Premium
Doing weight: Pro‐ana and recovery identities in cyberspace
Author(s) -
Riley Sarah,
Rodham Karen,
Gavin Jeff
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of community and applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.042
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1099-1298
pISSN - 1052-9284
DOI - 10.1002/casp.1022
Subject(s) - cyberspace , cognitive reframing , psychology , negotiation , social psychology , eating disorders , discourse analysis , discursive psychology , the internet , sociology , linguistics , clinical psychology , world wide web , social science , philosophy , computer science
This paper explores the role of online ‘body talk’ (text‐based communication about bodies and bodily experiences) in the management, negotiation and development of eating disorder related identities. Two anorexia related Internet discussion forums (a ‘pro‐ana’ and a ‘recovery’ website) were analyzed through the means of discourse analysis. The analysis focused on the type of body‐talk produced in the different sites and the functions of this talk in relation to eating disorder related identities. Three forms of body talk were identified: descriptions of doing something with the body; descriptions of the body and descriptions of bodily experiences. On both sites these forms of body talk reproduced the thin ideal; demonstrated valid claims of group membership; and, for the pro‐ana group, dynamically (re)produced eating disorder related identities through the reframing of health/appearance concerns as markers of success. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.