August 20, 2002 | 4:26 PM

I was attempting to post this here but for whatever reason was not allowed to. So I'm posting it in my own diary. It's a response to the "Shut down Pro-Ana website" debate:

I am in no way shape or form pro-ana, nor do I agree with pro-ana websites, but I do have to take offence at something that was said here. Being an alcoholic or being an anorexic is *not* "taking the easy way out." Alcoholism and eating disorders are diseases-- just like schitzophrenia or manic depression, or yes even cancer. Someone does not choose to be an alcoholic. Alcohlics wish nothing more than that they weren't alcoholics. Whether they stop drinking or not doesn't change the fact that they will always be alcoholics. And whether an anorexic stops starving herself or not doesn't mean she will stop being an anorexic-- it's an obsessive compulsive disorder the symptoms of which appear in learned socialized behavior.

People *do* have a choice as to whether or not they get better, just as people who have cancer have a choice as to whether or not they take chemotherapy. But I know people who have struggled for years with an eating disoreder, or with an addiction, who desperately want to recover and have not made a lot of progress.

I absolutely agree that people need to be responsible for their words and actions online and I think discussion of this nature is valuable. I don't know whether I would agree that forcing someone to shut down a website will achieve the goal of making anorexia less rampant than it is-- I think creating a website such as this one where a dialogue can be started is a better method of accomplishing that.

And I agree as well that everyone is responsible for his/her own recovery in so far as you have to want to recover and work towards it. However, I think the statement that anorexics or bullemics or alcoholics who aren't currently in recovery are weak and "choosing" to be sick is quite frankly misguided and incorrect and to be perfectly blunt, reactionary.

I understand the purpose of this website and applaud any discussion concerning why anorexia is dangerous and so forth. However, I think it is enoromously important to show people who are obviously ill compassion and understand that no one can be in someone else's shoes. I have struggled with an eating disorder for years and am very ANTI eating disorder and have gone through a great deal to get better. Pro-ana sights make me very sad because I can see exactly where those girls are in their lives and I know why they are celebrating their disease online. It is *not* to recruit people or to make themeslves feel superior. It is because they are drowning and terrified and in a state of denial and celebrating the illness or making it seem like an accomplishment is a survival technique/defence mechanism.

I think attacks or blanket put downs cause people who are wrapped up in their illness to further insulate themselves and rely on their sick community for moral support as opposed to wanting to get help.

Anyone who hasn't lived through the nightmare of an eating disorder or an addiction has absolutley no right to make amateur diagnoses or attribute psychological motivations to those who do. If you are really invested in helping these girls, I suggest bringing these pro-ana websites to the attention of someone who is an experienced eating disorders councelor or psychotherapist or someone who has recovered from the illness and asking for her/his advice on how the spread of anorexia can be stopped.

Quite frankly, I think that attempting to shut down these websites in the manner you are doing is well intentioned but misguided. If anything it will have the opposite affect from what you hope. I would also like to add that I have an enormous amount of respect for Plastron and appreciate her point of view. Sincerely Anna