Pro-Anorexia Vids Draw Ire

By Heather McPherson,  Newser User
Posted Aug 11, 2007 6:42 AM CDT

Advocates for people with eating disorders are calling on social networking sites like MySpace and FaceBook to bar "thinspiration" videos—movies of anorexics showing off their alarmingly underweight bodies to encourage others to emulate them. One MySpace pro-anorexia group with over 1,000 members boasts that it wants "no people trying to recover—it ruins our motivation."

Most responsible internet providers block "pro-anorexic" sites, said an eating disorders advocate. "But on the networking sites there isn't the same control."  MySpace says it won't censor the videos, but will accompany them with "messages of support" for getting help, crafted in partnership with eating-disorders experts. (More anorexia stories.)

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