650], respectively), and with users who were not shown the ads, who increased their behaviors (increase of 57.12% [6462/11,314] and 4.07% [461/11,314], respectively). In addition, those referred to MyProAna increased their search for treatment, as did control users, who did so to a lesser extent. However, users referred elsewhere decreased their searches for this content.ConclusionsWe found that referring users interested in ED-related content to specific pro-ana communities might lessen their maladaptive online search behavior. This suggests that those who are preoccupied with EDs can be redirected to less pathological online searches through appropriate pathways.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03439553; https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT03439553 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6xNYnxYlw)

‘To the horror of experts’: reading beneath scholarship on pro-ana online communities

Pro-ana online communities in which people share their experiences of eating disorders have attracted concern among scholars and health practitioners because of fears about their potential to encourage disordered eating. This article draws upon concepts from feminist psychoanalysis to ‘read beneath’ a selection of scholarly work on pro-ana communities and consider the implications of this reading for theory and practice in public health. In particular, we draw upon Julia Kristeva’s work to ‘uncover’ how sections of the academy have attempted to manage the horror inherent in the abject in relation to pro-ana. To support our reading we also draw upon critical feminist and sociocultural research on pro-ana, critical public health scholarship and the Foucauldian notion of ‘care of the self’. In accordance with our intent to overcome dichotomous thinking we locate our approach in the context of cultural studies of psychiatry, which is concerned less with clarity and non-contradiction than it is with the social, cultural and political relations of psychiatric knowledge production. This orientation is suited to capturing pro-ana’s complex relationship with medical/psychiatric authority and the nuanced subjectivities of those who participate in such communities. We invite public health scholars and practitioners to appreciate a way of engaging with pro-ana communities that is geared less towards the impetus to control, censor or clinically intervene and more towards understanding them as sites through which individuals living with eating disorders can be in the world, and that both reveal and help us understand the centrality of ambiguity and contradiction to subjectivity.

Teaching Critical Perspectives on Body Weight

While most sociology students are well prepared to think critically about inequalities involving race, gender, social class, and sexuality, the topics of body weight and health present some challenges for classroom discussion. Primarily, this is due to the body’s status in contemporary society as simultaneously malleable (able to be changed) and intractable (an indicator of moral worth). Such associations lead to cases of size discrimination—what is often called “sizeism”—with impacts similar to what is experienced around race and gender discrimination. To challenge students’ taken-for-granted assumptions regarding weight and health, I detail two classroom techniques involving deconstructing the obesity “epidemic” and comparing the pro-ana community to bodybuilders for their similar use of extreme behaviors to achieve ideal bodies. In this way, students learn to critically assess something that has held a stigmatized position (fatness) as well as something that has held a valued position (thinness).

Proanorexia Communities on Social Media.

* Abbreviations: CI — : confidence interval proana — : proanorexia anti proana — : anti proanorexia The Internet and social media have become increasingly important for children today, as they seek information, friends, and social support online. Social media is also home for communities that may advocate unhealthy behavior. Proanorexia (proana) and probulimia sites and online communities are publicly available; they are interactive and promote “thinspiration” (“inspirational” pictures of extremely thin bodies).1 Such material is easy to access, and some children might find it by accident. According to a 25-country EU Kids Online survey, for example, 10% of children aged 9 to 16 had seen eating disorder sites online, with girls being more commonly exposed to such material than boys.2 With the rapid expansion of social media, proana and other harmful online communities have a global audience. Proana communities are active on different social media sites, including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Flickr, and Snapchat.3 Members of proana communities report higher levels of disordered eating, and in addition to weight concerns, their members are motivated by support and belonging.4 Content analysis of proeating disorder sites have shown that mutual support and solidarity is a strong theme1; hence, it might be difficult for … Address correspondence to Atte Oksanen, DrSocSci, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Tampere, Finland FI-33014. E-mail: atte.oksanen{at}uta.fi

Zachowania anorektyczne wśród społeczności pro-ana

Zachowania anorektyczne wśród społeczności pro-ana

Online Stigma Resistance in the Pro-Ana Community.

Media scholars often use concepts from Goffman's dramaturgical approach to study online communities of stigmatized individuals as "backstages," spaces where members take refuge from social disapproval. In this study, I extend this view through an examination of in-depth interviews with bloggers from the "pro-ana" community, an online community for people with eating disorders. To explore how this community uses an online environment that is both anonymous and public, I fuse Goffman's ideas about identity performance and stigma with more recent theories about boundary maintenance. In-depth interviews with "pro-ana" bloggers reveal that to protect this virtual group and resist stigmas associated both with their illness and with their online presence, they construct their own norms and rules in the online realm, and discipline and eject members deemed to be out-group.

Taste in the Anthropocene: The Emergence of “Thing-power” in Food Gardens

Taste in the Anthropocene: The Emergence of “Thing-power” in Food Gardens

Utilising a blended ethnographic approach to explore the online and offline lives of pro-ana community members

The article critically interrogates contemporary discourses and practices around anorexia nervosa through an ethnographic study that moves between two sites: an online pro-anorexia (pro-ana) community, and a Local Authority-funded eating disorder prevention project located in schools and youth centres in the north of England. The article challenges the binary distinctions that are often made between anorexia as a serious mental illness on the one hand, and mere lifestyle choice on the other, and argues for a more nuanced and complex understanding of the dilemmas, practices and emergent subjectivities of those who experience a difficult relation to feeding the body. Similarly, the article challenges methodological distinctions between empirical (‘real-life’) and online or virtual ethnography. It demonstrates how the research participants moved between online and offline presence, and attempts to develop a mobile and connective ethnographic methodology that is similarly attuned to both the actual and the virtual, without separating or prioritising one over the other. The article suggests that educational interventions aimed at reducing the incidence of eating disorders, whether in schools or informal settings, are likely to be ineffective if they do not recognise the complex interweaving of virtual and online activity in the daily lives of young people. Moreover, it is argued that current educational interventions aimed at tackling problematic eating behaviours risk being marginalised as a result of educational priorities that place the core curriculum and national testing at the top of schools' agendas in England. The intervention project described here suffered from perceptions of low priority by school staff, and a tendency to allocate students to the project who had been identified as poorly behaved or as low achievers, rather than according to considered view of need. Paradoxically therefore, young people who may be experiencing a difficult relation to feeding the body appear to be a subject both of high anxiety and low priority.

Communicating Stigma: The Pro-Ana Paradox

This study explores the personal experience of pro-ana bloggers, members of an online community for people with eating disorders. Using Erving Goffman's work on stigma, this study explores the motivations, benefits, and drawbacks of blogging about a stigmatized mental illness, as taken from the bloggers' own perceptive. We conducted 33 interviews with bloggers from seven different countries via phone, Skype, and e-mail. Participants were motivated to blog because they found social support, a way to cope with a stigmatized illness, and means of self-expression. Participants described blogging as a cathartic experience and perceived the social support they received from other members of the pro-ana community as a benefit. The fear that the eating disorder will be revealed if the blog is exposed and the concern that the blog encourages disordered eating were the perceived negative consequences of maintaining such a blog. Thus, blogging about anorexia serves to both alleviate and trigger anxiety about living with this stigmatized illness. Recommendations for future research are made.

REFLECTIONS ON THE WAIF

The term ‘thinspiration’ is used within the pro-anorexia (pro-ana) community to classify images of slenderness that represent aspects of anorexic experience and/or idealise extreme to emaciated slender bodies. This paper discusses thinspiration via an analysis of 1990s grunge culture and its stylisation of subjective crisis. By reflecting on some of the meanings associated with British fashion's figure of ‘the waif’, it argues that images of extremely slender bodies presented in pro-ana thinspiration menus can be located within a discursive field where distress is a problematic signifier of subjective agency and power. It suggests that although some strategies of the pro-ana community are aligned with the feminist challenge to the dominant gaze and its demand for slender femininities, some images of anorexic distress, such as those found in the category of ‘real girl’ thinspiration, have the potential to reproduce oppressive representational strategies and sustain a view in which damage to women's bodies is promoted as a source of identity. As thinspiration is produced largely online and by women themselves, this paper calls for a renewed focus on the debate about the impact of slender ideals not only on women as consumers but also as producers of images.

Ana's Friends. Friendship in Online Pro-Ana Communities

The objective of this article is to analyse the social relationships within online communities of anorectics, their bonds, their emotions and friendships, and their subsequent relation to anorexia nervosa. The research has focused on their blogs and their forums, which create a space in which they share their experiences, and sometimes encourage each other not to give up on their eating disorder – which they view as an illness, but an illness that has become their lifestyle, and their attitude towards life. Within the article an analysis of the special bonds of friendship that tie the members of the online community together will be presented. Special attention will be paid to the similarities between secret societies and friendship bonds within pro-ana communities.

Unspeakable Bodies

In this article, I explore the extent to which the `virtual community' has been imagined as coming into being through acts of erasure that create unmarked citizens. In contrast, `pro-ana' websites that celebrate eating disorders aim to create a community in which a sense of collectivity is constituted precisely through the body, specifically the anorexic body. By encouraging members to speak out, these communities aim to subvert the economy of difference through which the anorexic body is always positioned as `other', as the body that `has' difference. I argue that the public outcry surrounding pro-ana communities represents an appeal to censorship as a means by which, as Kristeva argues, outsiders might be `ejected beyond the scope of the possible, the tolerable, the thinkable' in order to reinstate the notion of consensus through the suppression of some forms of difference.