Search "pro-anorexia" and find websites devoted to "thinspiration" in the form of photos, quotes, sets of rules, and ways to conceal symptoms (see previous post), but search "pro-anorexia research" and find a whole new set of information about these destructive sites.
Since deciding to include some information from the websites in my installation, I've been plagued with the words that I saw. Images of them literally flashed in my mind like a '90s movie montage. So today I devoted my research to the pro-anorexia websites and their effects.
Girls (or anyone really, but the forums I read were mostly girls) who use these websites view eating disorders as a lifestyle choice rather than a disease. It's correlative with the idea of a dinner party; strange that they're just on different spectrums of social gatherings. The support and admiration gained from these websites could be compared to any celebratory gathering.
One research paper I read discussed the political content- as if there is some hidden agenda to purposeful starvation. I think that's where the set-up of my installation comes in.. and why I chose to use nice plates and glasses to signify that the cause of hunger was far from poverty.
Even completely sane and mentally healthy people shouldn't read these disturbing and delusional websites.
It's good because I finally figured out what my project was truly about, but it's bad because this kind of thing even exists at all.
sources:
https://bir.brandeis.edu/bitstream/handle/10192/24532/BeliveauThesis2013.pdf?sequence=1
http://www.ucs.ac.uk/SchoolsAndNetwork/UCSSchools/SchoolofAppliedSocialSciences/Virtually%20Anorexic.pdf
http://www.sirc.org/articles/totally_in_control2.shtml
No comments:
Post a Comment