what`s your opinion on pro-ana (pro-anorexia) websites?shouldn`t they be banned?

Question

shouldn`t be sites that promote anorexia as a lifestyle and a personal choice banned? as far as i know, it is a mental illness and the sufferers need to realise that there is nothing wrong with their bodies but that they need a professional help.it saddens me to see how young people (though not always) strive to be thin just to conform to the "thin ideal of beauty" that our society placed upon us.sick.

Answer 1

I definately think they should... they are really dangerous! You are right... young girls and boys need to be shown that their bodies are beautiful and that women who are too thin are not only unhealthy, but in a lot of people's opinions, unattractive. They don't need these websites telling them the best ways to loose excess amounts of weight, and telling them that thin is good!



I agree that there is more to it than just banning the websites, the parents have to monitor their children as well and at the end of the day, it's the parents job to make sure the child grows up well adjusted but it certainly doesn't help when there are people out their disputing what the parents are saying!

Answer 2

You know what, if 'pro-fat' websites can exist, then why not pro-ana?

It goes to back to an old argument a philosopher made(I can't remember his name). He said, that who on Earth has the right to decide what is a mental illness? It is a fact that mental differences exist in all people, so why classify anorexia as a mental illness. I do believe anorexia, is dangerous but many other practices are dangerous as well. People smoke and drink and even though these practices are detrimental to health no one would categorise these as mental ailments.

Mental ailments are just opinions as far as I'm concerned. If you believe there is something wrong with your body, well who is to say you are wrong in believing that?

There is a recent small scale subtle resentment of naturally thinner people. Their bodies are claimed to not be 'natural' or healthy. But then again, isn't obesity unhealthy.

These are just societies expectations working in a two pronged manner. On the one hand, the media tells you to be skinny, but on the other hand they tell you that big is beautiful.



And what about freedom of speech? If sites which encourage theocracy and other things people in the Western World generally do not wish for, then why not allow a pro-ana site. I mean, in no way do I support them, but I don't neccesarily condemn them.



People need to realise that these are all just perceptions. Sometimes you can't win.

Banning pro-ana sites would be a violation of the freedom of speech laws put in place to guarantee opinions are heard. Sure they encourage women to go to do dangerous things to their body, but smoking advertisements and drinking commercials do the same thing. Even the new revival of "big is beautiful" is having a negative effect. It is allowing many people just to put on weight as they don't see it as a problem.



Anorexia is a socially defined problem, and does go against all biological requirements, but so does obesity. So if they want to make these sites, then let them. Maybe society should be smart enough to encourage everyone regardless of body mass to love themselves regardless of whether they are skinny, fat, tall, short etc. But that will never happen. Society always has unfair expectations.



Let pro-ana sites exist. Otherwise you intrude on another fundamental law of the 'free-world': freedom of speech.

Answer 3

They really should be banned. They make perfectly fine people feel bad for not being stick skinny. The people that see the sites are probably going to become anorexic and they could possibly die.



I was reading a magazine once and there was a big article about anorexia in models. They quoted Janice Dickinson on saying that she wished more girls would come down with anorexia so that they would have better models. Isn't that horrible?

Answer 4

No. As irresponsible as it is to have a site like that, the administrators have just as much right to post their opinion as someone who has a Fall Out Boy fan site. Censorship is a slippery slope. If we let the government or some other agency start shutting down sites that have content that some people consider wrong, where would it end? It might start with banning pro-anorexia sites, but they could go also after sites that have explicit content or play music with explicit lyrics, just because a group of people are offended by it.

Answer 5

Not banned, but 'monitored.'



Banning it would push it under the carpet, and that would do no good for anyone at all.



> ''it saddens me to see how young people (though not always) strive to be thin just to conform to the "thin ideal of beauty" <



On the other hand, to become 'obese' is NOT an ideal to strive for either, but it's on the increse.



Sash.

Answer 6

What pro anorexia websites do you speak of?



Maxim? Cosmo? Seventeen? Modelling Sites? Television? Movies? Magazines? Books? Art? Fashion? Friends? Parents? Schools? Work?



Being thinner and losing weight pervades almost all aspects of society.



Should all of it be banned?



What drives a person to strive to be thinner goes much deeper then just a website or magazine. What needs to change is society and the standards that we set and not the media which in many respects is a mirror rather then a window for our ideas about beauty.

Answer 7

To destroy your body requires much pain-where will we draw the line. I agree with your beliefs. A website like this should be set up to provide links and professional support not to promote futher pain. I an saddened with this world, where a contry and its people can be so overcome by dark vanity that they would starve themselves by choice, (although I do understand that anorexia is not that simplified). And yet another country will starve through no choice at all.

Answer 8

were you in my gender and bodies lecture yesterday?? I feel strongly about this issue after reading an article we had to critique, not enough is being done to convince women to be fit and healthy without needing to be skinny. A woman can be overweight but because she has high muscle content, what then? Is she going to reduce herself to skin and bone instead? And pro-anorexia sites just reinforce stereotypes of their control and power over their own body image, they control each other as everyones goal is to be very thin and to tell each other what foods are bad. Instead of blaming just psychological issues, these sites show that this is also a social problem.

Answer 9

No they shouldn't be banned. If adults want to make a lifestyle choice that involves being ridiculously thin, that is up to them. They should only be accessible to Adults over the age of 18 though.

Answer 10

I been accused of being pro ana, and pro si, which I'm not, I think its mental ill health at its worst. 11 years ago, I was very will with an eating disorder in a psych hospital, I recovered alot since then.

Answer 11

Yeah they do need to be band, I agree, anorexia is a MENTAL illness, being thin is a physical side effect. When people are encouraging other people to stay thin when they're all just feeding each other the same bullcrap lies. It's so sad.

Answer 12

Yes of course they should be banned. Y'know it really gets on my pip when people bang on about freedom of speech and freedom of the written word. So you wouldn't mind if somebody stood up in your market place and made a speech about how great paedophilia is? Or dropped leaflets through everybody's door with explicit pics on? Some things must be banned to protect those of us who are innocent and vulnerable.

Answer 13

Some people will always be vunerable to pressure, but this is not always about looks/weight issues-

it's a control thing.

You cannot police all media, I think in the media women are TOO thin.

But if you want to kill yourself to fit in then it's your own choice.

Answer 14

Young people should learn to develop enough strength of mind to realise that they don't have to do everything that society/peers seems to demand of them.....including being stick thin!

Answer 15

i have a thirteen yr old lassy,she suffered from anorexia,and how people can promote this horrible desease is beyond belief!!they should be banned for life,absolutely disgusting!

Answer 16

i dont think they should be banned.



smoking and drinking's dangerous, too. you see those two being banned?



i love my pro ana/mia sites, and i think i'd collapse if they were ever banned. and come on, it's the internet for christ's sake--its close to impossible to ban anything on here...

Answer 17

They should not be banned - they provide support and people don't have to look at them. Also they don't just have tips and tricks they have medical information and health warnings.

Answer 18

No, its freedom of speach and the written word.



The parents of these kids should be monitoring what their starving children are watching on the interenet in the first place.

Answer 19

It doesn't help sufferers when there are people out there saying it's OK and giving recommendations

Answer 20

yes they should be banned as they make me feel fat!



lol but seriously, they are going to exist so shouldn't they be used in a positive way...encourage girls to seek help etc.

Answer 21

It is your personal choice to visit or not visit those websites.

Answer 22

yes they should be gone because that is teaching people to go anorexia!!!

Answer 23

yep i think they should be banned...