Emma And Bulimia Research Paper

Meet Emma, she is a twenty-one year old girl who has been struggling with an eating disorder for five years. Emma reached out to her friends one night, but after that night the topic was left alone, and so was she. She felt alone so she turned to the internet to find someone who she could relate to. (McColl) In the massive void of the internet it is possible to find almost anything from cat videos to websites that are helping teens slowly kill themselves, also known as pro-eating disorder websites. When logging onto these sites Emma would come to find quotes like “Coffee and smokes/and cold Diet Cokes/That 's what pretty girls are made of,” (McColl). These websites told Emma to be beautiful she must be thin. The worst part is Emma knows how …show more content…
Anorexia or Bulimia is not just the act of throwing up or starving yourself, anorexia or bulimia is the mental state that allows you to believe to lose weight it is necessary to purge or not eat all.Many online promoters of eating disorders claim it is not an illness but a lifestyle. According to Christine Morgan, chief executive of the Butterfly Foundation "The sites say that [people] have chosen this as a lifestyle. We know that 's not true, we know that it 's a very serious psychiatric illness. (McColl)". Eating disorders are not a lifestyle choice, they are a fatal sickness that is slowly killing many teenagers. These teens are so ill they want to hurt themselves.Mental illness are very hard to comprehend because they take place inside the body. When someone breaks a bone, the bone is set for a few weeks, then after a couple weeks, the bone has healed and is back to normal. Mental disorders are not the same. You can 't splint a broken brain. Although you can not set a splint there are ways to help. One of those ways is by shutting down sites that beat and beat on a brain making the mental state of the person viewing the website worse than it was before.. Chief executive Morgan also states "They are a serious mental health problem, and attempts to legitimize them [as occurs on pro-ana sites] are part of the pathology of the disease. (McColl)". By allowing …show more content…
One that these sites creates a community for the mentally ill and two that shutting these websites down would be considered censorship. Some young adults log on to pro-eating disorder sites and are able to express their feelings. "There are signs, too, that writing has spurred Ruby [a pro-ana blogger] on towards real-life recovery," (Rainey). Although the self expression helps in some cases, as stated above, these sites prolong or encourage deadly behavior in most cases. Recovery blogs do exist and that is what is helpful, not websites who promote a fatal illness. It is very possible to create a community which helps eating disorder victims recover without promoting eating disorders. The first amendment states that as Americans we have the right to freedom of expression, but there are limits within this law. For instance child pornography, is technically a form of expression, but is also a heinous crime. In the words of the late Justice Scalia it is illegal this form of censorship is ok because child pornography "harms and debases the most defenseless of our citizens," (Roleff)." Teenagers or "the most defenseless citizens" according to Scalia are the main users of pro-eating disorder websites. By allowing them to use these sites they are being put in harm 's way. Censorship does exist in some degree but only when the material offers serious harm to the readers."The Federal Government, through