Pro-Ana Websites - Online Communities for Anorexics “Say it now and say it loud: I'm anorexic and I'm proud.” This is a rallying cry that some women suffering from anorexia, otherwise known as “pro-anas,” post to one another over the Internet. Pro-Ana, meaning pro-anorexia, is an Internet community of anorexics who have no desire to recover; rather they want to live their lives being “the best anorexic they can be.” Pro-ana websites are rapidly evolving to promote eating disorders as a lifestyle
Empowerment of Women in Sylvia Plath's Lady Lazarus and Eavan Boland's Anorexic Although the title foreshadows an extrinsic approach, this essay mostly features intrinsic analysis. Eavan Boland's "Anorexic" seems descendent from Sylvia Plath's "Lady Lazarus": the two share common elements, yet have significant differences. An examination of the poems' themes reveals that self-destructiveness can serve as empowerment for women. Plath explores Lady Lazarus' nontraditional view of suicide in
thin. The unfortunate consequence is that society's pressures to be thin cause girls to become anorexic. "The cultural explanation... postulates that anorexia nervosa is generated by a powerful cultural imperative that makes slimness the chief attribute of female beauty" (Brumberg 31). Most females think that if they are not slender, men will not find them attractive. One of my closest friends was anorexic for a year and a half, and even when she was down to eight percent body fat, she still thought
percent of a normal body weight through self-starvation (NAMI 1). Ninety-five percent of anorexics are women between the ages of twelve and eighteen, however, “…in the past twenty years, this disorder has become a growing threat to high school and college students”(Maloney and Kranz 60). Anorexia produces a multitude of symptoms, and if not treated, anorexia can lead to permanent physical damage or death. Anorexic behavior is complex because it is all about the need for control. Someone suffering from
further studies must be conducted to identify distinguishing characteristics of anorexic subtypes and to determine whether these characteristics are of a causal or consequential nature (Minuchin, Rosman & Baker, 1978). Family focused treatments for anorexia nervosa have been developed based on accounts in family therapy literature of the "typical" anorexic or "psychosomatic" family (Weme & Yalom, 1996). Anorexic families may appear to have a perfect or ideal environment on the surface, but upon
onset, such as: personality traits, low self-esteem, and social and cultural influences (Costin, 21). Many anorexics have specific personality traits that urge them to refrain from eating. Many are perfectionists that will diet and exercise and not eat until their bodies are perfect. Unfortunately, however, he or she never thinks their body is perfect, and continues their destructive cycle. Anorexics that are perfectionists also tend to want to be in control at all times. Often , they feel as though others
culture does not accept the way anorexics interpret images of the body. This popular view of people with anorexia does not allow anorexics to function as an accepted part of public space or popular culture. The paradox of pro-anorexia websites serving as a sanctuary space for anorexics is that cyberspace is a public space. Since the pro-anorexia websites are public they not only serve as a sanctuary for women, but also act as a metaphor for the anorexic body. The anorexic body is a site of struggle
three women are related by parallel experiences. The first narrative is Virginia Woolf, the famous author. She is one of the main women in this complex story. Woolf has a troublesome life. She has multiple thoughts of suicide and death. She is anorexic and caught in a marriage that is doomed. The first chapter by Cunningham tells of Woolf's suicide drowning in 1941. Cunningham tells of the demons within Woolf's head and the consequently her fatal death from listening to these voices. The novel
Whereas the anorexic sufferer fears fatness from anticipated loss of eating control, and unlike the anorexic sufferer the typical bulimic individual is not emaciated, but usually maintains a normal body weight and appears to be fit and healthy. However, the obsessive binge purge cycle causes them deep distress, shame, guilt, self-loathing and social isolation, and many will go to any lengths to hide their “shameful” secret from the family and friends. Typical Sufferers The anorexic or bulimic may
“Why Physicians? Reflections on the Netherlands’ New Euthanasia Law,” Jos V. M. Welie provides a descriptive overview of the history of the Dutch penal code on euthanasia in the Netherlands. In “Euthanizing Life,” John F. Kavanaugh discusses an anorexic patient who was illegally euthanized and presents Judge Miner’s offered opinion based on equal protection of the law. In “Why Physicians? Reflections on the Netherlands’ New Euthanasia Law,” Welie introduces the audience to the origin of the law
regularly engaged in binge-eating/purging behavior (Rockwell 10). Anorexia may not be noticed in early stages. The Anorexic usually chooses to wear layered and baggy clothes to hide the “ugly fat body” .An Anorexic may have ritualistic eating patterns such as cutting food into little tiny pieces and weighing themselves. These can be found in people who are on a healthy diet, but in Anorexics these behaviors are extremely exaggerated. Other warnings are deliberate self-starvation with weight loss, fear
rather diverse and sometimes inconclusive. In the following review of the literature, the complex relationship between sexual abuse and eating disorders will be examined while also discussing the methodological limitations of the various designs. Anorexic Samples Steiger and Zanko (1990) compared rates of incestuous abuses (sexual contacts with family members) and extrafamilial abuses (sexual traumata involving other perpetrators) among eating disordered women who met DSM-III-R (American Psychiatric
their excessive eating. “Women make up more than 90 percent of people with these eating disorders” (www.4woman.gov 1).“However, young women are most vulnerable, particularly between the ages 15-25 years” (www.edauk.com 1). Women are more likely to be anorexic, because they always see other women with thin bodies and feel pressured to want to be like them. They may be alone or divorced and may need attention so they look for ways to get that attention from people. “The women suffer with feelings of self-hate
many cases go unnoticed or unreported. The definition of one who is anorexic is that they are approximately about 15 percent underweight for their age and height, yet still refuses to gain the weight required to be at the minimal standard. They have an intense fear of gaining weight and often starve themselves to the point where there are not receiving the proper nutrients and intake required for a healthy diet. Often anorexics restrict themselves to fewer than 1000 calories per day and may even
Anorexia Nervosa Have you ever felt fat or self-conscious about the way you looked? These are questions that we may ask ourselves everyday, but anorexics ask themselves these questions every minute of everyday. Questions like this haunt an anorexic’s conscience and ruin the way she/he perceives herself/himself. Anorexia is a very dangerous mental illness because it has many life- threatening effects. Anorexia is not a choice to be made. It is brought on by many pressures to be thin and it clouds
disorders. Research over the past decade has focused largely on identifying family factors that potentially contribute to the development of an eating disorder in an individual, and further refining these characteristics into prototypes for the “anorexic family” or the “bulimic family.” Identifying a pattern of specific family risk factors would be an extremely useful tool in recognizing those vulnerable for developing an eating disorder. While the research has been unable to paint an entirely
Websites promoting anorexia, created by anorexics themselves, are of growing concern. The Eating Disorders Association estimates there are an estimated ten million women and one million men suffering from anorexia, bulimia, and compulsive eating in the US alone. Pro-Anna sites are helping to give incentive to sufferers to throw up their last meal and to reinforce their 500-calorie-a-day diet. These so-called clubs may not cause anorexia but they encourage members to lose weight and avoid recovery
large quantities of fruit, vegetables, and salads in our presence while secretly fasting at home. Moreover, in spite of her attitude toward eating, she took an avid interest in buying and preparing food for us. Looking back, I think that we were all anorexic to some degree. Personally, I was 16 years old, 5’7 and only weighed about 105 pounds. If I had lost a couple more pounds, I would have been 25% below my normal body weight, which would be enough to also diagnose me with anorexia nervosa (Shaw, 2002)
likely come across a Calvin Klein advertisement that portrays his models as runway teenage junkies, young anorexic girls or even children clad in revealing clothing. In 1980, a Calvin Klein ad featured a 15-year-old Brooke Shields, who said that there was “nothing between her and her Calvin’s.” And who can forget the posters of Marky Mark grabbing himself in his cotton briefs, or the anorexic-looking Kate Moss that went topless in an ad. Patrick Carroll, President and General Manager of Calvin Klein
It is no wonder with all of the cultural messages of thinness being aimed at women, that 90-95% of anorexics are female, 25.7% of all female ballet dancers are anorexic, and that the percentages are similarly high for female models and athletes (Malson, 1998). Six to eight percent of young women have been diagnosed. For some the disease takes a devastating and irreversible course; 20% of anorexic patients will die and as many as half of those will be from suicide (Sullivan, 1995). It is an extremely