Digital Waistlands: Pro-Ana Communities, Religion, and Embodiment

Pro-ana is an online community that shares resources that support the progression and maintenance of eating disorders. It simultaneously offers participants anonymity and visibility in virtual space as well as the chance to develop social connections with other like-minded individuals who support, rather than censure, their “deviant” behaviors. This paper attends to the intersection of religion, embodiment, and digital culture in the pro-ana movement by exploring how anas embody religious values through their performances of pro-ana culture. We see this both in terms of the more obvious mobilizations of religious rhetorics common with some of the pro-ana community, as well as in more subtle manifestations of Protestant values embedded in key pro-ana commitments and behaviors. By analyzing the popular pro-ana site “MyPancakeAddiction,” I explore how anas embody this digital culture through performances of a shared value system rooted in commitments to individualism, self-control, and mastery – themes often associated with Protestantism.