At the other end of the spectrum, there were parents that actually started believing that anorexia was not a health issue, but a lifestyle issue. They refused to believe that it could have harmful implications for their children’s health. Instead, these parents started treating anorexia as just another form of extreme dieting that their child was indulging.

Scientific Facts Against Pro-Ana Websites

The belief of parents who thought pro-ana websites were actually causing more harm than good was further bolstered by the reports of a study conducted by researcher teams at Stanford University and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, California. According to this report, the number of teenagers who visited pro-ana websites and also had anorexia and were hospitalized outnumbered children that did not go to these sites three to one.

What this implied, most directly, was that most of these sites, with their approach, were causing more damage than offering any help. At another level, it justified the work that was previously being done by the anti-anorexia and pro-recovery groups.

Pro-Ana Websites – Going under the Radar

Even now the outcry to remove all these sites from cyberspace is on. However, it is not going to be such an easy job, removing all the sites. This has led to attempts by users to mask the fact that they are actually talking about anorexia and bulimia. They have assigned code names for these illnesses. Anorexia is of course Ana, while bulimia has the code name Bella. Some others call Bulimia simply, Mia. This is masking at the most basic level.

At another level, many of the hardcore pro-ana sites have gone underground. It has now slowly assumed the form of an underground community shrouded in secrecy, where codes are a part of survival rules. This community is a secret society called the anorexic underground. Many pro-ana members of this community use color-coded bracelets as some kind of identification tags. These bracelets are coded according to the disease, and may vary. However, as a general rule of thumb, the following colors are identified with the following eating disorders:

• Red is associated with anorexia
• Blue is associated with bulimia
• Blue is associated with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and depression
• Green is associated with binge-eating
• Black is associated with tendencies to inflict harm on oneself
• Pink is associated with EDNOS
• Yellow is associated with hope and strength
• Orange is associated with recovery

Differentiating Pro Anas >>