The Thin Commandments A Guide to Anorexia Nervosa

In today’s world, the pursuit of thinness has increased due to the association it has with physical attractiveness and body perfection. Society, particularly the Western culture, idolizes thin body size as the ideal body image. And as a consequence, eating disorders can develop when people take this to the extreme. Scholars have looked at all forms of persuasive tools that can explain the popularity of anorexia nervosa. From language use (Burke, 1966) to the power of culture in terms of presumed knowledge (Dumit, 2003) and its increasing interest in the ideal body image of the Western culture (Vandereycken and van Deth, 1994). Kenneth Burke’s â€Å"Terministic Screens† (1966) uses the metaphor of camera lenses to explain that language and words†¦show more content†¦The website sample that I selected was obtained by typing in â€Å"pro-ana websites† on the Google search engine, where I started by scanning through the caption for the website and then reviewing the summary listed underneath it. Looking though a variety of pro-ana websites and examining their suggested websites brought me further into the world of pro-ana. By following links on these websites, it took me to a more â€Å"invisible† pro-ana websites, which cannot be found by simply putting it in Google. After analyzing and comparing the differences between possible websites, I decided to choose this particular one not because it is better; in fact, they all contain similar content. I chose The New Pro Ana Mia Nation simply because the web link indicates that the website is operating in Canada and hence reass ure me that the blog comes from the Western culture. Results: Thin Commandments 1. If you are not thin, you are not beautiful 2. Being thin is more important than being healthy 3. You must buy clothes, cut your hair, take laxatives, anything to make yourself look thinner 4. Thou shall not eat without feeling Guilty 5. Thou shall not eat fattening food without punishing afterward 6. Thou shall count calories and restrict intake accordingly 7. What the scale says is the most important thing 8. Losing weight is good, Gaining weight