Anorexics United
The latest special interest to put a bid in for “tolerance.”

By NR Editors
From “The Week,” December 17, 2001, issue, of National Review

norexia causes organ damage and infertility, and can be fatal — but its champions are the latest special interest to put a bid in for "tolerance." "Pro-ana" websites — offering chatrooms, 500-calorie-a-day menus, and tips on avoiding detection — call self-starvation an empowering "lifestyle and a decision, not an 'illness' to be fixed." Earlier this year, the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders asked Internet engines to shut down or "unlist" pro-ana sites, and some did. But as fast as one site comes down, another springs up to take its place; moreover, the predictable rumblings of political action against such restrictions have already begun. A culture that accepts all lifestyles as equally worthwhile has few arguments against even practices that kill or permanently disable those who choose them.