WBB ESSAYS
Escaping the Ana Groupthink
- Muse
I think that we need to branch outside of the eating disordered groupthink. We need to make "normal" friends. We need to glory in the idea of being "normal". The more we can embody health as a standard of beauty in itself, the less we will feel the need to be around "messed up" people in order to feel accepted. It's low self-esteem.
Forming a little "club" based on a coping mechanism resulting from insecurity might make you feel less ashamed about the coping mechanism. Pro-ana makes disorder seem "normal". Groups full of emaciated and sick individuals will create a "norm" (groupthink) that new members will sub-consciously end up trying to equal or better. This feeds into the groupthink, further strengthening it. You are who your friends are. Ensure that you have positive people in your life.
Even on We Bite Back, we are somewhat limited by the overall health of the community at large. We benefit in diversity... of all kinds. It prevents groupthink. It keeps new ideas flowing into the community, and prevents us from clinging to unhealthy ideas...
...but even in a recovery community, beware of groupthink. We always have to ensure that our individual recovery processes are honest, and that we aren't just paying lipservice to an ideal.
The post-pro-ana movement is nothing if we aren't actually living it on a personal level. (The personal is political. Truly.)
Keep biting back.
