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Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Censorship; cultural criminology; eating disorders; pro-ana; social media; virtual ethnography
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Pro-Anorexia/Bulimia Interactions Online: Problematizing Complex Cultural Phenomena, Nicole D. Schott
Pro-Anorexia/Bulimia Interactions Online: Problematizing Complex Cultural Phenomena, Nicole D. Schott
Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)
In the West, and increasingly globally, individuals, particularly women, are fixated on weight loss, driven by the goal of achieving a culturally-desired, and aggressively marketed, "skinny" female physique. There are online forums where individuals refer to themselves or their eating disorders as "pro-ana" and "pro-mia". Individuals who post on these sites both align with, and challenge, what medical and mental health professionals define as serious mental health problems that result in severe, sometimes fatal, medical complications. This thesis specifically focuses on interactions with, and within, the pro-ana/mia culture on the social media websites Tumblr and YouTube. Over sixteen months, and …