The parliamentary groups that are part of the Justice Commission of the Congress of Deputies, agreed on Tuesday to urge the Government to influence the protection of minors on the Internet; specifically against the dissemination of websites that are promoting eating disorders (when not apologizing for them) such as anorexia and bulimia. Those sites are the pages pro Ana (anorexia) and pro Mia (bulimia): apparently two “princess” friends who are there so that girls (and boys) with these eating disorders do not feel alone.
But this "not feeling alone" does not refer to the fact that they obtain support to overcome the disease, since from the mentioned pages it is urged to keep a weight of no more than 50 kilos, as part of the ideal of beauty pursued. At most, the people who are part of such communities (blog administrators and readers / users) avoid feeling alone and accompany each other in the fight not only for perfection but against those who question them. One of the most striking contradictions (and terrible, why not say it) that I find when reading content on this site, is the repudiation overweight and obesity, and in a way the stigmatization of the people who suffer them.
Because if, obesity is already considered an epidemic in industrialized countriess, and it is not for less since a year ago, the latest study by the Thao Foundation yielded worrying figures: one in four children between 3 and 12 years old, are overweight or obese. But isn't anorexia harmful? Is it better than a 16-year-old girl weighing 48 or 90 kilos? Losing myself in discussions of this kind would seem trivial to me, in addition to doing a disservice to the recovery of each other. Furthermore, in developed countries, one in 200 girls between the ages of 12 and 14 suffers from anorexia and / or bulimia; At least 10 percent of these ill (there are also children, although in lower percentages) die as a result of the disease, 10 percent is a lot, a lot, taking into account that we are talking about people who still have their whole lives ahead of them! !
Knowing eating disorders
I put the points on the "i's": our society values thinness itself; not a healthy lifestyle that helps prevent disease, to maintain an adequate weight, have energy and meet nutritional needs. Eating habits are far from adequate in general, and even less when it comes to staying slim at any cost.
Major eating disorders
- Anorexia nervosa, characterized by extreme weight loss, although those who suffer from it look 'fat'. They eat very small amounts of certain foods, and they may abuse diuretic or laxative medications.
- Bulimia Nervosa, the main characteristic are recurrent episodes in which large amounts of food are ingested; followed by forced vomiting (or use of fasts, laxatives, vomiting ...), to behave in the previous behavior.
- Binge eating disorder, consists of a loss of control over eating, which causes overweight or obesity.
Studies have been carried out all over the world - and one of the reference entities is the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa in the United States - that show how the age of onset has dropped to 12 years (from which we can deduce that the behaviors anomalies have started at an earlier age). There are no clear causes, and health professionals agree that you are not born anorexic (you are). With factors that promote and reinforce these diseases, we look at the environment understood as a set of stimuli (often inappropriate), within which the blogs / pages referred to in this post are framed.
Pro Ana - Pro Mia, lifestyles?
Ana and Mia are not real people, rather it is the way of calling the websites 'Pro' these disorders; They usually advise that they do not promote the practices that are detailedThey even go further by inviting anyone who disagrees to leave. In practice, they do apology for anorexia (Ana) and bulimia (Mia), but they disguise it as overcoming, illusion to achieve happiness, union in the face of misunderstanding, etc. It is nothing more than a way to self-destruct, and it costs a lot to understand from reason..
There is no single formula, but the contents combine advice 'to hide' that you have vomited, or not to eat even if it is 'time to' and you are hungry, recipes, the colors of the bracelets to wear during the stayed (red for Ana, purple for Mia). In the most aberrant cases, instructions for self-harm are included. If a girl arriving at the gates of this perverse world is 'Wannabe', that is, if she wants to get started, the breeding ground is served, and unfortunately this is not science fiction, but something that happens in real life.
Instead of achieving healing through control of emotions and acceptance (not easy, but not impossible either), they resort to a place where they can achieve the necessary acceptance, because in the world of Ana and Mía there is freedom of expression. But of course, lost in that supposed freedom, to the girls and adolescents who come attracted by the songs of 'fairies' (I'll tell you more about this below) they forget that they have a critical sense and should apply it, asking themselves in the first place: who is the person behind this page? Is she a girl with anorexia like me but happier or does she respond to 'who knows' what interests?
Read below: “Welcome. This is a blog for those who are looking for a dream and feel misunderstood, tired of everyone coming to tell them 'don't do that, you're killing yourself, happiness does not reside in the physical' and such nonsense ". If to that you add images of butterflies, fairies or ethereal beings, plus an enveloping music (although perverse if the lyrics are understood), it is sung that not adding more than 500 calories in three days can be motivating; Unless the reader considers that they have the capacity to trust or not according to what information, and that they value other aspects beyond thinness or languor.
Sick princesses
"Being a princess is not easy", says a sentence in one of these blogs; Of course, how is it going to be easy to stay under 50 kilos? But there are other ways of overcoming, that's for sure, and many of them do not involve risks.
They are far from the natural, of course ... I'm sorry but I am just as capable of fighting to reduce childhood obesity, as to make it understood that (the so-called princesses) Ana and Mia They can destroy the health of many girls who come to blogs without judgment, and of course their families.
In this entry of Acme Psychology and Coaching, we find this list of 'commandments', extracted in turn from one of the pages, which I refuse to refer to:
- If you are not thin you are not attractive.
- Being slim is the most important thing.
- Buy the right clothes, get a haircut, take laxatives, starve yourself, whatever it takes to appear slimmer.
- You will not eat without feeling guilty.
- You will not eat fattening food without punishing yourself later.
- You will count calories and limit your meals accordingly.
- The scale designs are the only and the most important.
- Losing weight is good. Getting fat is bad.
- You are never thin enough.
- Being thin and not eating show true willpower and level of success.
As you can see, and without the intention of generalizing, for these girls the IMPORTANT thing is "to be thin", not be cultured, nor achieve success in studies or travel, nor improve the ability to play an instrument, or have fun having a good time with friends, ... It is not important to be young and have smooth skin, but neither assume that time will pass and the body will change, but 'you will continue to feel good'.
And although this that I have just exposed is very subjective, I would like to say that I have read a few experiences of girls who have gone through Ana and Mia: for some they are misunderstood, for others they are crazy or sick ... The Internet can be a wonderful place, except that (contrary to what happens in offline life) the limits are very blurred, it seems as if the worst of us comes out too easily.
And it is precisely in that life outside the network, where the health and social system has foreseen a series of tools that are useful: like individual and group therapies, in which those affected could find themselves without codes, without bracelets, and without fear, but wanting to get ahead instead of continuing to lie.
Prohibition, education ... or perhaps more social awareness?
Although of course, social conscience of whom? Who defines what is good and what is bad? ... Do we demand from fashion firms, models, the environment or families? Or do we stop demanding and we empower girls to feel comfortable with their bodies and decide that they have to like themselves?, and enough of reifying the female body in one way or another!
Some say that prohibiting is useless, because the problem is in a social environment that applauds extreme thinness, in addition to the fact that there are other pro Ana and pro Mia pages hosted on sites that are difficult to access, sheltered by a network that should be free for the benefit of people, but it becomes a sick place due to its misuse, or the bad intentions behind depending on what content.
The fact is that in France, there is a regulation according to which the authors of these websites are exposed to three years in prison and a fine. That censorship is not the only way? of course not, but when the threshold of an individual problem is crossed and we enter a situation in which 17 percent of minors visit these pages, at risk to their physical and mental integrity, perhaps if it is necessary to regulate.
This campaign on Change He has been asking for the prohibition of these pages for more than a year, and to accompany his request, the video that you will see below was edited.
I think that at present, the family in the first place, and in the second the school, are the only institutions that can be put before between the environment (when it is harmful to children) and minors. There are no magic formulas, but in any case it is about being present, talking with the children (but also listening to them), loving them as they are and helping them to do the same with themselves, helping them develop a critical sense; but also to ensure that they eat healthy and balanced meals and that they carry out physical activity, as vehicles with which to achieve greater acceptance and satisfaction.
And of course, it would be desirable for the public authorities to accompany us, regulating, conducting campaigns, supervising advertising directed at minors, etc.
As a psychologist who comments on the entry linked before says: "Do not catch us blindfolded, to help you have to be able and want to see this harsh reality"; the problem is precisely that many times we do not want to see such a reality, or we are so busy with our affairs that we are unable to detect the need for attention and suffering.
Images - merlymeleanrossana (second) and Princess Lorelei (third)
More information - Protect them