Girls are fucked up!

[Wrath Child]

By Martha Irvine
The Associated Press

CHICAGO — They call her ‘‘Ana.’’ She is a role model to some, a goddess to others — the subject of drawings, prayers and even a creed.
She tells them what to eat and mocks them when they don’t lose weight. And yet, while she is a real presence in the lives of many of her followers, she exists only in their minds.
Ana is short for anorexia, and — to the alarm of experts — many who suffer from the potentially fatal eating disorder are part of an underground movement that promotes self-starvation and, in some cases, has an almost cult-like appeal.
Followers include young women and teens who wear red Ana bracelets and offer one another encouraging words of ‘‘thinspiration’’ on Web pages and blogs.
They share tips for shedding pounds and faithfully report their ‘‘cw’’ and ‘‘gw’’ — current weight and goal weight, which often falls into the double digits. They also post pictures of celebrity role models, including teen stars Lindsay Lohan and Mary-Kate Olsen, who last year set aside the acting career and merchandising empire she shares with her twin sister to seek help for her own eating disorder.
‘‘Put on your Ana bracelet and raise your skinny fist in solidarity!’’ one ‘‘pro-Ana’’ blogger wrote shortly after Olsen entered treatment.
The movement has flourished on the Web and eating disorder experts say that, despite attempts to limit Ana’s online presence, it has now grown to include followers — many of them young — in many parts of the world.
No one knows just how many of the estimated 8 million to 11 million Americans afflicted with eating disorders have been influenced by the pro-Ana movement. But experts fear its reach is fairly wide. A preliminary survey of teens who’ve been diagnosed with eating disorders at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University, for instance, found that 40 percent had visited Web sites that promote eating disorders.
‘‘The more they feel like we — ‘the others’ — are trying to shut them down, the more united they stand,’’ said Alison Tarlow, a licensed psychologist and supervisor of clinical training at the Renfrew Center in Coconut Creek, Fla., a residential facility that focuses on eating disorders.
Experts say the Ana movement also plays on the tendency people with eating disorders have toward ‘‘all or nothing thinking.’’
‘‘When they do something, they tend to pursue it to the fullest extent. In that respect, Ana may almost become a religion for them,’’ said Carmen Mikhail, director of the eating disorders clinic at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.
She and others point to the ‘‘Ana creed,’’ a litany of beliefs about control and starvation, that appears on many Web sites and blogs. At least one site encourages followers to make a vow to Ana and sign it in blood.
People with eating disorders who’ve been involved in the movement confirm its cult-like feel.
‘‘People pray to Ana to make them skinny,’’ said Sara, a 17-year-old in Columbus, Ohio, who was an avid organizer of Ana followers until she recently entered treatment for her eating disorder. She spoke on the condition that her last name not be used.
Among other things, Sara was the self-proclaimed president of Beta Sigma Kappa, dubbed the official Ana sorority and ‘‘the most talked about, nearly illegal group’’ on a popular blog hosting service that Sara still uses to communicate with friends. She also had an online Ana ‘‘boot camp’’ and told girls what they could and couldn’t eat.
For others, Ana is a person — a voice that directs their every move when it comes to food and exercise.
‘‘She’s someone who’s perfect. It’s different for everyone — but for me, she’s someone who looks totally opposite to the way I do,’’ said Kasey Brixius, a 19-year-old college student from Hot Springs, S.D.
Dr. Mae Sokol often treats young patients in her Omaha, Neb., practice who personify their eating disorder beyond just Ana. To them, bulimia is ‘‘Mia.’’ And an eating disorder often becomes ‘‘Ed.’’
‘‘A lot of times they’re lonely and they don’t have a lot of friends. So Ana or Mia become their friend. Or Ed becomes their boyfriend,’’ said Sokol, who is director of the eating disorders program run by Children’s Hospital and Creighton University.
In the end, treatment can include writing ‘‘goodbye’’ letters to Ana, Mia and Ed in order to gain control over them.
But it often takes a long time to get to that point — and experts agree that, until someone with an eating disorder wants to help themselves, treatment often fails.
Tarlow, at the Renfrew Center, said it’s also easy for patients to fall back into the online world of Ana after they leave treatment. ‘‘Unfortunately,’’ she said, ‘‘with all people who are in recovery, it’s so much about who you surround yourself with.’’
Some patients, including Brixius, the 19-year-old South Dakotan, have had trouble finding counselors who truly understand their struggle with Ana.
‘‘I’d tell them about Ana and how she’s a real person to me. And they’d just look at me like I’m nuts,’’ Brixius said of the counselors she’s seen at college and in her hometown. ‘‘They wouldn’t address her ever again, so it got very frustrating.
‘‘Half the time I’m, like, ‘You know what? I give up.’’’
Other days, she’s more hopeful.
‘‘I gotta snap out of this eventually if I want to have kids and get a job. One day, I’ll get to that point,’’ she said, pausing. ‘‘But I’ll always obsess about food.’’

[Eziekial]

Do men ever suffer from this disorder?

I have a theory that one of the differences between men and women is that women have a broader range of capacity then men, in almost every aspect (I'm holding out on physical strength). In general, woman can be smarter, quicker, and stronger willed then men, however they also can be lesser and subject to a greater array of disorders such as these.

[labbats]

One of my old flight students became anorexic. He was a cool guy too. Not girly or gay, if anything he was a deer hunting, 4 X 4 driving tough guy. I think it was just hard on him going from being fat and knowing when to quit. He always saw himself as fat. Last I heard he's doing much better now.

[Tikker]

I'd like to catch pick up anorexia for about 75lbs then get cured

[The Kizzy]

Men suffer from the same. Girls suffer more though.

[kaharthemad]

cant bring myself to worship this idol...I like my steak and potatoes too much.

[Yamori]

In general, woman can be smarter .

I have to disagree.

Name 15 major geniuses that were female. From any discipline: Physics, Music, Philosophy, Psychology, Inventing, anything.

Can you?

Ayn Rand is the only example I can think of. There are more I'm sure, but there aren't a lot.

I'm not going to say women can't be geniuses, because Ayn is a shining example that they can be, but I think it is much harder for women to be ultra-smart for some reason.

[Martrae]

That's funny when you consider the smartest person in the world is a woman.

[Donnel]

Women are pigeonholed into the philosophy that they have to be thin to be pretty. Blame the media for that one.

Guys don't usually care what they look like.

[mofish]

In general, woman can be smarter .

I have to disagree.

Name 15 major geniuses that were female. From any discipline: Physics, Music, Philosophy, Psychology, Inventing, anything.

Can you?

Ayn Rand is the only example I can think of. There are more I'm sure, but there aren't a lot.

I'm not going to say women can't be geniuses, because Ayn is a shining example that they can be, but I think it is much harder for women to be ultra-smart for some reason.

This is due to environment and culture. It has nothing to do with the intellectual capacity of women. Discounting the last 50 years, when have women ever been encouraged to be academic? A 19th century woman attempting to learn high level physics would have been laughed out of school.

[Tikker]

In general, woman can be smarter .

I have to disagree.

Name 15 major geniuses that were female. From any discipline: Physics, Music, Philosophy, Psychology, Inventing, anything.

Can you?

Ayn Rand is the only example I can think of. There are more I'm sure, but there aren't a lot.

I'm not going to say women can't be geniuses, because Ayn is a shining example that they can be, but I think it is much harder for women to be ultra-smart for some reason.

Marie Curie~


was also a woman who designed a lot of the cisco routing functionality

[Diekan]

No offense to any females here, but let's be honest... women in general are simply fucked in the head. Whether it's from playing their stupid little head games in relationships (which men usually see right through anyway), gravitating to guys who treat them like shit on a regular basis and won't leave because "I love him, I can make him change!" bla bla bla... most guys here know what I'm talking about - but most are afraid to say it because they fear not getting the ass as punishment.

Yeah, there are some damn cool chicks out there who'd make wonderful partners... but ummm generally speaking 8 out of the 10 you meet are going to be psycho in one form or another.

[Martrae]

That's environment.

[xaoshaen]

Nadine Gordimer
Grazia Deledda
Gabriel Mistral
Nelly Sachs
Marie Sklodowski Curie
Irene Joliet-Curie
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin
Maria Goeppert Mayer
Jody Williams
Emily G. Batch
Jane Addams
Alva Myrdal
Mairead Corrigan
Emily Greene Balch
Rosalyn S. Yallow
Barbara McClintock
Gertrude Elion
Christine Nusslein-Volhard

[Yamori]

That's funny when you consider the smartest person in the world is a woman.

Um, I've never heard of there being an official "smartest person in the world." What has this person accomplished that gives them such an illustrious title?

Unless you're refering to IQ tests, which generally are an indicator of how well you do on IQ tests more than anything.

I'd like to see some info about this though.

[Yamori]

Nadine Gordimer
Grazia Deledda
Gabriel Mistral
Nelly Sachs
Marie Sklodowski Curie
Irene Joliet-Curie
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin
Maria Goeppert Mayer
Jody Williams
Emily G. Batch
Jane Addams
Alva Myrdal
Mairead Corrigan
Emily Greene Balch
Rosalyn S. Yallow
Barbara McClintock
Gertrude Elion
Christine Nusslein-Volhard

Indulge me since I've never heard of any of these people, what did they do?

[xaoshaen]

Nadine Gordimer
Grazia Deledda
Gabriel Mistral
Nelly Sachs
Marie Sklodowski Curie
Irene Joliet-Curie
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin
Maria Goeppert Mayer
Jody Williams
Emily G. Batch
Jane Addams
Alva Myrdal
Mairead Corrigan
Emily Greene Balch
Rosalyn S. Yallow
Barbara McClintock
Gertrude Elion
Christine Nusslein-Volhard

Indulge me since I've never heard of any of these people, what did they do?

They're merely nobel laureates.

[DESX]

Lolz yeah and ill bet you their is at least that many male "nobel laureates" also.

[Martrae]

Guinness Book of World Records always listed Marilyn Vos Savant as smartest.

[Lyion]

The female brain is the equal of the male brain in potential..

And then you throw in hormones and PMS....

[xaoshaen]

Lolz yeah and ill bet you their is at least that many male "nobel laureates" also.

Because, you know, Yamori asked for some sort of numerical comparison between male and female geniuses. Or is it possible that he simply asked for someone to name fifteen female geniuses?

Name 15 major geniuses that were female. From any discipline: Physics, Music, Philosophy, Psychology, Inventing, anything.

Hey, whaddaya know, it looks like it was the latter! And it looks like you're the latest slopebrowed mouthbreather to be completely unable to construct a rational argument. Congratulations!

[Eziekial]

Damn Xao, wake up cranky today?

I still maintain that generaly and in spite of the bias of culture and environment, woman can be greater and also lesser than men. It's like in opera, but with women capable of reaching lower notes than men.

[Captain Insano]

That's funny when you consider the smartest person in the world is a woman.

Women talk a lot of bullshit about how they are better and smarter and jesus its a long list.

The bottom line is that history and western civilization as we know it was built by men.

Start at the dawn of time and move forward. There is no denying this fact. Women contributed but men divided, conquered and built.

We built the world and we still run it. That will never change. Women can claim to be better at school or better at this or smarter at that, but in reality it means a whole heaping pile of jack and shit.

If women were running the show we would be sitting around a fire that was built rubbing two sticks together while we eat foraged berries discussing our feelings and crying about shit.

[Yamori]

Nadine Gordimer
Grazia Deledda
Gabriel Mistral
Nelly Sachs
Marie Sklodowski Curie
Irene Joliet-Curie
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin
Maria Goeppert Mayer
Jody Williams
Emily G. Batch
Jane Addams
Alva Myrdal
Mairead Corrigan
Emily Greene Balch
Rosalyn S. Yallow
Barbara McClintock
Gertrude Elion
Christine Nusslein-Volhard

Indulge me since I've never heard of any of these people, what did they do?

They're merely nobel laureates.

What is a nobel laureate? What I'm really looking for is, what did these people actually accomplish?

I'm not trying to be sassy, I just want to know. Because I've read about nobels being handed out for things that I didn't consider to be anywhere near earth shaking genius work.

[Captain Insano]

The nobel prize is given out for all kinds of stupid go nowhere research.

You find a new strain of ass-mold and get one of those things.


The whole prize was created to give super-nerds a reason not to kill themselves.