Dio (diachrony) wrote in srz_bznz, @ 2007-08-12 16:54:00 |
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Current mood: | thoughtful |
Entry tags: | mental disorders, six apart |
pro-anorexia: serious business.
Aside from any fandom concerns, I would like to point out another ongoing issue that came up in the lj_biz thread.
Took me awhile to find the relevant links in that enormous tangle of threads and sub-threads, but luckily I was saving some links as I was reading.
Thevelvetsun asked why LJ allows pro-self-harm communities to thrive, when encouraging self-harm is against LJ's ToS.
Others agree. Throughout the thread, several communities are mentioned, but the focus is on LJ's enormous (the largest on the Internet, with nearly 11,800 members ... and only two moderators) pro-anorexia community. Many examples are given of this community offering starvation tips and other blatantly self-harming tips to others; it seems clear it is not a community that supports recovery, but one that encourages anorexia.
LJ staffer Coffeechica justifies and excuses the community in comments. And further ...
After chirpily assuring that she's speaking on an official basis, she comes up with the now infamous line: "It's not illegal to aspire to be thin."
"If I GTFO, who else will answer your questions? ;-) Yes, I do work for LJ and I'm speaking officially.
"I do know what I'm talking about; I've read many many of these communities. It's sad, I know it is. But it's not illegal to aspire to be thin. It's not against the ToS to give people bad advice.
"LiveJournal does not support girls harming themselves. There is a line where we will suspend a pro-ana community or require removal of an entry. That line is when content is specifically instructing or inciting self-harm. Generalities aren't against the ToS, but specificities may be."
[...] Five to ten percent of anorexics die within ten years of onset, 18-20 percent die within twenty years of onset, and only 50 percent report ever being cured.
Source: American Psychiatric Association (1993), "Practice Guidelines for Eating Disorders." American Journal of Psychiatry, 150 (2), pp 212-228.
20% of people suffering from anorexia will prematurely die from complications related to their eating disorder, including suicide and heart problems.
Source: The Renfrew Center Foundation for Eating Disorders, "Eating Disorders 101 Guide: A Summary of Issues, Statistics and Resources," published September 2002, revised October 2003, www.renfrew.org . [...]