TY - JOUR AU - Vellar, Agnese PY - 2018/06/01 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - #anawarrior identities and the stigmatization process: An ethnography in Italian networked publics JF - First Monday JA - FM VL - 23 IS - 6 SE - DO - 10.5210/fm.v22i6.8412 UR - https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/8412 SP - AB - <p>Received opinion holds that pro-ana are “sites that promote anorexia”. In this paper, I will describe the stigmatization process operating in digital environments and the evolution of pro-ana identities in the light of the theories that view eating disorders (EDs) as culture-bound syndromes. I will then illustrate the findings of an ethnographic study of the ana-mia (from the contraction of anorexia and bulimia) culture that has emerged on Italian social media (blogs and visual SNSs such as Instagram). Analyzing the forms of self-representation drew back the curtains on the “popular discourse” of the ana-mias, whose digital bodies express the need for self-discipline typical of post-feminist identity in neoliberal societies. Ana-mias represent themselves as #anawarriors: their life is an ongoing battle against their illness and to defend themselves from outsiders, but is some cases also to gain visibility and reach the status of microcelebrities.</p> ER -