Pro-anorexia sites outnumber the websites dedicated to recovery or professional services (Chesley et al., 2003). Furthermore, social media sites have emerged as venues for concern as pro-ana users share weight control techniques, provide social support for one another, and ultimately reinforce the harmful behaviors of eating disorders. Through a qualitative analysis of content, this study is the first to investigate the nature and nuances of pro-ana disclosures across a weblog (LiveJournal) and social networking site (Twitter). Findings revealed six major themes that occur within relational, behavioral, and affective dimensions. Understanding the communication, themes, and dimensions of disclosures that occur across these contexts is a useful lens to gain a deeper understanding of anorexia and the stigma of mental illnesses, and can be extended to increasing efforts to understand other mental illnesses with self-harm contexts like pro-cutting and pro-bulimia.
Who is interacting with the content? New movement [hashtag]thickspo (predominantly used by black women) For proana images, who are the original content creators, is this a photo they took of themselves or something they found via third-party site, re-posted, or modified?