Boy, did I stumble into a hornet’s nest.

       The Pro Anorexia ( Pro Ana) movement is becoming a religion, and its disciples fanatics.

       In other words, how would you like to get an e-mail or forum post from someone who starts out by saying, “okay f….er?”

       I know where this conversation is going.

       I did an earlier article "Ana Pro" mocking websites that promote starvation as desirable and who give tips on how to cheat and lie to achieve successful starving….as well as putting down anyone judged to be fat.

       The column provoked a torrent of abuse

and some supportive comments you can see on my Talk Back page.

       Practitioners of “Ana” as it’s called and "Mia" ( Bulimia ), have their own buzz words, their own way of talking, their own belief system. They insist these “starving is good” websites are “supportive” of their pain.

       I disagreed.

       One responder called me an “A-hole.” Another called me a “Lard-Ass” (I work out five times a week).

       I think a third called me “shithead.”

       The lightening rod for this controversy is the near Messianic belief Pro Ana people have that Ana and Mia are diseases.

       I said they aren’t diseases, that forced starving is a compulsion.

       A disease is cancer, a condition you acquire (cell destruction) without your knowledge or consent.

       Calling something a disease accomplishes one important benefit. It removes personal responsibility away from the afflicted. Takes it out of your hands.

       The movement to declare anything a disease gained impetus two decades ago when alcoholism was tagged a disease. You’ll get debate from me on whether alcoholism is truly a disease, but I won’t take that space here.

       Most of these angry thin girls seem to be teenagers. I said in my earlier column that some want to copy the look of fashion models seen on TV and in magazines.

       There are other reasons.

       Some intend their alarming condition as a scream for attention. They may lack self esteem. Others get a kick out of controlling their bodies in the way a speed maniac would race a car----a feeling of power and danger.

       Instead, it just makes you physically weak.

       You think my approach is brutal?

       Smallpox, by the way, is a real disease. These guys didn’t do it to themselves willingly.

       One of the angriest responses to my column came from a girl ( woman? ) who, while calling me every name in the book, in a rare moment of Freudian candor, said Pro Ana websites help her deal with her “fuc..ed up life.”

       Self destructive impulses not only take in diet and eating disorders. Some teens cut themselves with razors or knives to achieve the same end. “Cutting” is a developing subculture all its own.

Read other readers responses to this Ana Pro Again Article in the Talk Back Forum