Currently, there are over 500 websites advocating pro-anorexic or pro-bulimic behaviors ("Pro-Anorexia Site Clampdown Urged," 2008). Governments are strictly forbidden from interfering with any such distribution of information, as broadly encompassed by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
Is this a healthcare issue? Should we be concerned because a growing number of young females are developing eating disorders and insurances are paying millions of dollars for the treatment of these disorders? If we can help prevent some individuals from needing these services, why aren’t we doing so?
Is this a human rights issue? Should all individuals have the right to share any information without censorship, regardless of the psychological damage it causes to others?
Or is this a social issue? Do we have the responsibility, as fellow humans, to protect a vulnerable population (such as individuals with eating disorders) from inadvertently harming themselves?
How do we begin to address such a broad topic when both a fundamental human right and a fundamental human responsibility lie at the core of the issue? That is exactly what I intend to investigate.
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