How to Inform

I feel the blog has been a great way for our team to narrow our intentions for this feature. By documenting our ideas we have watched their chronological progression. An aspect I wished to highlight within our feature is one that I feel may tie in with the idea of including a backgrounder page. The backgrounder page was to provide a contextual framework for our readers who will be informed on the prevalence of anorexia nervosa as a psychological illness, as well as the narrative of pro-ana in the online world. To include a chronological outline of the existence of pro-ana websites and communities online, will also highlight the development and increasing complexity of such communities, in line with the technological development and evolution of the internet, particularly as freely hosted web-rings and more recently, social media sites have gained popularity.

An article by Karen Dias offers an informed opinion on the idea of pro-ana communities thriving on the idea of anonymity, and sanctuary, a community in existence separate from the “surveillance of the public sphere” (2003). Early warning symptoms of anorexia nervosa can include exclusion, secrecy and isolative behaviour, where cyber space can provide refuge from the physical built environment, and becomes an arena for communication between others suffering from eating related disorders. What is in fact ironic, is that cyber space is a public space, and as Dias argues, it can in fact appear more abnormal to discuss and divulge intimate problems and psychologically diagnoses’ of one’s self in a public space to members of society. What exacerbates the issue further is a misunderstanding of eating disorders and also technology. To dismiss the stigma and shame associated with sufferers who use the online realm for either support, or to exist within a pro-ana community online, I feel information on the illness, the cultural codes on the body that are being reproduced, as well as the technology used by such communities is to be explained.

The rise of web-rings and freely hosted websites at the start of the millennium was the first occurrence and existence of pro-ana communities online. As the internet has evolved, and particularly as social media has heightened it’s presence, blogs and personal networking pages have become new sites for pro-ana communities to exist. What is significant about such a trend, is that such personal blogs are often means for a sufferer to define their identity through the illness, as well often include a strong voice of defence, with a right expressed to embrace their ‘lifestyle choice’. What can be confusing, is when the idea of sickness, or psychological illness is removed from such sites, and what the backgrounder can hope to acheive for readers, much like the tone of an article from Curtin University, is a documentation on the height and development of pro-ana communities, that will prepare for a better understanding of the issue, and facilitate the perspective of psychologists, and importance of offering strategies for recovery and support.

Food for Thought (no pun intended)

Medical professionals treating eating disorders have long noted that patients in recovery programs often band closely together for emotional support and validation.  This can be likened to Podolny & Page's explanation of the benefits of network forms of organization as the "accrual of legitimacy or status for individual agents from being part of a larger network" and "minimizing forms of vulnerability arising from resource dependency upon others (1998: 62-6).  Anorexics may collectively normalize their condition, defending it not as an illness but as a “lifestyle choice” and an accomplishment of self-control that is essential to their identity.  The danger of this “community validation” in the online sphere is evident when looking at the anonymity and accessibility ensured by the internet. 


Anti-anorexia groups argue that “pro-ana” websites (as they are called within the online community) have become instrumental in maintaining the cycle of the disease by providing community and encouragement to those who would otherwise be isolated in their condition.  Castells (2004: 221) has insisted, in relation to the Internet and the network society, that "without specific technologies some social structures could not develop".  As we can see, the social structure developing on these online pro-ana communities has been facilitated completely by internet technologies.  Benkler (2006: 17) furthers that "different technologies make different kinds of human action and interaction easier to do and more likely to be done, and things that are harder to do are less likely to be done".


Our web feature will aim to create an accommodating and nurturing environment that promotes awareness and transparency of these sites in an empathetic and informed way. It could be set up as an online site connected to The Butterfly Foundation, ReachOut Australia or even a Government website that deals with mental health issues and disorders, such as HNEAHS.

In terms of Internet censorship, it’s very hard to decide where to draw the line in a practical sense. Wherever it's drawn, you will allow something bad to slip through at the margins and some legitimate activity could be banned. For instance, how does one program a computer filter to distinguish between a “pro-ana” site and a site aimed at helping parents understand their anorexic children, the way the condition progresses, their strategies and the way they think about it? The words will very likely be the same, only the context changes.


Benkler, Y. 2006, The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom, Yale University Press, New Haven CN. 


Castells, M. 2004, 'Afterword: Why Networks Matter', in H. McCarthy, P. Miller, and P. Skidmore (eds), Network Logic: Who Governs in an International World?, DEMOS, London, pp. 221-4.


Podolny, J. and Page, K. 1998, 'Network Forms of Organization', Annual Review of Sociology 24, pp. 57-76.