Annenberg Research Seminar - Maria Mastronardi

Sept. 18, 2006: Annenberg Research Seminar - From Ophelia to Ana: Female Adolescence in the New World

Students and faculty came together for a presentation by Maria Mastronardi of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Her topic: "From Ophelia to Ana: Female Adolescence in the New World." The presentation traced public discourse about the Pro-Ana community, an Internet-based pariah network whose participants reject traditional, medicalized ideas about eating disorders. Using media texts, policy documents and discussions posted on Pro-Ana websites, she analyzed the moral panic surrounding this community and offer a more productive understanding of eating disorders. She argued that the Pro-Ana community is scapegoated because its very existence exposes manifold contradictions about food, dieting and the body that crowd everyday discourse of young femininity.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• USC
• USC Annenberg
• Maria Mastronardi
• female
• adolescence
• public
• discourse
• Pro-Ana
• eating
• disorder