Anorexia Nervosa/bulimia Nervosa Reaction Paper

My reaction to the various websites I found promoting anorexia and bulimia went from being disgusted to having a little sick interest. The human body, in all its forms, is compelling. In general, most of the sites I found had a few things in common with one site on pro anorexic and bulimic called "oOo...ana's underground grotto...oOo" that has everything: pictures to help keep your goal in mind, a chat room to find others like you and friends to diet/fast with, rituals to follow and help you stick to fasting, poetry as a way to motivate you not to eat, and a post area where you could see entry's made by anorexics/bulimics.

The pictures that I found on "oOo...ana's underground grotto...oOo" were set up like a gallery and included disgusting photos of women who are suffering from the disease as well as pictures of famous models or actress's. Another part of the gallery showed something called a reverse trigger or a picture of an overweight person, usually a female, usually in a bathing suit. All the pictures were disgusting and not something I would want to look at. "Fragile Innocence" is a very disturbing website that also has pictures but on this site they are used as background. "Fragile Innocence" has lots of links and I found a poem that seems to be about anorexic death, how it is suicide and all the emotions that connect to a person considering killing himself/herself. The poem is called "[s]cared" and is by simply Brittany.

The chat room on "oOo...ana's underground grotto...oOo" was what stunned me the most. Some of the girls in the chat were teaching others how they "made it" (whatever that is) and what to do. Others were just sharing their experiences with one another. This sharing is what some of the websites are all about: telling your experience, such as with "firegal" who explains that her website "is not intended to encourage people to develop eating disorders" but that she has decided that she doesn't "have the strength to go into recovery. I just want to keep losing weight until I no longer feel fat and see fat when I look in the mirror." Although the least pro of the sites I visited, "firegal" makes you feel sad.

As I continued to visit sites I realized that most of them had a link where you could view posts that people put up usually asking for a fasting partner or a tip. One post I read stated "starving yourself is hardly a challenge!" This is called thinspiration. Thinspiration is any kind of motivation to keep starving yourself, a wicked opposite to 12-step recovery programs. Pictures, poems, quotes and idols are thinspirational to anorexics and bulimics. Some other quotes I found on "oOo...ana's underground grotto...oOo" are as follows:

"Nothing tastes as good as thin feels.

One moment on the lips ... forever on the hips.

The thinner the winner!

You can never be too rich or too thin."

"Hunger hurts but starving works ..."

"This is forever. I will do whatever it takes. I want to be thin more than anything, even food..."

"Starvation is fulfilling. Colors become brighter, sounds sharper, odors so much more savory and penetrating that inhalation fills every fibre and pore of the body. The greatest enjoyment of food is actually found when never a morsel passes the lips."

"THIS IS NOT A DIET. IT IS A LIFESTYLE."

"One day I will be thin enough. Just the bones, no disfiguring flesh. Just the pure clear shape of me, bones. That is what we all are, what we're made up of and everything else is just storage, deposit, waste. Strip it away, use it up."

Tips from the "Fragile Innocence" site came under the following headings, which say it all: "How do I purge? Do laxatives work? Why do I involuntarily vomit when I run? How many calories do I have to eat to say alive?" and so on. Thinspiration seems more like euthanasia than support.

People who are becoming anorexic or bulimic using these site are teens who think they are overweight and/or those with a low self esteem: somebody looking for a clique or group, a place to fit in. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by voluntary starvation and exercise stress. This is dangerous because these teens are putting themselves at multiple risks by not eating healthily, especially because they are still in puberty. According to "Wikipedia," the diseases are really a psychological condition in which the subject