Pro-Ana Forums

Pro-Ana is a term used for online forums and chat rooms that began popping up on the web in 2001. Pro-Ana forums exist to this day as a way for individuals with eating disorders (most commonly anorexia nervosa) to share support, anecdotes, advice, and a venue in which to discuss a psychological disorder often kept under wraps.

There are three varieties of Pro-Ana communities populating the internet, and most sites that fall under this category are one of these types, or a combination thereof. The first type of Pro-Ana site is one that is a place of convergence for those who have not been diagnosed with an eating disorder by a medical professional. Some pages in this category feature a moral code for a Pro-Ana lifestyle, which includes tips for staying thin, dieting, and various tools for viewing the world in a way that is consistent with the lifestyle. These types often personify the disordered eating, framing it as a sort of companion in the daily lives of members. The second type does not offer any support or glorification, or direct support of the disordered eating patterns, but provides a place to discuss things such as “thinspiration” (often shortened in forum culture to “thinspo”), where individuals post pictures of goal weights, ideal bodies, and possible diets and workout routines. The third category represents the most commonly found Pro-Ana community n the web today. These groups offer support and raise awareness and tolerance for eating disorders. Since anorexia nervosa is a shame-based behavior in many cases, the anonymity of the internet provides a safe platform for many users to be more candid in regards to their eating habits, and often makes users more inclined to seek help and support. Although these websites (the most prominent of which is www.PrettyThin.com), provide support for those suffering from disordered eating, they do not include tips on purging, fasting, or hiding food, and do not include “thinspo” threads.

At the time when they were founded, the Pro-Ana forums were used as a way for many sufferers of anorexia (mostly young women) to converge and seek help from other affected persons. There was, however, some backlash toward these types of forums because a portion of the users were present on the sites because they sought new diet methods, and wrongly assumed that individuals diagnosed with anorexia nervosa would have healthy solutions. Nevertheless, supporters argued that the sites raised awareness for those afflicted with the disorder, and were vehicles to further rights and tolerance for sufferers. Those who oppose argue that the forums existed to ‘recruit’ others into disordered eating patterns, or seducing them with false information into anorexia. The very vocal minority who strongly opposed Pro-Ana websites saturated the mainstream media with example after example of casual dieters who contracted eating disorders after visiting these types of forums. According to an article in Cambridge Common, a blog originating from Harvard students, “The very notion that the internet will give you an eating disorder is lewd to begin with. It’s not a computer virus that will infect you too.” However, once word spread that individuals fell to anorexia nervosa after having visited Pro-Ana forums, even long-time users began to defect from the sites, and after a short time, almost all of them were disbanded or left virtually empty.