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Surfing a Thin Line
Anorexia and the Internet
By Kelly Burgess
, don't make a strong enough anti-anorexia statement. In addition, the few pro-ana sites still out there defend their existence by styling anorexia and bulimia as lifestyle choices rather than dangerous conditions that can kill.
Dr. Friedman says pro-ana sites are taking less direct approaches to avoid being shut down by their site host companies. "There's been so much media attention and so much censorship that these sites are trying to find ways to navigate through that," says Dr. Friedman. "They accomplish that by saying that they don't advocate an unhealthy lifestyle, but they don't condemn it either. They're saying that if that's what you do, it's OK, and that will perpetuate the problem."
Bonnette says that her site is deliberately non-judgmental because she feels that's the best way to reach an anorexic. She says they usually are dealing with so many people already who are trying to force them to eat or to recover that if she took a more judgmental tone it would scare them away and they would have nowhere to turn but strongly pro-ana sites. Her contention is joining a forum at a site like hers is better than face-to-face group therapy.
"I believe that sufferers need to be able to speak openly, in a group setting among other sufferers, in order to recover," says Bonnette. "I believe the Internet is a better place to accomplish this because there is less of the 'competition' that occurs emotionally when individuals with eating disorders are all packed into the same room. That is a brutal experience, because you think everyone is thinner than you, even if they clearly are not."
People who've been there, like Bonnette, and experts such as Drs. Cumella and Friedman will probably never agree on the good versus evil arguments of online sites that either promote or don't condemn anorexia outright. But there are some things they they do agree upon that parents can do to help a child avoid an eating disorder or to get her help if she seems to be developing one: