France bans super-skinny models in anorexia clampdown

[jimmy olsen]

The Ides of the world are wailing in protest.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/03/us-france-anorexia-idUSKBN0MU0JK20150403

France bans super-skinny models in anorexia clampdown

Lifestyle  |  Fri Apr 3, 2015 12:29pm EDT
PARIS  |  By Emile Picy


(Reuters) - France will ban excessively thin fashion models and expose modeling agents and the fashion houses that hire them to possible fines and even jail, under a new law passed on Friday.

The move by France, with its fashion and luxury industries worth tens of billions of euros, comes after a similar ban by Israel in 2013, while other countries, like Italy and Spain, rely on voluntary codes of conduct to protect models.

The measure is part of a campaign against anorexia by President Francois Hollande's government. Lawmakers also made it illegal to condone anorexia and said any re-touched photo that alters the bodily appearance of a model for commercial purposes must carry a message stating it had been manipulated.

"The activity of model is banned for any person whose Body Mass Index (BMI) is lower than levels proposed by health authorities and decreed by the ministers of health and labor," the legislation says.

The lawmaker behind the bill previously said models would have to present a medical certificate showing a BMI of at least 18, about 55 kg (121 lb) for a height of 1.75 meters (5.7 feet), before being hired for a job and for a few weeks afterwards.

The law, voted through the lower house of parliament by Hollande's Socialist majority despite opposition by conservative parliamentarians, envisages imprisonment of up to six months and a fine of 75,000 euros ($82,000) for any agency contravening it.

A second measure means that any website inciting a reader to "seek excessive thinness by encouraging eating restrictions for a prolonged period of time, resulting in risk of mortality or damage to health" will face up to a year in prison and fines of up to 100,000 euros.

Elite and IMG, two big modeling agencies present in France, both declined to comment on the moves.

Some 30,000-40,000 people in France suffer from anorexia, most of them teenagers, health experts estimate.

In 2010, Isabelle Caro, an anorexic 28-year-old former French fashion model, died after posing for a photographic campaign to raise awareness about the illness.

(Writing and additional reporting by Mark John; Editing by Crispian Balmer)

[MadImmortalMan]

Five foot two and a hundred pounds will get you to 18%. I guess that sounds reasonable, but I do know a few women who wouldn't make it and are definitely not anorexic. Hate to discriminate against them.

[Admiral Yi]

5 7 121 is pretty damn skinny.

[Ed Anger]

[Ideologue]

Overall, it's insane from a free speech standpoint alone, though I heartily approve of the law that requires Photoshopped images of human beings in market materials to be accompanied with a notice.  Unfortunately, this isn't about preventing a public health hazard.  It's another effort in the ongoing campaign to destroy body shame.  On one hand, this comes from an good-hearted and ultimately legitimate place--media, especially media that seeks to sell beauty products and clothes, create an alternate universe of ultra-hot people that bears approximately zero resemblance to reality, yet is treated as "normal" by its consumers.  There's a fair point to be made that this is terrible, because it warps our expectations for ourselves and others.

On the other hand, the campaign has wound up perverted by the insecurities it seeks to eradicate, arguing in earnest and rather delusionally that everyone is perfectly okay the way they are, that being fat is normal and fine, and that you have no duty to potential sexual partners to be basically attractive, something almost every human on Earth beneath the age of 40 is capable of being.  This ideology is not only false, but when acted upon it is destructive of human happiness and the social order.  N.b. the duty is equally applicable to men and women alike.

[alfred russel]

The Ides of the world are wailing in protest.

Maybe Ide wouldn't have the body image issues he has if he didn't pick them up from the media.

[Ideologue]

Why does everyone think I have body dysmorphia?  My girlfriend said so too.

[Sheilbh]

On the other hand, the campaign has wound up perverted by the insecurities it seeks to eradicate, arguing in earnest and rather delusionally that everyone is perfectly okay the way they are, that being fat is normal and fine, and that you have no duty to potential sexual partners to be basically attractive, something almost every human on Earth beneath the age of 40 is capable of being.  This ideology is not only false, but when acted upon it is destructive of human happiness and the social order.  N.b. the duty is equally applicable to men and women alike.

....But this is France. They're generally all slim and sexually attractive already.

Edit: Just looked it up. Average woman's BMI in France is 23, in the US it's 30

[alfred russel]

Why does everyone think I have body dysmorphia?  My girlfriend said so too.

You aren't overweight for starters.

[Siege]

What is this wold coming to.

[Razgovory]

What is this wold coming to.

Wasteland if the logging keeps up.

[Ideologue]

On the other hand, the campaign has wound up perverted by the insecurities it seeks to eradicate, arguing in earnest and rather delusionally that everyone is perfectly okay the way they are, that being fat is normal and fine, and that you have no duty to potential sexual partners to be basically attractive, something almost every human on Earth beneath the age of 40 is capable of being.  This ideology is not only false, but when acted upon it is destructive of human happiness and the social order.  N.b. the duty is equally applicable to men and women alike.

....But this is France. They're generally all slim and sexually attractive already.

Edit: Just looked it up. Average woman's BMI in France is 23, in the US it's 30

Yep.  But let's wait for Jacob.  I want to be told that an average BMI of motherfucking 30 doesn't distort the sexual market for the twentieth time.

(In fairness, men are a lot fatter these days too.  You may want to pay attention, S, Mart, garbon, etc., because this affects you.)

[Martinus]

I hope this is followed by the mirror measure that would ban people with BMI over a certain level from eating at McDonald's. Obesity is a much greater health concern for a much larger group of people than anorexia is, and at least models get paid for what they do.

[Ideologue]

Why does everyone think I have body dysmorphia?  My girlfriend said so too.

You aren't overweight for starters.

And if I were Grallon's seventeen year old boyfriend, that would be the sole criterion.

It's also occasionally untrue; I slip into BMI>25 every now and again.

[Martinus]

I gained weight and my BMI is now nearly 27.