Vogue Italia, the magazine par excellence that deals with and promotes aesthetics and beauty, has decided to make use of its authority and its readers on the web (over one million of contacts per month), to battle against anorexia and collect signatures with the final goal of shutting such sites down. Fashion has been always blamed as one of the culprits of anorexia, and our commitment is the proof that fashion is ready to get on the frontline and struggle against the disorder." Ana embodies nervous anorexia and is the protagonist of many blogs advocating ana – pro-ana. The authors of such on-line secret diaries talk about Ana as if she was a dear friend, they defend her when she is attacked by outsiders and look up at her as a symbol of perfect beauty. In reality, Ana is a serious illness that can lead to death and such blogs are extremely dangerous because they list detailed instructions on how to become anorexic with their authors supporting each other in the effort of achieving their ultimate goal: lose weight. They teach how to vomit, give advice on which laxatives and diuretics to use, praise and admire those of them who are able to reject food and bad-mouth anybody who tries to make them aware that Ana is actually an illness and that they should look for help. The problem is that these blogs are easily accessible to everybody, especially those confused teenage girls in search for a solution to their complex adolescence related problems. Rebecka Peebles, professor of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimora surveyed 180 blogs pro-anorexia (pro-ana) and is now launching a warning to the international community. The survey published on the American Journal of Public Health describes pro-ana diaries as being extremely worrying and dangerous especially because the information they contain is easily available and accessible to everybody with an internet connection: 80% of pro-ana web-sites have interactive applications – to count calories, for instance; 85% of them publishes pictures of extremely skinny and emaciated women to serve as a source of inspiration – called thinspiration; 83% suggests ways to loose weight quickly and gain complete control over the body until reaching the final goal of weighting 45 kilos or even less. Lastly, 24% of such sites have been stamped as extremely dangerous for its readers. It should be noted, however, that such web-sites are calls for help: "For many patients, internet becomes a tool to express their feelings rather than doing so through the most traditional healing methods, such as psychotherapy" explain the authors of the survey. It is of paramount importance to explain teenage girls that being skinny does not equal being perfect and to promote beauty standards which start from and are all about being healthy. ABA (Associazione Bulimia Anoressia), an Association of eating disorders founded by Fabiola de Clercq in 1990 is one of the most solid and trustworthy associations taking care of teenage girls who have fallen victims of anorexia or bulimia and have understood that they needed help. To contact the Association, call the following toll-free number: 800 16 56 16. Fabiola De Clercq
Posted on: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 19:49:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015