Petition to take down Pro Anorexia Website

[BemusedMother]

these websites do so much damage
There is a petition to take it down but it needs 10,000 and better still 100,000 to really be taken seriously.
Any UK resident or UK citizen living overseas can sign it
So in the interests of all those who suffer directly or indirectly from eating disorder, please can as many of you sign it and share it with friends.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/116648

At 10,000 signatures, government will respond to this petition

At 100,000 signatures, this petition will be considered for debate in Parliament

I've just signed it.

'You would not do this if it was your child.'
You have no idea of what people's circumstances are just because they haven't laid their lives bare for comments about a petition.

'the resesrch has shown , more stressful than parenting a schizophrenic person'
Can you link to this study? More importantly why the fuck does it need to be a competition? Instead of making vague wishy washy petitions that don't have an actual achievable goal why not campaign around the piss poor state of mental health care in this country overall?

'Many on here will enjoy the debate and tooing and froing in the detail. You would not do this if it was your child.'
It is not about enjoying a debate, it is about making a sensible case and pushing it forward. Say it goes to parliament now and gets debated, what do you think is going to be the outcome ? Right now the way it is phrased, it wouldl be a footnote in parliament. They debate so much and the merits of whether it deserves a further look by them are not obvious from this petition.
I didn't come on this thread to say 'this is shit', I read it and asked for more information. Which is exactly what parliament wold do.

Wow, op, you have been getting a hard time. Totally agree about race to the bottom - people on mn just love to be agents provocateurs sometimes. The petition may not be brilliantly worded but it does really fuck me off when people come on here and twist the op's perfectly legitimate concerns with "yeah, buts" for the sake of it.

I have had an eating disorder and also work in mental health and there is no reason whatsoever to keep feeding the fantasies of people with this insidious illness. An anorexic can find support in many other places, but providing material for them to fantasise about, collude with others and maintain the destructive secrecy of this illness is not a good thing.

it was my child once, she used pro ana sites at school! she was at death's door by the time she was first hospitalised. The sites didn't cause her illness nor did they do a great deal to alter its course, but she was young enough for me to decide what she could and couldn't do online so obviously we (home and school) restricted her access to them, I don't think I ever thought the sites should be banned in general but then I'm not keen on the idea of living under that sort of China style regime

none of those sites are very easy to find now, they've either gone entirely or reformed into support groups with a definite hostility to 'wannarexics'

I think regarding the websites, if they are promoting nonsense as the truth, eg saying specific things which contradict medical science, then I think I'd have a bit of a problem with that - after all children may believe these things are true when they are not.

If however the site is simply hosting comments from random people and not claiming that these have any scientific basis then I can't really put my name to banning that.

It would be like if MN was promoting something completely untrue, in itself, as a website. Whereas there's plenty of comment hosted on here which is bollocks, but that is a balance because there's also plenty that contradicts it and argues with it.

So freedom of speech can be very helpful in untangling the knots some people may get themselves into when they have mistaken beliefs.

By being allowed to post this stuff and then have it challenged - well that can help on every side.

But if the site itself is printing things as fact when they are not, that's an issue.

To the few of you who are supportive - thank you.

Devil, I hope your DD is in sustained recovery.

I stumbled across these websites while looking for help.
So I found the opposite - they are easy to find.

Many older children have 3G phones - which cannot be restricted. And removing them restricts normal social interaction with genuine friends which is not good at such a critical time.

I support the petition not because it is perfect - what is?

And not as it in itself could achieve a successful outcome - what ever that may be?

I am a realist.

I support this petition quite simply in the hope that if gets enough signatures - 100,000 - it will lead to an intelligent, informed debate, not a quick, or ill advised decision.

Surely this in itself is worth supporting?

Bemused Mother, I try very hard to be supportive to those whose children have anorexia, or those who might have it themselves.

Please don't take my hesitation and misgivings around this petition as an indication that I don't support, or care about, those in such an invidious position.

I think we would all prefer a world where anorexia did not threaten to take the lives of our friends, children or other people we love.

It's the way we go about it that is critical to get right.

And if you are in favour of healthy debate, then I think this is exactly what has happened on this thread.

thank you bemused, she's been doing well for a few years now but I don't think I will ever get over the worst of it - it was easily the most horrible time I have ever lived through

I don't know how you can stop them when some sites used as motivational aids are nothing more than fashion blogs or similar. Also, I used to use a big uk pro-ana site about 10 years ago. The site doesn't seem as popular now as using a website forum is probably old hat for young people now and supposedly its focus is now all about recovery and staying healthy rather than stating its a proana site - except when you start looking at the posts a little more closely, the same "thinsperation" stuff is still there - just worded a little more obliquely and so probably wouldn't be banned even if the petition were successful. OP your intention is well meaning but unless you can entirely police or ban social media it's an impossible task.

Thedevilinmyshoes. "None of these sites are easy to find etc" ... Unfortunately this is not true and I don't know why you would even say this... It's an odd statement and if I didn't know better aid think you were a troll!!

Type Pro Ana in mums and you will see what comes up. Pages and pages of dialogue promoting life-threatening diets and ways to trick parents. Encouraging is the wrong word actually Take a look and you will sign this. The excellent thing the OP has done is that she has already raised awareness of this issue by posting this at all.

The ice bucket challenge raised awareness (and money) . The OP and whoever started the petition will raise awareness, and that is the start of change.

I also wanted to say to Devil that I am very glad your daughter is a survivor and may she continue to do well.

If it was a petition for better awareness, better trained staff within the medical community, showing people (family/friends/teachers/employers) what the signs are that could be ED's, more funding, etc then I would sign it. I won't sign it as it stands and it isn't to do with not knowing what's on these sites or not caring about people with ED's. I have AN. I know exactly what it's like, I still won't sign.

You cannot petition for ALL of these things oddsocks but what you CAN do is petition on an issue to highlight the whole issue. Funding will not increase unless the overall problem is brought to the fore. Nothing is being done right now. I am sorry you suffer - as a sufferer I would probably not expect you to sign. I don't know if you are in recovery or not but I wish you wellness. I don't know what age you are but the sites I am talking about do not help. They encourage illness and promote it as a way of life not a deadly killer illness. Again, for anyone reading this, please try
to help prevent and keep younger people safer. Internet providers should not be allowed to host these sites - if you are in doubt type it in, look at the FULL page that comes up. Check what BEAT resesrch has shown , that the sites are linked to pornography increasingly - or are we all going to say that BEAT don't know what they are talking about too?

I'd sign a petition along the lines of what oddsocks suggests but I'm never going to be someone who supports a level of censorship that could limit freedom of discussion about living with something that not everybody experiences as a mental illness but that can be, by its nature, horribly isolating to live with. Not everyone with AN is a vulnerable teenager and not everyone needs to be infantilised to the extent that their use of such boards is controlled or criminalised.

However it is experiencedi it is indeed a biologically based brain disorder and/or a mental health issue. That is why, when it is treated , it is by primarily psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists , and of course with parents playing a huge role if they are given the opportunity too. That is also why the Royal College of Psychiatrists, after extensive research and experience, called for something to be done in 2009 and warned how bad these sites are and how they were escalating then. Are we also saying that they too are wrong.

The reality is that those who know about this issue are not only the Anorexic sufferers. There are tons of parents and professionals the majority of whom would like this issue debated and highlighted with the government . We know that food is the first line of effective treatment and we know that this role usually falls to Mums so I think it is good the OP went to Mumsnet, hoping for a compassionate, respectful and intelligent response . The greater majority of sufferers are hit with with this when they are in their teens, of course there are many others too but this is when it usually strikes. It is affecting boys too, in increasing numbers.

As I say, I've signed it and I hope some other mothers out there will take just a minute to do so too.

Can I ask why you keep talking about mums? My mum has nothing to do with my recovery - I'm 27 years old and a parent myself!

I don't particularly like the term "brain disorder" (personal thing) but it is an MH issue. None of us would argue with that.

I don't understand why you think we can't petition for the things I mentioned? ED's have always existed and I was able to be sneaky as fuck with mine despite never accessing these sites. I won't be alone in that and if they did all disappear (which they won't) then people will continue to figure out how to be sneaky.

This petition is aimed at websites as if that will solve things. It won't. Funding and greater awareness will. That's where the energy needs to go.

By the way - yes, I am in recovery. I'm doing well and fairly close to a healthy BMI now. Thank you for wishing me well.

Yuckie - thank you.

The petition is not perfect. But what is?

The quest for perfection is in itself a problem.

Surely if it can get a debate in Parliament at 100,000 signatures then it is worth supporting?

Glad you are in recovery Oddsocks.

Come on Mumsnetters......

Is a petition that could get support for anorexia debated in Parliament not itself worth supporting?

Sure, it's not perfect but is that really a good enough reason ?

Little steps.

Better than nothing

The perfect petition has not been written and logged and I don't think any one of the negative Mumsnetters has offered ....

So why not step up and support this one - and get this terrible disease debated in Parliament?

To clarify - the petition does NOT propose making the users of such sites a criminal.

So unless someone is actually prepared to do something positive - why not support this petition to have this horrendous illness debated in Parliament?

Petallic - you may call it an impossible task - but that won't stop me trying