Rosie Gilderthorp
 |
| Pro-ana: Less is more Photo: Gideon Malais |
A colleague recently brought to my
attention a ‘pro-ana’ thread he had noticed on Twitter.
He was horrified by what he read and I can see why. Twitter exchanges and
message boards like this, consist of young women swapping tips on how to
maintain a dangerously low weight and provide each other with ‘thinspiration’
pictures of sinewy celebrities. Pro-ana networks are a world of women with
glossy hair, gleaming skin and sculpted cheekbones. There are no pictures of
bad skin, thinning hair or infertility (difficult to photograph I accept), and
there are certainly no stories about the death toll of eating disorders. I, like my colleague,
initially recoiled from these groups. It’s hard to avoid concluding that they
maintain distorted thinking, fetishise a dangerous aesthetic and uphold
judgments of women based on their weight. I started to think about writing a
blog about shutting them down. However, when my initial horror abated, I began
to wonder why people access them and what needs pro-ana groups seek to fulfil.
