Pro-Ana Stuff

This page is under construction.

STUDIES
While I respect and enjoy reading the opinions of various persons willing to write about their opinions on Pro-Ana, I think it is important that the movement is studied from a more educated standpoint. The reasons for the development of Pro-Ana are complex, and may not be clearly apparent when biased by the strong emotions that are involved.
It should not come as a surprise that Pro-Ana has captured the gaze of the scientific and scholarly communities. There are a growing number of studies on the topic. I have them listed here for convenience.
I encourage reading these articles to anyone who is interested in learning more about Pro-Ana, no matter if you are for or against. They may broaden your perspective.
It is important that when a person publishes a professional paper, they are doing so to support a hypothesis. Therefore, whether the paper views pro-ana in a positive, negative, or neutral light, is based on the ultimate opinion of the author. None of these papers empirically 'prove' anything about Pro-Ana.
This list is updated when I come across something new, which is random. If you have anything to add to this list, please send me a message and I'll have it added. In the future I may provide a way to leave your opinions on these.
Studies and Papers available online, by publish date:

2012

• Ten years of Ana: Lessons from a transdisciplinary body of literature on online pro-eating disorder websites
  Casilli, Tubaro, Araya, Jan 2012.
• Disordered Eating and Group Membership Among Members of a Pro-anorexic Online Community
  European Eating Disorders Review, Jan 2012

2011

• Drive for Muscularity and Drive for Thinness: The Impact of Pro-Anorexia Websites
  Lilia Juarez, Boise State University, 2011
• Sacredness and Anorexia Nervosa: An Analysis of Moral Language in Pro-ana Blogs and Poetry
  K Hughes, H Walls, 2011
• YOUTH AND SOCIAL MEDIA: Pro-Self-Harm and the Visibility of Youth-Generated Problematic Content,
  Journal of Law & Policy for the Information Society, 2011
• Pandora's digital box: Mental disorders in cyberspace
  Institut für Klinische, 2011
• Pro-ana communities on the Internet (German)
  Christiane Eichenberg, September 2011
• Pro-eating disorder websites: facts, fictions and fixes
  Journal of Public Mental Health, June 2011
• Pro-anorexia cultural Identity: characteristics of a lifestyle in a virtual community
  Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, June 2011
• The Conceptualization of Anorexia: The Pro-Ana Perspective
  Samantha Roberts Strife, University of Colorado, May 2011
• Anorexia and the Internet: Perceived risks and benefits of pro-anorexia and eating disorder recovery websites
  Hutchinson, University of Hartford, May 2011
• Communicating thin: A grounded model of Online Negative Enabling Support Groups in the pro-anorexia movement
  Stephen M. Haas, University of Cincinnati, Feb 2011
• Ana's Friends. Friendship in Online Pro-Ana Communities
  Natàlia Cantó-Milà and Swen Seebach, Open University of Catalonia, Feb 2011
• Disordered Eating and Group Membership Among Members of a Pro-anorexic Online Community
  European Eating Disorders Review, Feb 2011
• First do no harm: Iatrogenic Maintaining Factors in Anorexia Nervosa
  European Eating Disorders Review, Jan 2011

2010

• "Dwelling in fear of the scales forever" : religious diction in Pro-Anorectic websites from a discourse-analytic perspective
  Gisela Ullyatt, 2010
• Hunger Hurts but Starving Works: A case study of gendered practices in the online pro-eating-disorder community
  Krista Whitehead, Canadian Journal of Sociology, 2010
• Starving for Support: How Women With Anorexia Receive ‘Thinspiration’ on the Internet
  Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, Dec 2010
• Potential risks of pro-eating disorder websites
  Codie R. Rouleaua, Kristin M. von Ranson, University of Calgary, Dec 2010.
• “I'm scared to look. But I'm dying to know”: Information seeking and sharing on Pro-Ana weblogs
  Rachel A. Fleming-May, Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, December 2010.
• Studying eating disorders in the social web. A network analysis approach
  Tubaro, Nuffield College, Nov 2010
• Impact of exposure to pro-eating disorder websites on eating behaviour in college women
  European Eating Disorders Review, Sept 2010
• The experience of bulimic college students who use "pro-Ana/pro-Mia" web sites: A two-phase mixed-method study
  Davis, California Institute of Interal Studies, October 2010.
• Pro-Eating Disorder Communities on Social Networking Sites: A Content Analysis
  Adrienne S. Juarascio, Sept 2010.
• Impact of exposure to pro-eating disorder websites on eating behaviour in college women
  European Eating Disorders Review, Sept 2010
• Adolescent girls in recovery for eating disorders: Exploring past pro-anorexia Internet community experiences
  Schroeder, Patricia Ann, Aug 2010
• The Pro-Anorexic journey. An interpretative phenomenological analysis
  Elina Telford, Steve Edwards, Appetite, August 2010
• Adolescent girls in recovery for eating disorders: Exploring past pro-anorexia Internet community experiences
  Schroeder, Patricia Ann, Aug 2010
• Praise for the pro-ana websites or how to benefit from one's foes (French)
  J.-M. Huet, July 2010
• Language use in Pro-Anorectic web communities
  Larsen, Tim Kistrup, Jun 2010
• Alternative portrayals of anorexia nervosa and its symptoms on pro-anorexic websites : a thematic analysis of website contents.
  Da Rocha, Lisa Nicole Cardoso, May 2010
• Pro-anorexia and ‘Binge-drinking’: Conformity to Damaging Ideals or ‘New’, Resistant Femininities?
  Katy Day, May 2010
• Upholding the Convention on the Rights of the Child: A Quandary in Cyberspace
  Child Care in Practice, April 2010
• Are we all ugly ducklings when we look in the mirror? : misunderstandings and new interpretations : a discursive analysis of the idealized body within pro-anorexia websites
  Steeves, Megan, University of Saskatchewan, April 2010
• The Anti-ana
  Horan, Michelle, University of Missouri-Columbia, Jan 2010

2009

• pro-anorexia and the medical gaze
  Mebbie Bell, University of Alberta, 2009
• e-Ana and e-Mia: A Content Analysis of Pro–Eating Disorder Web Sites
  Dina L. G. Borzekowski, EdD, Summer Schenk, MPH, Jenny L. Wilson, MD, and Rebecka Peebles, MD, December 2009.
• Doing weight: Pro-ana and recovery identities in cyberspace
  Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, September 2009
• A Comparison of Pro-Anorexia and Treatment Web Sites: A Look at the Health Belief and Stages of Change Models Online
  Keller, Sarah., Rosenthal, Lori. and Rosenthal, Paul. International Communication Association. May 2009
• Quod Me Nutrit, Me Destruit: The Pro-Anorexia Movement and Religion
  Study by Patricia Maloney, American Sociological Association, May 2009.
• “Starving Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have”: The Pro-Ana Subculture as Edgework
  Jeannine A. Gailey, March 2009
• Viewership of pro-anorexia websites in seventh, ninth and eleventh graders
  Kathleen Custers, Jan Van den Bulck, European Eating Disorders Review
  Jan 2009.
• Resisting Alienation: The Social Construction of Internet Communities Supporting Eating Disorders
  Jessi McCabe, Jan 2009
• Understanding the experience of ambivalence in anorexia nervosa: the maintainer's perspective
  Sarah Williams & Marie Reid, Jan 2009
• 'Ana' Online: Pro Anorexia Websites and the Ambivalence of Gluttony
  Paula Gardner, PhD, 2009?

2008

• The Presentation of "Pro-Anorexia" in Online Group Interactions
  Gavin et al., University of Bath, Qualitative Health Research, 2008
• Don't get the message: The effect of a warning text before visiting a proanorexia website
  Wiley Periodicals Inc., 2008
Pro-anorexia websites: What a clinician should know International Journal of Eating Disorders, November 2008.
• A qualitative study of pro-eating disorder blogging communities
  Weare, Andrea. Aug 06, 2008, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
• Gendering Collective Identity: A Case Study of Online Organizing Practices in the Pro-ED Community
  American Sociological Association, July 2008
• Pro-Anorexia Websites: Content, Impact, and Explanations of Popularity
  Grace Overbeke, Mind Matters: The Wesleyan Journal of Psychology, 2008
• Gendering Collective Identity: A Case Study of Online Organizing Practices in the Pro-ED Community
  whitehead, krista. Jul 2008, American Sociological Association
• Online discussion groups for bulimia nervosa: An inductive approach to Internet-based communication between patients
  International Journal of Eating Disorders, 23 Apr 2008 requires registration
• The Presentation of "Pro-Anorexia" in Online Group Interactions ...
  Requires registration Jeff Gavin, Karen Rodham, Helen Poyer, University of Bath, Qualitative Health Research, 2008
• “Ana” Online: Pro Anorexia Websites and the Ambivalence of Neoconsumption
  Paula Gardner, PhD, 2008?

2007

• Weight Loss Persuasive Technology and Eating Disorder
  Lisa M Thursby, University of North Carolina, April 2007
• What Does Viewing a Pro-Anorexia Website Do? An Experimental Examination of Website Exposure and Moderating Effects
  Bardone-Cone and Cass, International Journal of Eating Disorder, 2007
• "Pro-Ana" Web-log Uses and Gratifications Towards Understanding the Pro-Anorexia Paradox
  Dana Mantella, April 2007
• When Time Stands Still: Perceptions of Self & Temporal Management during Crisis
  American Sociological Association, 2007
• 'I Love You to the Bones': Constructing the Anorexic Body in 'Pro-Ana' Message Boards
  Katie J. Ward, University of Sheffield, March 2007
• Pro-eating disorder websites: users' opinions,
  John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association, 2007, requires registration
• Social Perspectives on Anorexia
  Aaron Rudkin, 2007
• A grounded theory approach to the phenomenon of pro-anorexia
  Sarah Williams a; Marie Reid b; Department of Psychology, Queen Margaret University College 2007, Requires registration
• Viewership of pro-eating disorder websites: Association with body image and eating disturbances,
  University of South Florida, 1 May 2007
• Nothing Tastes as Good as Thin Feels": Edgework in the Pro-Ana Subculture
  Gailey, Jeannine. Nov 13, 2007, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CRIMINOLOGY
• Demystifying the Weigh-In: Body Politics and Identity Formation of Pro-Ana and Pro-Mia Girls
  Banuelos, Roxanne. and Battaglia, Judy. May 23, 2007, International Communication Association
• Identity as an analytic problem: who's who in `pro-ana' websites?
  Martyn Hammersley, Peggy Treseder, The Open University, Qualitative Research, 2007 Requires registration.

2003-2006

• Constructing identities in cyberspace: The case of eating disorders
  David Giles, Institute for Health Research, Lancaster University, UK, 2006
• Figurative Threats: Scrutinizing the Censorship of American Culture
  Matt Kapitanyan L-SAW 2006
• Clinical, Psychological, and Personality Correlates of Asceticism in Anorexia Nervosa: From Saint Anorexia to Pathologic Perfectionism U
  niversity of Turin , Transcultural Psychiatry, 2006 Requires registration
• An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Participation in a Pro-anorexia Internet Site and Its Relationship with Disordered Eating
  Queen Margaret University College, Argosy University, 2006
• Ana and the Internet: A review of pro-anorexia websites
  University of Ottawa, 21 March 2006
• Liminal spaces in popular culture: Social change through rhetorical agency
  Roxanne Kirkwood PhD, Texas Woman's University, 2005
• Pro-anorexia, weight-loss drugs and the internet: an 'anti-recovery' explanatory model of anorexia
  University of Sheffield, 2005.
• Totally In Control: The rise of pro-anorexia and pro-mia websites
  Elanor Taylor, Social Issues Research Center, December 2005
• Pro-anorexia, weight-loss drugs and the internet: an 'anti-recovery' explanatory model of anorexia
  University of Sheffield, Sociology of Health & Illness 2005
• Anorexia as a Lifestyle: Agency through Pro-Anorexia Websites
  Richardson, Abigail. and Cherry, Elizabeth. American Sociological Association. Aug 12, 2005
• My Body Hates Me! The Balancing Act Between Self and the Body
  Czerniawski, Amanda. American Sociological Association. Aug 12, 2005
• StarvingforPerfect.com: A Theoretically-Based Content Analysis of Pro-Eating Disorder Websites
  Lapinski, Maria., Aderholdt, Josh., Baker, Felicity., Berkshire, Stacy., Scott, Brian., Syrek, Tim. and Wiersma, Ruth Ellen. International Communication Association. May 27, 2004
• A Culture of Thinness: Negotiated and Oppositional Decoding of Eating Disorder Discourse by Anorectics
  Platt, Carrie Anne. May 27, 2004. International Communication Association
• Pro-anorexics and recovering anorexics differ in their linguistic Internet self-presentation
  University of North Carolina, 5 October 2004
• Stick A Toothbrush Down Your Throat: An Analysis of the Potential Liability of Pro-Eating Disorder Websites
  2004
• Weborexics: The Ethical Issues Surrounding Pro-Ana Websites
  Concordia University, 2003
• Media Images, Body Dissatisfaction, and Disordered Eating in Adolescent Women
  American Journal of Maternal Child Nursing, March/April 2003
• Unspeakable Bodies: Erasure, Embodiment and the Pro-Ana Community
  Debra Ferreday, Lancaster University, 2003
• The Ana Sanctuary: Women's Pro-anorexia Narratives in Cyberspace
  Journal of International Women's Studies Article date:April 1, 2003 Author:Dias, Karen
• Policing dis-order: Moral panic and pro-ana citizenship
  Mastronardi, Maria. May 27, 2003. International Communication Association
• Pro or con? Anorexia nervosa and the internet
  Journal of Adolescent Health - requires registration February 2003

Pages on Pro-Ana by medically-related organizations:

• coming soon