Don't Advocate Death

Imagine if there were websites full of people who were in favor of illness, pro cancer, pro AIDS, pro death. A site full of people advocating for an illness that can kill, giving other people with it tips and tricks to advance their disease. This is what Pro Anorexia or Pro Bulimia sites are like.

The internet is such a vast place that most people never encounter or have ever heard of pro anorexia or pro bulimia sites, but they do exist. These sites are mostly run by those who have eating disorders and are mostly blogs. The sites consist of images of people at extremely low weights referred to as"thinspiration", they are images that the site visitors aspire to look like. Some of these images even have  quotes such as "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels," or "eating isn't very Chanel" to inspire the people who visit these sites to keep starving themselves.

What can also be found on these sites are a list of tips and tricks to hiding you eating disorder as well as ways to lose even more weight. These lists can be very long and detailed, everything from running water in the bathroom to cover the sound of vomiting, to spitting food into your drinking cup to make it look like you are eating.  There are also comment and discussion sections where people with eating disorders can chat about their problems and give each other advice on how to be a "better" anorexic or bulimic.

These sites are just plain sick. This is like promoting suicide. That's what eating disorders are, just a slow form of suicide. These sites were created by people with eating disorders as a way to connect with others who have eating disorders and give each other "support" but in reality they are just perpetuating each others illness and creating a false sense of unity. The people on these sites tell themselves and each other that they are strong, stronger than the rest of the world because they have to strength to not eat and that this makes them powerful; when in reality they are ill. These sites can also be incredibly detrimental to those who don't have eating disorders because it can cause people to start to think in such a disordered way if they begin looking at these websites.

Pro anorexia and pro bulimia sites need to be taken off of the internet, these sites are allowing people to exchange tips on how to harm themselves. These sites are scary and incredibly harmful to the public, but  by raising awareness we can change this. I know that on some websites such as tumblr and twitter these kind of blogs are not allowed and if reported will be taken down immediately to prevent any damage. So if you are surfing the internet and come across one of these sites speak up. Report it to the website so that it can be taken down and help prevent people from bring further harm to themselves or others.

Sites used:
http://www.myproana.com

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2398749/Pro-ana-Anorexia-blogs-nearly-killed-Starving-girl--17-says-thinspiration-sites-encouraged-her.html

http://family.go.com/parenting/pkg-teen/article-773764-educate-yourself-about-pro--ana-and-pro--mia-sites-t/