(no subject)

[catslash]

Because I have spent the last half hour staring in horror, you will too.

Check it out! Anorexia is a perfectly healthy lifestyle!

Unreal. This website is all about how anorexia - shortened chummily to ana - is a choice rather than a disorder. It passes on tips and inspirational prose and poetry, and THERE ARE PICTURES OH GOD.

The most frightening part of the website to me is this page, all about "safe foods" and vital nutrients, because it almost, almost, seems sensible. It discusses in detail what nutrients you need and which foods provides them and what can happen to you if you don't get them. It makes practical suggestions for fasting and still getting some of the things you need (Diet V-8 Splash is love, apparently). It very nearly makes sense.

Then, of course, you wander here, see the prose poem about how anorexia is self-control, realize the context you are supposed to be taking it in, scream, and lunge for the nearest brownie.

I have to say that I love this stuff, though. I have a fascination for things that I know little to nothing of, like other cultures or religions or mental illnesses or aspects of history, things about people and how they live and what they do and what they come up with. Something like this site is a pleasure, an intimate look right inside an apparent subculture built on a shared mental disorder, a subculture I'd never heard of till an hour ago. I love learning about things like this. I mean, yeah, it's hella disturbing and upsetting and I want to go make cookies and feed these people, but it's also something I never knew about before that fits nicely into that psychological scope of things that intrigue me so.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a beer to go finish and some potato chips to wash down. And I am going to enjoy every damn calorie.

Comments

[araneae.livejournal.com]

...Ookay. I'm suddenly very hungry indeed after looking at that site :D

[wends.livejournal.com]

Yup, anorexia is a choice, all about self control, and it is absurd that it is considered a disease that people need help with. Nevermind the fact that my aunt has had to have at least 8 surgeries on her intestines and that she had to get more than half of it removed. Never mind that her colon no longer works. Never mind that she's 47, 5'8" and 103 pounds, and that that is good for her. Never mind that she spends more time in the hospital than anyone else I know combined.

Yup, not a disease :)

[catslash.livejournal.com]

Yikes, I know, right? I'm sorry about your aunt. I had a feeling this post might end up touching a nerve with someone on my friendslist.

After I posted this, I found this website (http://www.makaylashealingplace.com/) by a recovered anorexic who had been pro-ana for a while, and it sheds a very different light on the idea of pro-ana; she isn't for it, she just refuses to condemn it, and makes a very good argument as to why. You might find it an interesting read.

[ealasaidh.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting and very well-written site, although I was sorry to see she's bought into the anti-aspartame hype. We may not know everything there is to know about aspartame, but she links to some things (like the Nancy Merkle letter) that have been proven to be false. (see http://www.msfocus.org/publications/pub_articles_aspart.html and http://www.snopes.com/toxins/aspartame.asp for more on the subject.)

I have an acquaintance offline who is anorexic, and it's a terrible disorder. Pro-ana sites scare the crap out of me. I am really impressed by MHP's take on them -- she has clearly put a lot of thought into the subject and isn't just giving a knee-jerk reaction.

[comme-un-buddha.livejournal.com]

Abby did a psychology project on pro-ana in college and she showed me a bunch of the sites she researched... I think this might have been one of them, actually. It's so odd, reading the nutritional information because that stuff IS pretty much true... I'm just not so sure it should lead you to a place where you can't lift a box or fall off your bike because YOUR BODY WILL SNAP IN HALF.

...bottom line, I don't want to be obsessed with food. Takes all the fun out of it.

[catslash.livejournal.com]

You know, reading about this reminds me of the food issues my had when I was a kid, and still deals with to a lesser extent. I remember Weight Watcher and Richard Simmons Deal-A-Meal and Geneen Roth (http://www.geneenroth.com/). I would play with the Deal-A-Meal cards and read her books on compulsive eating. And yet, somehow, I escaped picking up her problems and have always had a very healthy body image. I'm aware that I wouldn't die if I lost ten pounds, but I see no reason to do it. As far as I'm concerned, long as I stay out of fat clothes, I'm good, because that shit is uuuuuugleeeeeee. (Which is a whole other thing that pisses me off - why are affordable plus size clothes so hideous? I like that places like Lane Bryant, with nice plus size clothing, exist, but not everyone can afford that.)

Now if you'll excuse me, I think my frozen pizza is just about ready to come out the oven. And I'm going to eat the entire thing while I watch the Astros game.

[ravensgurl211.livejournal.com]

Though I refuse to click on the site (and give them hits) because I don't support pure stupidity garbage (sorry, my cousin has anoxeria and I refuse to think that people actually like this sort of self torture)...

Have you ever either seen/heard the song/video for Silverchair's "Ana's Song (Open Fire)"? The video talked about that and bad OCD and the song was written because of the lead singers own battle of anoxeria.

[caruso.livejournal.com]

That's just . . . lovely.