Wait a Minute...Are Pro-Ana Sites Legal?

Pro-ana website owners may be running out of time before legal consequences arrive. Christine Balderas / iStockphoto.com

It hasn't come up in the court system yet, but I found a paper that examined whether pro-ana websites could be held liable for doing harm to those who read them. Free speech? Or obvious harm? It's a tricky question from a legal standpoint.

But the real problem is that any legal action would bring out the deepest interpersonal symptoms carried by those with anorexia.

• Pros and cons of going after pro-ana websites
• Ummm...what's pro-ana?
• Other risky behaviors that can trigger (or deepen) eating disorders