Hunger Hurts but Starving Works: A case study of gendered practices in the online pro-eating-disorder community

Authors

  • Krista Whitehead University of Toronto

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29173/cjs7976

Keywords:

pro-eating disorder, pro-ana, pro-mia, collective identity, gender, social movements, identity formation

Abstract

This paper investigates collective identity-work of Pro-eating disorder (Pro-ED) groups on the Internet. Using an adaptation of face-to-face ethnographic methods to investigate online communication (Mann and Stewart 2000), the author analyzes five collective organizing practices in Pro-ED groups that reveal a highly gendered character: 1) promoting surreptitiousness, 2) organizing in and around the realm of domesticity, 3) equating beauty with self-worth, 4) relying on friendship as a chief organizing principle, and 5) using fandom as a method of attracting and maintaining members. In spite of exceptional resistance to their activities, women in the Pro-ED community are able to achieve a collective Pro-ED identity wherein they maintain eating-disordered lifestyles. The case study presented here interrupts popular sociological understandings of collective identity mobilization as having categorically positive consequences for its members.

Author Biography

Krista Whitehead, University of Toronto

PhD Candidate Department of Sociology

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Published

2010-08-22

Issue

Section

Articles