Pro-Ana blogs and the anorexia experience in males

Abstract

This article analyzes pro-anorexia blogs, or pro-Ana blogs, produced by men to understand the anorexic male behavior and the space that these blogs occupy in the life of these individuals. Our goal was to explore factors related to the culture of thinness that is available on the blogs, in order to analyze the issue of anorexia in men, as well as understand how they feel about this experience. This is a qualitative study conducted in Brazilian and foreign blogs authored by men. The results suggest that, to this population, the internet is a support network with characteristics of mutual aid and autonomy production. Through the blogs, men discuss alternatives to deceive their families and socialize strategies to achieve the goal of low weight maintenance. We conclude that health professionals should pay attention to this "informal network" of mutual support, as the pro-Ana blogs have been contributing to promote the anorexic behavior among men.