pro-ana

My wife and I have received a tremendous amount of comments in the past week. We logged in today for the first time since last week and were surprised at the amount of hatemail and empty threats intended to scare us and intimidate us. That shouldn't surprise us at this point, but it did. And we have consulted with a family attorney who has assured us that the legal threats are entirely without merit.
We also had one comment from a girl saying she had saved some of the pictures posted to use as "thinspiration." We said from the beginning that we did not want to add to this pro-ana, we wanted to show it for what it was. We are removing the pictures because of this. We do NOT want to contribute to thinspiration. We have decided, instead to show the things we saw on these websites our niece was browsing. Maybe these will only add to "pro-ana" as well. Who knows. But we just hope it will help.

This is what we found our niece looking at:

Why the defensiveness?

We have received messages throughout the past several days accusing us of only posting some comments- the ones which made the blog look good. If you read through the comments, more than half them actually DISAGREE with this blog. But they make points for why they disagree. We have chosen so far not to post responses which curse just to curse and have no other message.

Those posts have been increasing throughout the day. For those who are so defensive that all they can do is yell vulgarities, we have this to ask- why are you ashamed that your words and actions have been made public? If your sites do nothing wrong, why do you curse at us for publishing the sites's words?

We have received more guest book messages than ever after being featured on Mamavision's blog, and we are not sure whether to thank her.
The guest book messages have ranged from thank yous, to questions of where we got the pictures since they "don't look eating disordered" to messages filled with obscenities and no point. There have also been messages asking why previous messages full of obscenities were not posted. Why would we post something which makes no valid point? Others had empty threats. Those are just funny.
We instead posted the ones which made points and generated some conversation, like this one-
You know I wonder if all those pissed off little girls whose pictures ou have posted realize that their "real girl thinspiration" are stolen pictures that don't belong to them? Yet they seem to have no qualms posting those everywhere. At least I'm not staring at these proana girls so I don't eat; I just can't keep anything down after seeing so many ugly faces all at once.

This one made us think. The places these pictures were taken from do have real girl thinspiration- we described it before as taking pictures of extremely thin girls and using them to motivate weight loss, most times without their knowledge or permission. Many times the girls in those pictures have a disease or drug addiction of some sort and do not want their pictures used that way.

Others questioned why we put up pictures of "healthy" girls with no eating disorders. There are other eating disorders besides anorexia- but these were also the pictures the girls themselves posted on pro-ana sites. Draw from that your own conclusions. Some have said that the "shock" factor isn't there with pictures of healthy girls, that it would have been better to use emaciated girls for shock value. But despite the hundreds of members in each of these groups, few of those posting pictures were emaciated. We did not go to recovery groups. These are the pictures that were there. They put a face on this, which we see as a threat. They make it real.

Another post asked us to name the sites we got the pictures from. We discussed this, but decided not to. We do not want to encourage any one further, just like we did not post the pictures these girls posted of themselves as thinspiration.

At a recent visit from my wife's niece, who is 12, she borrowed our computer. When she later went out for ice cream, she left the browser window open, and we were shocked by what we saw. That is when we decided to create this blog, and the sites referenced are the ones she viewed. These are quotes from the websites.
"This pro-mia pro-ana web site is the birth of the evolution of proana, and the start of the second wave pro-anorexia movement."
"Very few things scare me more than my WEEKLY visit to the doctor; she's way too damn smart to let me get away with any of stuff I'm about to tell you to do. These tips pretty much only work if your doc doesn't know about your eating disorder." followed by tips on how to hide your weight and other warning signs of an eating disorder.
"Ana = lovee Pro= ana site."
"People who gose through eating disorder's &&& loves it!!!!"
"keep it in our life till the day we die....everyone is welcome including MIAS....this site is devoted to those who need help staying ana and those who just are...its a part of our lives...there is no escape...."
"Ana and I...'til death to us part?"
"Are you ana? Is your BMI ana? Are you so skinny? Are you close to being ana?"
"Thinspiration is your best friend. You think you’ve lost weight? Trust me you haven’t. Just check out the models online and you’ll realise that."
There are lists of "negative calories," "the 2-4-6-8 plan" which restricts calories to under 1,000 a day and some days to 200, "reasons to be thin,"and links to other pro-ana or pro-ed sites.

You can imagine the way our stomachs sank as we read these. We have discussed it with the girl, and she has said she was worried about wearing a swimsuit and was "just trying it out." Her parents are getting her help.

We decided we couldn't sit and do nothing. The blog was my wife's idea- putting a face to it, shocking and making it real and maybe bringing some attention to it. We are only glad we found these sites before her niece had a chance to try most of the tips they give.

Faces of pro-ana

An explanation of why we use only faces

Today a friend asked why we show mostly faces.
There is a phenomenon within pro-ana communities calling "thinspiration" which Faces of Pro-Ana disagrees with. Thinspiration takes pictures of people, often people sick with an eating disorder, drug addiction or other disease, and uses them to motivate pro-ana members to lose weight.
We show face pictures and the occasional body picture, but we choose pictures which cannot be used as thinspiration. We do not want to further this phenomenon, as it is disturbing in and of itself but for other reasons as well. Many of the girls participating in pro-ana sites and groups are minors, often under 16, and many post pictures of themselves in swimsuits or underwear to show weight loss. These are often some of the pictures which are taken and used for thinspiration, and it should be obviously why this is so worrisome.
While Faces of Pro-Ana wishes to show the people behind the pro-ana movement, we do not wish to contribute to it. That is why you will only see the occasional body shot- and even then, the people are fully clothed and not pictures which would be used for thinspiration.

This is what pro-ana looks like

Welcome to Faces of Pro-Ana

This blog was inspired by the Faces of Meth website. Just as that website shows pictures meant to shock and scare and educate the public about the very real side of meth, this site is to show the scary and very real threat of another public health risk- Pro-Ana sites and communities.

Wikipedia says, "Pro-ana refers to the promotion or support of anorexia nervosa as a lifestyle choice rather than an eating disorder. It is often referred to simply as 'ana' and is sometimes affectionately personified by anorexics as a girl named Ana."

It goes further to say, "Members of these support groups often:

* Compete with each other at losing weight, or fast together in displays of solidarity

* Commiserate with one another after breaking fast or binging

* Advise on how to best induce vomiting and use laxatives

* Give tips on hiding weight loss from parents and doctors

As an encouragement to further lose weight, members often exchange 'thinspiration' (or 'thinspo'): image or video montages of slim women, often celebrities, who may be anything from naturally slim to emaciated with visibly-protruding bones."

NEDA (The National Eating Disorders Association) "actively speaks out against pro-anorexia and pro-bulimia websites. These sites provide no useful information on treatment but instead encourage and falsely support those who, sadly, are ill but do not seek help."

We agree with this outlook, and thus, we present this site. We hope it does shock and scare, as Pro-Ana should be a grave concern, but also informs.

Welcome to Faces of Pro-Ana. Each post, we will take pictures posted on pro-ana websites by the members themselves. Some are posted as "progress shots," intended to show weight loss. Some are posted as motivation. All are posted by them members, of the members. (We do not re-post pictures of other people the members post as "thinspiration" or "reverse thinspiration." We only post the pictures the members choose to post of themselves.) If they disturb you, that is their intended purpose. These are the faces of the Pro-Ana movement.