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.