The Dark Net

by Jamie Bartlett

  Man, wish i was like this

  Beautiful

  Could she be more perfect?

  I want to have this.

  So perfect

  So perfect and can I ask how much you weigh??

  That’s what I needto look like. I can already feel my hip bones sticking out and my boyfriend can literally grab onto them, but I want to physically see those bones poking out.

  Very nice!! respect

  I know this girl . . . She’s at my school. Everytime i see her i die a little inside. Yuck im so ewww:-

  Wish I was like that! I’m so jealous

  Want

  omg perfect!

  Why god oh why? You have given me fat all over and no brains but this girl gets perfection?!?!?!!? I feel huge looking at this picture.

  I <3 her body, so want.

  Similarly, on self-injury sites – which frequently link directly to pro-ana sites – users will often post extremely graphic photographs of their self-injury with accompanying short poems, lyrics and other images. Although many social networking sites have strict guidelines prohibiting posts and links that explicitly glamorise and promote self-harm and eating disorders, the glamorisation is often indirect, built up subtly through layer upon layer of content and direct comparison.

  Suicide forums tend to be slightly different, with fewer images and more discussion. But here, many users present suicide as an honourable, meaningful solution to life’s problems. In a.s.h., one anonymous contributor advised another visitor who was contemplating suicide to try to enjoy the day:

  Firstly, it will be a special event regardless. Why not enjoy it as best you can. Definitely drive some place far away 40,60,100 miles or more if you can and enjoy a nice chilled-out ride on the highway or however long you enjoy driving to a nice hotel. Check in for several days just take as many long strolls as you can. You are in new energy, new people around you, that is the best thing for stimulating a new or lifesaving idea. Make a party out of it . . . If you want to chat, leave an email here or some other way to contact you. Good luck.

  The great danger is that such behaviour comes to be seen as normal, healthy and appealing. Amelia would look at the thinspo pictures, comparing herself unfavourably to the glamorous photos. Being surrounded by photos and images of exceptionally skinny people led her to develop body dysmorphic disorder. Like many visitors to pro-ana sites, Amelia started to become obsessed with emaciated bodies, and with very specific signs of extreme skinniness: ‘thigh gaps’ (a gap between the thighs when standing with the knees touching), pronounced collar bones and jutting knee and elbow joints. According to Dr Bond, anorexics pride themselves on achieving the remarkable mental toughness that is required to deprive yourself of food. ‘Many of them come to equate the feeling of hunger with happiness,’ Dr Bond tells me. ‘I did not see anything at all wrong with a thigh gap,’ Amelia recalls. ‘It was just the thing that we all wanted. We would obsess over it.’ I found the following anonymous post on a pro-ana site:

  I DO NOT FUCKING NOT BELIEVE THIS. It was LITERALLY Thursday that I was looking at my thigh gap. Then WHAM. It’s gone. OVERNIGHT. ACTUALLY FUCKING OVERNIGHT. It’s gone. I’m totally choked. I’m so angry at myself. How did I allow this to happen? How did I let myself go so much?

  Whether it’s sharing experiences, uploading photographs or describing techniques and methods, the volume of data on the websites I visited is remarkable – a shared repository of knowledge on how to self-harm. That repository included a lot of very detailed advice. Amelia started to read up on weight-loss techniques, commonly known in the community as the ‘Ana tips’ – a set of rules that, if followed, will result in drastic weight loss:

  Rule 1: Rules Rules Rules. This is important. You need to set rules for yourself, and if you are truly ana, you will have no problem sticking to them because you are STRONG! Rules are everything. Make your own and keep adding to them.

  Rule 11: Drink up to a shot of apple cider vinegar before eating, it’s supposed to minimise fat absorption. Drinking more than a shot causes a vague nausea which helps supress appetite.

  Rule 21: Write everything you eat and its calories. This will make you think before eating and also make you more aware of how much food and calories you are actually consuming.

  Rule 27: Press on your stomach when it grumbles. TUMS also stop stomach growling (5 calories a piece so be careful!).

  Rule 34: Never eat out of a box or jar. Always eat from a plate or bowl. This will help you in several ways: you will see how much you are really eating; you can determine in advance how much you will eat and not go back for seconds; using a small plate or bowl will make you eat even less.

  On several pro-cutting forums I found advice on how to cut yourself while avoiding detection from parents or teachers. ‘What can I use now my family has stopped me buying razors?’ asks one user. ‘Thin wire, staples, safety pins, a small, sharp pointed rock, a bit of glass like from a smashed light bulb, even sharp broken plastic can be used,’ came the helpful response. I observe the same phenomenon in action in a number of suicide forums. It is illegal in the UK to encourage or aid suicide, even if you do not know the person and do not have material involvement in the act. All that is required is the clear intention of encouraging a person to commit suicide. But providing information or discussing suicide on the internet or anywhere else is legal; providing there is no intent to encourage someone to act on it. As a result, forums like a.s.h. include a lot of information about specific ways of killing yourself. Advice on methods ranges from the very general (‘I’m not looking to try any method where I could possibly scar someone like with a train . . . can you advise?’) to the impossibly detailed (‘I have 4 litres of High Concentrated Lime Sulfur Spray which I bought last year before it was banned. However, my car is a little bit bigger and spacier than a normal sedan and I don’t want to waste my valuable supply on a failed attempt so I wanted to ask some questions . . .’).

  Tricks and tips are arguably the most harmful and destructive parts of these subcultures, transforming what might be vague, ill-thought-out plans into a concrete set of instructions. Every year around twenty million people attempt suicide. The majority – at least 90 per cent – fail. In a study conducted by the University of Oxford Centre for Suicide Research, of 864 people who had attempted but failed to commit suicide, respondents were asked how intent they were on killing themselves. More than two thirds were moderate or low. Similarly, a 2006 survey of patients with an eating disorder found that around a third had visited a pro-eating-disorder site and 96 per cent of them had learned new weight-loss methods while there. With tricks and tips you learn how to survive on under 1,000 calories a day, and many aim for 500.

  Accountability

  Pro-ana sites are often edged with a peer pressure, as a way of encouraging each other to attain the demanding targets they have set themselves. One popular component on most pro-ana sites is ‘food diaries’. Users will post a detailed breakdown of what they eat each day, usually accompanied by a calorie count. Many set themselves extremely punishing schedules. Publishing your plans and updating on progress, explains Amelia, is a way of keeping yourself motivated. You know others are watching and you don’t want to let them down. And if you’re struggling, they will encourage you.

  Bony Queen: This is just going to be a short, pointless post on how i did today. Really not in a good mood. I need rest, motivation and lots and lots of CIGS.

  Day three:

  Breakfast. Nothing.

  Lunch. One chip two small sips of milk

  Dinner. About 300 cals

  Day four:

  Breakfast. Nothing.

  Lunch. Two little tomatoes and sip of milk.

  Snack. 200 calorie binge on chips with lots of sour cream .

  Dinner. Four fries and a McDonalds wrap. Half of a half of it. 200 calorie (guessing by amount I ate). Total. 400 But I snacked on lots of cereal and a little bread. I’m going to go with 500 maybe more.

  Hate this. I don�
�t know what my total is because I can’t get a grip on my snacking. I need to feel light but I just feel like I’m being pulled down by myself. I must picture tomorrow. That’s the best way to start it . Hope you guys are all having a better night than me. Thanks for reading.

  Deleted: Don’t stress too much love. I hope you are okay <3

  xtremethin: You can do this! just keep positive, get some fresh air, a good long sleep and see what happens tomorrow. You never know maybe tomorrow could go really well if you put your mind to it! Hope you feel better soon

  Bony Queen: Thank you both so much. You’re right I do feel slightly better. I hope you make it, because you guys deserve it. Thanks again I need some encouragement it seems.:>

  Wrapped up in this well-meaning supportive community, in the social interaction and feedback, are extremely destructive and unhealthy ideas and behaviours. In 2013, one popular pro-ana blogger that Amelia followed said she was embarking on a three-day fast, after eating too much over the Christmas holidays, and hoped that others would hold her to it. Within hours Amelia and dozens of others had pledged to fast with her in support.

  For three days, Amelia consumed barely anything but water and ice cubes. This sort of drastic calorie reduction is extremely dangerous, and causes immediate psychological distress. In the Minnesota Starvation Experiment, which was carried out just after the Second World War, thirty-six carefully picked men, selected for their mental and physical toughness, agreed to undergo voluntary starvation. Their intake was reduced to around 1,500 calories per day – roughly half of what is considered healthy, but still far more than many anorexics consume. The men couldn’t concentrate, and reported feeling socially isolated. There was a significant increase in depression, hysteria – even self-mutilation. Amelia said that the fasting was physically and mentally tough, but, at the time, seemed worth it. Not only had she lost weight, but she had visibly demonstrated her commitment to the pro-ana community, and offered support to help another ana girl.

  It was a tipping point, Amelia tells me. The helpful and caring community had, imperceptibly, changed into something subtly different and far more dangerous.

  The Werther Effect

  After a few weeks in the pro-ana community, explains Amelia, everything feels so normal. When I first visited these sites, I was shocked by the emaciated bodies, the blasé discussions about lethal cocktails or people searching for suicide pacts, the graphic photos of mutilation. This wears off very quickly. Emaciated bodies began to appear unsurprising, and ordinary. And because thinspo, tricks and tips, suicide methods and diets are put forward by a seemingly caring community of people, it is easy to forget just how deadly the advice can be. It could be said that almost any action, no matter how misguided, can quickly become acceptable – even admirable – if you believe that others are doing it too.

  In 1774 the German novelist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published his first novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther, in which his thoughtful young protagonist takes his life after failing in his endeavours to be with the woman he loved. The book sparked a spate of copycat suicides across Europe by young men who had found themselves in a similar predicament. This strange phenomenon became known as the ‘Werther Effect’. The month after the August 1962 suicide of Marilyn Monroe, 197 suicides, mostly of young blonde women, appeared to have used the star’s death as a model for their own. In the 1980s a number of men in Austria committed suicide by jumping in front of trains; at the turn of the century in Hong Kong there was a spate of suicides by ‘charcoal burning’, and in 2007–8 in south Wales, of teenagers hanging themselves.

  Sociologists call this ‘behavioural contagion’. The Werther Effect occurs because we are social creatures. We model our behaviour on others, learning from and imitating those around us. Patterns of behaviour, it turns out, can often spread in much the same way as disease does. The same phenomenon has been observed with drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, self-harm and obesity, but also with happiness and cooperation.

  The Werther Effect has been found to take particular hold following cases where the victim is portrayed as romantic and heroic in some way – like Werther himself – and if they receive a lot of attention or sympathy. This is why outbreaks of the Werther Effect nearly always follow large-scale media coverage. As a result, many countries have strict guidelines about how to report suicides. During the time of the south Wales suicides, for instance, the police asked the national media to stop reporting the stories in a bid to limit the number of copycat cases.

  Unlike mainstream media, there are no real guidelines or rules on reporting threats of suicide. Most suicide forums encourage users to describe how they are feeling, and why – often in an attempt to be supportive, sympathetic and responsive, but with potentially dire results.

  David Conibear was a successful computer software engineer in his late twenties, and a frequent and popular user on a.s.h. In late 1992, he posted a new comment on the site:

  Hey, fellow ASHers! . . . After a lot of research and a lot more thought, I’ve gone with the KCN dissolved in cold water . . . The computer is programmed to wait 36 hours and then phone 911, to prevent any of my friends discovering the body. This news message is also on a delay timer, just in case there are any closet interventionists lurking. If this DOESN’T work, I’ll try to get someone to post that tidbit to a.s.h. so none of you ends up making the same mistake. Oh, a final note . . . in case the group gets any flak about this, let it be known that a.s.h. was not a promoting cause in my suicide. Had it not been for this group, my best plan to date was to get pissed drunk and dive off the roof of my apartment building (yes, I have a key). I think this is cleaner all ’round. Have a nice life!

  It was the first documented online suicide note. David’s body was found the next day. As the news spread on a.s.h., several users wrote short memorials, describing how saddened they were by the news, how they missed him: ‘Dave, if you can see this post, we’re thinking about you, your spirit lives on in our minds.’ But a number praised him, admiring his actions: ‘Am I the only one who feels a perverse sense of glee when reading this letter?’ wrote one user. Conibear is, somewhat shockingly, referred to as the ‘patron saint’ of a.s.h. A micro-Werther.

  The Werther Effect creates a strange and very perverse incentive, which is key to understanding how these communities can be both helpful and harmful. Because self-harm forums are generally supportive, community-minded places, the more you suffer, the more attention you get from others. Academic research has found that the motivations for self-injury and anorexia are often driven by the same underlying causes: it’s a strategy to relieve feelings of anxiety, loneliness, alienation and self-hatred. The more Amelia suffered – and expressed that suffering publicly – the more sympathy and attention she received. For someone with low self-esteem and few friends offline, this was an extremely powerful draw.

  In November 2013, this incentive to perform for attention and sympathy was taken to a terrifying conclusion by a twenty-one-year-old Canadian student named Dakota. He posted a disturbing comment on 4chan’s /b/ board that quickly attracted a large and captive audience: ‘Tonight I will be ending my own life. I’ve been spending the last hour making the preparations and I’m ready to go through with it. All that I request is for you guys to link me to a site where I am able to stream it.’

  Someone duly created a ‘Chateen’ room, a private chat room in which Dakota could stream his webcam for the 200 or so /b/ users who had joined the thread. Dakota began streaming, and the room quickly filled with slightly sceptical /b/tards. Many suspected it was a joke. Some tried to talk him out of it; others urged him on: ‘You’re too much of an attention whore to do it. Just fucking do it if you are gonna do it!’ wrote one. ‘Hang yourself on school’s property,’ suggested another.

  The news spread rapidly, with thousands of other frustrated users following the developments from /b/. ‘Holy shit, somebody fucking stream it [the Chateen room] . . . what’s wrong with you guys?!’ The Chateen audience provi
ded commentary as Dakota downed sleeping pills and gulped vodka. ‘Holy shit, [he] wasn’t actually a faggot this time.’ ‘YES THIS MAN IS A GENIUS,’ commented another. Others worried: ‘Maybe we should work to try to save this man’s life?’

  By this point, Dakota had set fire to his room, and crawled under his bed. Hunched up in a ball, he managed to type: ‘#dead’, ‘#lolimonfire’ and finally: ‘IM FUCK3ED’. Then the screen went dark. ‘I think he’s passed out.’ No one quite knew what was happening. One user proposed a moment of silence.

  Suddenly, there was a flash of light. Firefighters broke down the door and rushed in, unaware they were being filmed. They pulled the unconscious Dakota from under his bed, the large luminious yellow stripe on the trousers of one firefighter visible. ‘Op delivered.’ ‘He’s dead. It’s over.’ Op had delivered, but he survived. As he recovered in hospital, his Facebook page was heavily trolled.

  Connected in a Lonely World

  The internet hasn’t created self-harming behaviour. Self-injury, eating disorders and suicide rates are not increasing dramatically. Long-term trends show that suicide rates are falling in the UK. There were more suicide pact deaths per head of the population in the late fifties than in the period 1996–2005. Cases of self-injury have increased since the mid-1990s, but not significantly, and appear to have fallen after a peak in 2003.

  But the net is changing how these psychological illnesses are expressed and experienced. The people who become part of these worlds are often young, extremely unwell and in need of professional healthcare. But the reason so many join these sub-cultures is because they offer a sanctuary, when there isn’t really anywhere else to go. The ‘Sorry you’re here’ welcome you receive in a.s.h. is often more than you’ll receive from your local GP. People take great comfort in being able to find and speak with others like them without judgement – and that is exactly what so many of these sites provide. It is good to have places to go to speak to other people about your suffering. Sites and forums that reduce feelings of loneliness can be extremely important when it comes to mental health problems. Academic work on the subject, although not conclusive, seems to suggest that peer support groups – if they are carefully moderated by people like Al – can help sufferers, and even nudge them towards medical help. Joe Ferns, Director of Policy, Research and Development at the Samaritans, thinks that it’s important for sufferers to have somewhere where they can openly talk about suicide, self-injury and eating disorders. But he’s worried by the number of untrained and often very ill people listening, offering advice and information. Everywhere there are micro-Werthers, people whose illness is glamorised and romanticised like Goethe’s hero.