Anorexia is one of the most severe forms of self-denial and self-hatred, and it can be a downward spiral that often leads to death. Websites that encourage this condition are criminal, and should be outlawed, just like child pornography. It's insane that we allow our youngsters to encourage and pursue a behaviour that is tantamount to self-mutilation. Even though obesity has become endemic, this is not a reason to glorify extreme thinness. To inflict damage to the self is not illegal as such. But to witness someone doing it while promoting others to do the same, without intervening, is definitely unethical. We cannot look at these websites without asking ourselves, how do they get away with it?

Self-mutilation is sometimes practiced by teenagers and young adults who have misplaced anger and pain that they attempt to work out in destructive ways. Instead of dealing with emotional pain, some people would rather bring themselves physical pain, which actually serves as a relief from stress. Unfortunately, this sense of relief is short-lived, and the desire to be self-destructive quickly returns. With anorexia, this is quite evident, as the compulsion to lose weight soon gets out of control. The anorexic implements increasingly drastic measures to maintain a squeletal frame, such as only eating a ridiculous amount of calories, and ingesting large quantities of laxatives. The anorexic is perpetually hungry and obsessed with food, but won't give in to the desire to eat. It's the ultimate method of sel-punishment, and gives the sufferer a distorted sense of control, even though she (or he) is totally in the grips of the disease. At the root of this disorder, there is rage and powerlessness, and a feeling of deep sadness and loneliness.

This is the letter of protest that my daughter wrote, and I am reproducing it with her permission:

Dear Sir/Madame,
I am writing to you for I am concerned about the lack of action taken against pro anorexic websites. Pro anorexia websites are websites that promote eating disorders. There are two genres of theses websites: "thinspiration" and "tips and tricks". Thinspiration websites include photos of super skinny models, and tips and tricks websites include instructions of how to be anorexic. Both types of websites destroy teenagers and young women's self esteem by making them feel bad about their body image. These websites support dangerous acts of anorexia and bulimia as a normal lifestyle rather then a deadly disease.

These websites encourage teenagers and young women to pursue an eating disorder by making it look glamorous. They relate food with disgusting things and try and create an image that without being anorexic you are overweight. They suggest that starving models are beautiful. Harmful images and texts brainwash people that log into these websites. Although some might have a warning they are depressing and harming to users.

There are many ways to access theses horrible sites. Certain networking communities such as MySpace and Facebook feature blogs supporting anorexia and bulimia. Pages that pop up after a search using a search engine can be relevant. Some of the pages state requests such as "No people trying to recover - it ruins our motivation" and "No people who are against pro anorexia - we can do what we want". The people who access pages like these are living in denial because they are listening to whatever the dangerous websites are telling them.

In November 2006, Model Ana Carolina Reston died in Brazil at the age of twenty-one, weighing in at less than forty kilograms at a tall height of one point seven meters. In August that same year Uruguay model Luisel Ramos died of heart failure. These events influenced the French who decided to impose a €30,000 ($52,029) fine and a two year prison sentence to any offender who "provokes a person to seek excessive thinness by encouraging prolonged restriction of nourishment". If the outcome of promoting this results in death the fine can rise to €45,000 ($78,043). The French are taking action so why aren't we?

Please take what I am saying into consideration. It is important that we keep the lives of our teenage girls and young women safe. Please rise awareness against these web sites, as anorexia is not a normal lifestyle but a disease that people die from. Therefore it is not right that the female citizens of Australia are being told otherwise. Stop pro anorexia websites in Australia.

Stop pro anorexia websites throughout the world.


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