ABSTRACT
Our posthumanist reading of Pro-Ana communities is a confrontation with biomedical models of health, though it is necessary to elaborate on this reading more fully to explain our intentions in offering posthumanism as an analytical device. One of the central themes of our discussion on the medicalization of cyberspace has been an exploration of the relationship between ethical and social scientific analyses of medical or pseudo-medical practices that stretch the limits of medicine’s traditional goals. While medicalization generally has been inscribed with sociological assumptions and developed in the context of cultural and social studies, it has clearly implied a concern that can be described as moral and ethical. Morally, the concern over medicalization involves the degree to which it limits the enjoyment of a fulfilling and enriched life, through its relegation of social problems to the surveillance of medical expertise. Ethically, there are concerns that the practice of medicine is stretching beyond its prescribed role and that this can diminish both the integrity of medicine and, ultimately, patient care.
