Bones are Beautiful : En etnografisk studie av ungdomars användning och behov av Pro-anakulturen på Internet

There are several possibilities for those with an eating disorder, who wishes to get treatment and recover to get help and support. But for those who are not ready to recover, there are not any help to receive. Pro-ana is a youth culture where individuals who want to achieve the anorectic ideal help and support each other. The purpose of this study was to describe and analyse the content and the need for the Pro-ana community on Internet, among young people with eating disorders. More specifically the aim was to find out how young Swedish people uses the Pro-ana communities on Internet. The study was an ethnography based on concealed observations of 6 different Pro-ana websites on Internet. During the observations five themes has been used: anonymity, thinspiration, life choice or disease, help or no help and identity. The analysis was based on Goffmans (2004) The presentation of self in everyday life, and the authors thesis about how humans represents them self in the accompany of others. Pro-ana websites consists of diary notes about weight, food, exercise and how to cope with an eating disorder. The Pro-ana culture online has become kind of a support group to which young people turn when society has no knowledge and no resources to meet them and social work are very limited on these sites. When not dare to tell friends and family about their situation, they turn to Pro-ana, which has been described as a sanctuary away from society’s judgements