Pro-anorexia/bulimia censorship and public service announcements: the price of controlling women

Abstract

Individuals, particularly women, are fixated on weight loss, driven by the goal of achieving a ‘skinny’ female physique that is desirable in western/ized cultures. There are online forums where individuals refer to themselves or their eating disorders as ‘pro-ana’ and ‘pro-mia’; their posts on these sites both align with, and challenge, what medical and mental health professionals define as serious mental health problems. In February 2012, the social media website Tumblr announced a policy to censor these online communities and use public service announcements (PSAs) to address ‘the problem’. Embracing contemporary ethnographic sensibilities, we present analyses that are attentive to nuanced meanings, and provide a critical feminist, sociological analysis of online comments from those who responded to the censorship and PSA policy. We argue that censorship extends the patriarchal control of women and that PSAs further the vested interests of corporate entities who profit from the marketing of services.

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