"Please Insult Me When I Eat" Do You Know 'Pro-Ana' Who Glorifies Anorexia [Heo Midam's Youth Report]

8 out of 10 Eating Disorder Patients Are Women
UK Teenage Anorexia Hospitalization Rates Surge
Experts Cite Peer Groups and Media Influence

The photo is unrelated to specific expressions in the article. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Editor's NoteHow is your youth remembered? From teenagers to college students and office workers, we bring you the joys and sorrows, worries and laughter unique to 'youth.'

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] "Looking for someone to starve with me.", "My goal is 160cm in height and 37kg in weight."

Recently, there has been an increase in people, especially among the 10s and 20s age groups, who admire extremely thin bodies. In particular, some of them idolize anorexia, one of the eating disorders, and engage in extreme methods such as eating very little or repeatedly eating and vomiting to lose weight.

They are referred to by the term 'pro-anorexia' or 'pro-ana.' Pro-ana is a combination of 'pro,' meaning support, and 'anorexia,' referring to the eating disorder, indicating support for anorexia. Experts analyze that external factors such as media have influenced the social atmosphere that emphasizes appearance.

Recently, posts admiring thin bodies have been continuously uploaded mainly on social networking services (SNS). One netizen wrote on the 19th, "Every time I try fasting, I fail due to lack of willpower. I don't think I can do it alone. I will lose weight somehow before going to college. I will become thin. Looking for someone to tighten up with me."

In online spaces, people who practice pro-ana are called 'pro-ana-jok (族),' and accounts posting pro-ana-related content are called 'pro-ana-gye.' Unlike anorexia symptoms where food intake is refused or feared, these individuals have an obsession with losing weight despite having an appetite and deliberately suppress food intake.

In particular, they do not hesitate to use dangerous methods such as starving themselves, eating and vomiting (meokto), chewing and spitting (ssipbaet), and taking laxatives to achieve their desired weight.

Another netizen recommended the 'chew and spit' method on SNS, saying, "Just endure for 5 days. It may vary individually, but after 5 days of fasting, you won't feel hungry at all and won't want to eat any food in front of you." They added, "The stomach shrinks a lot, so eating only a quarter of the amount you used to eat makes you full, and you can get through the day. Even if you chew and spit, just endure for 5 days."

Photo by Twitter screen capture.

The problem is that blindly reducing the amount of food intake can lead to eating disorders and harm health. Especially, excessive dieting during growth periods can cause nutritional deficiencies and increase the risk of various diseases such as hypothermia, hypotension, and edema. It can also cause psychological problems such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, self-deprecation, and depression, so caution is required.

Among these, it has been found that the number of patients with eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia has increased mainly among women over the past five years. According to data submitted by Nam In-soon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, from the National Health Insurance Service, the total number of people treated for eating disorder symptoms over the past five years (2015?2019) was 40,059, with 7,561 men (18.9%) and 32,498 women (81.1%), showing that female patients outnumber males by more than four times.

In particular, the gender and age group with the highest number of patients was women in their 20s (7,861), accounting for 19.6%. Teenage women also accounted for a significant proportion at 6.9% (2,759).

The problem of eating disorders is not unique to South Korea. According to results announced by the UK health authorities last year, the number of hospitalized patients with eating disorders increased from about 14,000 in 2017 to 16,000 in 2018 and 19,000 in 2019. Notably, one-quarter of hospitalized patients in 2019 were adolescents under 18 years old, among whom 2,403 were anorexia patients.

As a result, there are calls to ban the 'pro-ana' hashtag (#) altogether. This is due to concerns that pro-ana-related information, mainly posted on Twitter and other platforms, could be indiscriminately absorbed by adolescents.

One netizen said, "I don't understand why pro-ana-related information is posted on SNS that everyone can see. Also, looking at the dieting methods of pro-ana-jok, they ultimately rely on dangerous methods like drinking only beverages all day or eating and vomiting. Posts that encourage eating disorders are undesirable." They added, "Especially teenagers who use SNS a lot are bound to be influenced by such posts."

Currently, on Instagram, searching for eating disorder-related terms such as '#proana' and '#anorexia' brings up a window with the phrase 'Need help?'. However, it has been confirmed that platforms like Twitter have no separate restrictions.

Experts analyze that peer groups and external factors such as media influence anorexia. Professor Kwak Geum-ju of Seoul National University’s Department of Psychology pointed out, "Adolescence is the period most sensitive to appearance. As a result, they constantly compare themselves with others, and in this process, their confidence in their appearance decreases, leading them to continuously try to improve themselves."

She added, "Since young and thin celebrities are frequently exposed in various media, the importance of appearance has increased throughout society. Due to these external factors, people attempt excessive dieting methods."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.