Buy essay on Pro-Anorexia Websites Issue

Nowadays, the desire to lose weight has almost become the major desire in life of all women and of men. The stereotype of a girl with the body-weight index making 22 has become dominant in the contemporary society, though more than 100 years ago such a person would be treated for inanition. In Europe, 17% of minors who regularly use the Internet visit web page promoting anorexia or bulimia. 17,5% of them (26,2% of girls and 15% of boys) go there aiming to lose weight (Harper, 2008). According to the conclusion of Protegeles association trying to ensure the safety of children in the modern world of new technologies, such web pages are mostly visited by girls, contain harmful information and in addition, present anorexia as a “life style” (Wilson, 2006).
From the standpoint of psychiatrists, anorexia is a dangerous disease. Statistics is also on the side of doctors: untreated anorexia can lead to death from exhaustion. Anorexic patients consider their body fat. Being sure that anorexia is not a serious disease, but the life style, they state that life style is not to be treated, while they should be proud of it (Wilson, 2006).
This position may be illustrated by several examples. For example, in the Internet community, a reference to which we do not specify for ethical reasons, girls are advised to “shatter the metabolism, constantly changing the number of calories consumed. This will prevent your body from stocking fat, as in the case of low-calorie diets: day 1 – 200 calories, day 2 – 400, day 3 – 600, day 4 – 800. And then continue in the circle until you get bored” (Bardon-Cone, 2007).
Such sites also recommend readers to intake doubtful pills and advise how to hide weight loss from parents. Participants of such Internet communities even arrange kilo races, in which the girls (90% of patients with anorexia nervosa are female) compete in who can lose more weight. One of the participants of the discussions on pro-anorexia sites says: “I don’t suffer from anorexia, but I would like to. Sometimes I think I’m close to it. Anorexia is a cult, this is a hobby, and this is another life. Suffering from anorexia, you draw near to God, because you can live without food” (Brotsky, 2007).
In addition, the promotion of anorexia denies the rights of people with extra pounds. They were thrown in the trash, compared with pigs and cows, and are made to feel guilt for their weight, when it comes to cakes. The results of such propaganda are even more increased boom of anorexia and complex psychological problems; all this causes frustration and unhappiness among people with excess weight (Bardon-Cone, 2007). Even if a woman is overweight and manages to find a life partner and wear nice clothes, after such installations form mass media including Internet, she is psychologically repelled from the opportunity to be happy until she loses weight.
Recently the publicity and government of many countries have started a struggle against anorexia propaganda. Members of the French parliament adopted a law banning the promotion of losing weight; for such advertising in France one can be sentenced to two years in prison and pay a fine of 45’000 euros. Swiss Parliament also passed a bill under which the promotion of anorexia would be punished by a fine of 50’000 francs and imprisonment. In Italy, the Government and leading fashion designers have adopted a unique Code, requiring using the image of a healthy body in their design.
In Germany, the government launched a federal project under the title “Life has weight”, the main goal of which is to combat anorexia. In Britain, the government appealed to advertisers, fashionable couturiers, editors, women’s magazines to stop the propaganda of devastating thinness for the health of the younger generation. Commission on broadcast standards will monitor the appearance of the proportional representation of slim, normal and full-bodied women.
Such measures are proposed to be taken in connection with the fact that many countries in the world now experience the increase of number of diseases associated with malnutrition and diets aimed at rapid weight loss. All these projects suppose that any information aimed at supporting anorexia placed in print editions, media, and the Internet will be considered unlawful. After all, according to legislators, such information is considered to be inciting people to actions, which result in the death from anorexia (Harper, 2008).
The discussed Internet resources do serious harm to the health of young people. As a part of the campaign on Internet security the authorities of a number of countries are planning to ban the publication of any harmful materials. However, in some way this cannot be considered the way out: the place of one banned site is typically taken by five new ones (Martin, 2009).
Besides, doctors recognize that visitors of these sites are people who suffer from severe disorders, and therefore they believe that it’s better for them to communicate on the Internet site than to catch recommendations of classmates like “You know, these pills helped me”, while some tools for rapid weight loss include amphetamines. At the same time, the movement of “anorexia as a lifestyle” is simply dangerous and shouldn’t be driven to underground.
The problem is not simply that the person wants to lose his/her weigh and be slimmer or thinner. The reason for the desire to anorexia may be the violation in certain areas of the brain (in particular, whose which are responsible for the perception of one’s own body), the deficiency of certain proteins in nerve cells, low self-esteem, experienced home violence, or simply childhood spent in a dysfunctional family.
Thus, in order to combat anorexia, the society requires the establishment of specialized centers to support broad education in schools and among parents, if we talk about the Internet – the creation of specialized resources designed to support patients and highlighting the problem of anorexia from a medical point of view, as well as placement of warnings at pro-anorexia Internet sites informing that these sites may be harmful to health (Martin, 2009). In one of the communities on the basis of LiveJournal service, this approach seems to have already met some understanding. Though the community is closed to outsiders, its rules stipulate that the calls to compete on weight loss and to frankly dangerous actions will be followed by immediate sanctions. It states that normal weight loss makes from 5 to 10% of initial body weight. In addition it is also important for parents to establish control over what sites their children are browsing the web with and monitor the use of the Internet. There are certain mechanisms to do this: for example, to put the computer in the common rooms, or be there when children use the Internet.

References:

Bardon-Cone, A. M. & Cass, K.M. 2007. What does viewing a pro-anorexia website do? An experimental examination of website exposure and moderating effects. International Journal of Eating disorders, 40, 537-548.
Brotsky, S. and Giles, D. 2007. Inside the pro-anorexia community: A covert online participant observation. Eating Disorders, 15, 93-109.
Harper, K., Sperry, S. and Thompson, J. K. 2008. Viewership of pro-eating disorder websites. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 41, 92-95.
Martin, C. et al. 2009. Don’t get the message: The effect of a warning text before visiting a pro-anorexia site. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 42(2), 139-145.
Wilson, J.L., Peebles, R., Hardy, K. K., & Litt, I. F. 2006. Surfing for thinness: A pilot study of pro-eating disorder website usage in adolescents with eating disorders. Pediatrics, 6, 1635-43.