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Student Reviews

Viewpoint: Eating disorder wannabes

BMJ 2007; 335 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/sbmj.0711424a (Published 01 November 2007) Cite this as: BMJ 2007;335:0711424a
  1. Deborah Cohen, features editor1
  1. 1BMJ

I first heard about “wannarexia” while sitting on a bus. A group of teenage girls were dissecting each of their classmates. One girl in particular received marked censure. “She's such a wannarexic,” said one. The others all agreed. Forced to admit that I was out of the loop with teen jargon I turned to the internet, the bible of youth trends.

Wannarexia is a pejorative term and, says Urban Dictionary (www.urbandictionary.com), is “an imaginary disease most commonly found amongst preteen to teenage, overweight females who claim to have the eating disorder …

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