Are you cool with pro-ana/mia?

[kaisap112]

For the record, I myself suffer from an eating disorder but I'm trying not to take sides with this subject.

And in case some of you don't know:

Pro-ana stands for pro-anorexia. Pro-anas believe that anorexia is a lifestyle choice and not a disease. Pro-mia is the same thing, but for bulimia.

For some years, servers like Yahoo! have deleted pro-ana sites (websites that are directed to pro-anas and people with eating disorders that contain e.g. thinspiration, tips to losing weight, diets etc.). People delete and flame these sites because they think the sites promote eating disorders, self-destructive behaviour and act as instruction booklets for eating disorders. Someone said about these sites: "Who would want cancer and then instructions how to make it worse and last longer?"

But as every single pro-ana/mia site says, it's not about promoting eating disorders. Actually, they hate wannarexics (people who volunteerily try to get an ED). Most sites even have it as the first thing on the page, that box that says with big letters that "If you're under 18 or in recovery, please leave this site now. If you're trying to find a way to get an ED, we won't help you."

The forums are meant to be a support group. Pro-anas/mias can talk to people who think the same way without shame or getting flamed or being called crazy. And I have to say, you can't exactly find these sites/forums by accident. You really have to know what you're looking for and where. This is mostly to keep those sites running, as most servers think they're harmful and should be deleted.

But (after all the rambling) I want to know what people here think about the pro-ana/mia movement.

And I am NOT LOOKING FOR BASHERS OR FLAMERS. IF YOU CAN'T MAKE AN OPINION THAT DOESN'T START WITH "THEY'RE ALL CRAZY", "THAT'S SICK", "YOU SHOULD GET BANNED FOR THAT" THEN PLEASE STAY OUT!!!
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"I don't understand why I'm not dead. When your heart breaks, you should die."

[LoneWolf325]

I work at a pizza place. One of my co-workers is on the hairy edge of Anorexia. She tries to eat healthy, and she works out a lot, but she's constantly lamenting her figure and complaining that she's fat.

The only fat on her body is her ridiculously large boobs, and the only reason she looks fat is because they cause her shirt to not hug her belly.

Whenever the topic comes up, I try to explain this to her(Though not so bluntly... She hates me enough as it is ) and tell her to eat more.

Really, she should take a cue from several of my other female co-workers: they eat almost as much as I do(an entire 14" pizza in one sitting is not uncommon for me), and are, for the most part, skinnier than your average runway model.

At the opposite end of the scale, I don't particularly try to eat healthy, exist on a diet consisting half of "greasy foods" and the other half of "sugar," and have almost no fat on my body.

Really, it's better to be a little overweight than it is to be underweight. Weight targets are set so low these days, and being underweight does terrible things to your body.
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The pen is mightier than the sword
But the sword is so much harder to silence than the pen.

[Mellowthrasher]

[Fission2]

Forgive me for intruding in this topic, but I have very little to say in this matter.

Frankly, I don't care if people are pro or con for this subject; not only does this subject not concern me, but I also don't see the purpose of having such a debate. People will do what they want to do; if they realize that they have a problem, then they'll seek help to rectify it. If they see nothing wrong, then there are 2 paths: 1) They don't have a problem, 2) Darwin.

Darwin always wins. Why should we intervene with his game plan?

[Mellowthrasher]