Sunday, April 07, 2002

The skinny on pro-ana

TechTV has a show called CyberCrime. The episode I just saw mentioned something about "pro-ana" websites. Apparently the 'ana' comes from anorexia nervosa, the eating disorder.

Alright, I was curious, so I went looking for some example sites. A lot of Google hits were not found, but here are some that were - message boards and personal sites.

Well, if your body isn't your own, I don't know what is. But surely nothing is less natural than starving yourself.

Apparently there is a concerted ongoing effort to shut down pro-ana sites. Should this be done? Are there legitimate free speech issues here?

I don't think so, unless the heavy hand of govt is involved. ISPs will bear the brunt of any abuse resulting from extremely controversial content and must be permitted to police themselves within contractual limits.

Even so, I'm not fully comfortable with hounding something off the Web.

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