Anorexics are definitely suicidal reports a new study, to be published in Journal of Affective Disorders later in the year.

A blog exploring girl issues can't ignore eating disorders due to this statistic: 10 million women and 1 million men are anorexic in America today (NEDA).

Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder. But, it's not because they're starving to death - they're actually killing themselves with other very violent means, literally.

The National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA)reports that Females between the ages of 15 and 24 are 12 times more likely to die from anorexia than all other causes of death.

That study of about 250 women suffering eating disorders showed the risk of death by suicide among by anorexic women to be as much as 57 times the expected rate of a healthy woman, according to the article in Time.

The article also looks at the drastic and violent ways anorexics use to kill themselves. They do not quietly swallow pills, as other women tend to do. The methods point to the hatred of themselves that anorexics experience.

It's not really about a BMI. It's about self-hatred. Physical thinness is only the manifestation of self-loathing. Self esteem isn't just a nice thing for girls to have - it's imperative for survival.

Visit MamaVISION for more information about the dangerous pro-ana movement sweeping the web, putting girls at risk. Mama is a former model who knows first-hand the drastic measures she took to maintain the beauty ideal. Now recovered from anorexia, she is a grass-roots fighter against the pro-ana movement.

If you haven't heard, the "pro-ana movement" is the addictive thinking where anorexic girls defend their right to starve themselves for asthetic appeal. They meet on public pro-ana websites to trade starvation tips, share ever more skeletal photos, pass around purging tips and support each other in keeping their mental illness.

Mama is currently chatting with Shelly, from an HBO documentary, Thin. Thin has a compelling and educational website to help people understand the addiction behind eating disorders.

by Tracee Sioux

I was thin as a young woman. Just the other day my sister-in-law said to me, I saw some pictures of you and you were so thin.

A friend of mine who knew me about 7 years ago also recently said, You were so tiny back then.

I was always "the thin one" between my best friend, Violet, and I.

The thing is - I was a size 8.

A size 8 was considered perfectly thin.

Violet, plagued with a weight problem, would mutter things like, If only I were a size 5 my life would be perfect.

I would always answer back, Don't be ridiculous. No one is a size 5. There's no way I could be a size 5 - I have bones. (This was before you could find a doctor who would remove a few ribs.)

I'm in a size 8 again today, but no one is calling me thin. Today, an 8 is considered fat, or at least something to work on. While a size Zero is considered to be thin.

My friend Violet just the other day said, I wish I were a size 5

To which a size 5 12-year-old girl answered, I wish I were a size 2.

Does anyone remember those old diet commercials - maybe for Super K or Slim Fast in the 1980s - where the tagline was, Look at her. She's a perfect size 9!

I've been contemplating the significance of this size Zero, pro-ana phenomenon.

Do you remember the old feminist theory that women crossed their legs in the feminine way to take up less space because they felt unworthy of it? They also held their arms close to them and made very small hand gestures and sat with ankles crossed. That men crossed their legs in thier big way and felt free to move their arms about and even stretch them all the way across the couch. Men feel entitled to take up space.

What if girls today feel they don't even have a right to exist, let alone take up more space?

Who takes up less space on the planet, or in a room, or on a couch, than a size Zero girl?

Are pro-ana girls actually trying to disappear?

Perhaps the first step to preventing poor body image and extreme thinness and misperception of our bodies is to teach daughters they have a right to exist.

Ainsley, dear, you have as much right as anyone to take up space. You're entitled to exist. I'm thrilled that you live your life with a loud, bold presence. You are worthy of nutrition and nourishment for your strong, beautiful, healthy body.

(P.S. I'm claiming my thin status back. Those girls aren't going to steal my womanly thunder. I'm thin with curves. Curves are better than bones any day.)