Pro-ana

Most claim that they exist mainly as a non-judgmental environment for anorexics; a place to turn to, to discuss their illness, and to support those who choose to enter recovery.

[3] Medical professionals treating eating disorders have long noted that patients in recovery programs often "symptom pool", banding closely together for emotional support and validation.

Other community members band together for support in managing their illnesses, such as sharing harm reduction tips and having others to talk to about their experiences that are going through the same thing.

[citation needed] Such advocacy has flourished on the Internet, mainly through tight-knit support groups centred on web forums and social network services such as Tumblr, Xanga,[6] LiveJournal, Facebook and Myspace.

[22] Pro-ana bloggers, forum members and social networking groups likewise post thinspiration to motivate one another toward further weight loss.

[40][41] In a 2009 survey by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven of 711 Flemish high school students aged 13–17, 12.6% of girls and 5.9% of boys reported having visited pro-ana websites at least once.

[46] A 2007 survey by the University of South Florida of 1575 girls and young women found that those who had a history of viewing pro-ana websites did not differ from those who viewed only pro-recovery websites on any of the survey's measures, including body mass index, negative body image, appearance dissatisfaction, level of disturbance, and dietary restriction.

[51] While pro-ana site users in this study perceived greater support from online communities than offline relationships, they also reported being encouraged to continue eating disorder behaviors.

[52][53][54][55] It's possible that health professionals and academics are eager to place blame on these communities because of this increased visibility and being an "easy target" for understanding the complex problem of root causes of eating disorders.

[18] In response, many groups now take steps to conceal themselves,[36] disclaim their intentions as neutral and recovery-supportive (58% of sites in a 2006 survey),[12] or interview members to screen out the non-eating disordered.

In April 2009, The Truth about Online Anorexia, an investigative documentary about pro-ana on the Internet, aired on ITV1 in the UK presented by BBC Radio 1 DJ Fearne Cotton.

According to Sozzani, pro-ana sites were more effective at promoting eating disorders, and obesity was the more pressing public health problem that food industry was not being likewise attacked for exacerbating.

[60] In November 2007, Microsoft shut down four pro-ana sites on the Spanish-language version of its Spaces social networking service at the behest of IQUA, the Internet regulatory body for Catalonia.

[82] In September 2008, San Sebastián-based Spanish-language web portal Hispavista [es] removed its pro-ana forums at the request of the provincial prosecutor for Guipúzcoa and the Children's Ombudsman of Madrid [es], who stated that "while not illegal, the harmful and false information in such forums being disseminated to minors will impair their proper development.

[89] Instagram followed suit and announced in April 2012 that it would summarily disable any accounts on its photo-sharing service with pro-ana specific hashtags on images.

[91] In the United Kingdom, 40 MPs signed an early day motion tabled in February 2008 by the then Liberal Democrats member for Cheadle, Mark Hunter, urging government action against pro-ana sites.

[93][94] In the United Kingdom, Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat member for East Dunbartonshire, called for advertisers to voluntarily adopt similar disclaimers in an adjournment debate in October 2009, and later in an early day motion tabled in February 2010.

She has stated that such "photos can lead people to believe in realities that, very often, do not exist," and that "when teenagers and women look at these pictures in magazines, they end up feeling unhappy with themselves.

"[95] In April 2008, a bill outlawing material which "provokes a person to seek excessive thinness by encouraging prolonged restriction of nourishment" was tabled in the French National Assembly by UMP MP Valérie Boyer.

"[99] The bill passed the National Assembly,[100] but stalled in the Senate, where a June 2008 report by the Committee of Social Affairs emphatically recommended against such legislation and instead suggested early-screening programs by schools and physicians.

[101] Boyer subsequently introduced another bill in September 2009 to mandate disclaimers on photographs in which body parts have been retouched, with the aim of reducing the impact of unrealism in photography on young girls and women.

[106][107][108] In a November 2009 interview with Women's Wear Daily, model Kate Moss gave a popular thinspirational slogan as her motto: "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.

Her agency, Storm, stated: "This was part of a longer answer Kate gave during a wider ranging interview which has unfortunately been taken out of context and misrepresented.

"[110] Still, Moss has been known in the fashion world to have helped popularize the "heroin chic" trend, which uses models with disheveled, ultra-skinny, and waif-like body types on the runway.