What is Pro Ana? |
Posted: September 28, 2016 |
Pro ana. This phrase inspires fear in the minds of parents and teachers, but may inspire adulation in the minds of adolescents, usually girls, who aspire to be truly skinny. Society rewards thinner people. Just as there is “male privilege” there is also a little-recognized benefit called “thin privilege” as well. For females, thinner girls are given more attention, courtesy, and items than those girls who are not, on average, rightly or wrongly. For males, they are given similar privileges, albeit with a focus on having a low body fat percentage so that stomach abdominal muscles are visible and taut, which is also associated with thinness. Teens and others who aspire to be thin and fit often call this drive “pro ana”, which simply means a desire to be thin, like people with the mental disorder anorexia nervosa. Hence, “pro” is for something and “ana” is shorthand for anorexia nervosa. Oftentimes, the people who are pro ana are obese or even morbidly obese, even though to be diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, there is a requirement per the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Version 5 (DSM-V) that the person is underweight, per their Body Mass Index (BMI). So “pro ana” isn’t necessarily a desire for a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa, but rather a desire for the thin body associated with those who have a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa. Ironically, those who attempt to become very skinny with “pro ana” techniques look for “tips and tricks” to become skinny. Despite an entire industry composed of heavyweight corporations (pun intended) that are designed to help people lose weight, including Weight Watchers, Atkins, and Jenny Craig, the “pro ana” crowd tends to gravitate toward online forums, blogs, and pro ana chat rooms, such as http://chatzy.proana and others.
With a wide variety of “tips and tricks” available online, people often find contradictory and confusing information from blogs and forum posts.
Additionally, some of the “tips and tricks” are dangerous. One common suggestion is self-induced vomiting, which is commonly known within the pro ana community as “purging” and is also dangerous, as the stomach acid that comes up can damage the throat, mouth, and teeth, which can result in tears in the throat and/or damaged teeth that need to be removed by a dentist.
For more information, you can purchase the book for additional information: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LGZ5KJ8 (which has the entire series on this topic) or visit
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