Let's Starve Down to the Bone: Pro-anorexia Websites and the Law

Pro-anorexia websites promote anorexia as a positive lifestyle choice. They provide tips to become anorexic and maintain anorexia and diets that people who are anorexic can follow. France became the first country in the world to pass legislation that criminalises the publication of pro-anorexia websites. This article considers the ways that the civil and criminal law in Western Australia can deal with the publishers of pro-anorexia websites. It argues that the law in Western Australia would be unlikely to apply to publishers of pro-anorexia websites, except in the most extreme cases, and it generally cautions against legislative intervention in this area.