While we all know French women don't get fat, now they might be forbidden by law to appear too thin. The French parliament's lower house passed a controversial bill today that will make it illegal for anyone — that includes fashion magazines, advertisers, and websites — to publicly encourage extreme thinness.
If the bill passes the French Senate, the no-thin law will be the strongest of its kind. The measure was proposed in partial response to the 2006 anorexia-linked death of a Brazilian model. Her death has spurred efforts throughout the international fashion industry to address the impact of glorifying and showing ultrathin models.
The Conservative author of the law went so far as to argue that encouraging anorexia or severe weight loss should be punishable in court. The bill will give judges the power to imprison and fine offenders up to $47,000 if found guilty of "inciting others to deprive themselves of food" to an "excessive" degree. To see the fashion industry's response, read more.
Industry leaders in French couture are opposed to the idea of legal boundaries on beauty standards, and doctors warn that the link between seeing images of extreme thinness and anorexia is hazy at best. The president of the influential French Federation of Couture, said he was not aware how expansive the proposed measure was, but firmly expressed his disapproval of such a sweeping measure.
Never will we accept in our profession that a judge decides if a young girl is skinny or not skinny. That doesn't exist in the world, and it will certainly not exist in France.
Do we need government protection from unhealthy images of thinness? Should ads that encourage anorexia through showing the super skinny, be a crime? Is it the government's duty to ban this kind of speech, or should we be able to filter out negative images for ourselves? Will the ban make for a more hospitable environment?
Source
Cartier
Theory
City Walk
Thank. God.
1I don't know this is such a multi-faceted problem. First off how do you define "thin" and "too thin" I know that most say they use the BMI but many studies and experts have shown that it's a less than perfect measure of health.
Also, I'm not sure if this is the government's place to intervene. I think if the CFDA wants to make regulations that members need to follow, then sure, but the government getting involved could get tricky, as always.
But those pictures are nasty
2This is an absurd law. Who defines what is too thin?
Having said that, I agree that modeling agencies have a responsibility to their models to keep them healthy. The girls in this picture are not healthy.
3Interesting but do these people realise that some people are very thin naturally. My sister wolfs down everything in her path and has been to the doctor in her younger days for actually eating too much food in one day(funniest day of my life) but she is tiny and lost even more weigh after having her baby. my parents actually thought she was anorexic because she was so thin. so if we can outlaw thinness can we OUTLAW OBESITY which is equally as dangerous as anorexia and bulimia.
4Legislating this is just pointless. Social pressures are much more appropriate and effective. They are also more flexible, because there's room to acknowledge individuality. In a market-based economy, the best way and loudest to vote is with your dollars (euros, pounds, francs, etc.). Write the companies that use these skeletal models, and the magazines that feature them.
5Im with you Nyaradzom...100%
6I think the spirit behind the law is good, as it's not really outlawing being thin, like some people naturally are. Rather, it's outlawing glamorizing being ultra-thin. I understand it to some degree, given that there are websites that act as "support groups" for anorexic girls-not encouraging them to be healthier and overcome their eating disorders, but encouraging them to lose more weight and teaching them ways to trick others into thinking they are eating. My heart says these kind of things are disgusting and should be illegal, but my head says this is something that can't really be legislated, due to free speech. (Which is obviously different in France, but still exists.)
7It's not only magazines that are the problem. When as the last time you saw a woman who didn't look like she went to the gym and bust er gut 7 times a week headline a blockbuster movie, have her own show on TV?? Last time I checked the only "big" woman on TV who was over a size 10 was Camryn Manheim and she doesn't even have that big a part on Ghost Whisperer. The only time you see "large" women is on black comedy shows and only as the heifer mother in law or sister in law or the really funny chick or A reality show as some food, cleaning money guru. The Game which is on CW is the only which has tried to buck the trend because a main character is unabashedly into bigger chicks and we've actually "seen him dating one".
8How exactly will this be enforced I wonder?
Nya I didn't know you could go to the hospital for eating too much!! I'm surprised I haven't been yet!!
9cabaker it was christmas, she was either 9 or 10 and she went to town because that was the only day my mom didn't watch what we ate with an eagle eye so we could have all the junk food we wanted. Next morning our maid made tea and my sister said no her tummy hurt and whenever my sister said no to tea my parents took her to the hospital becasue she loved tea and the only time she couldn't rink it was when she was sick. So they get to the doctor's office and he aks her what she ate. And bear in mind her birthday is also 3 days before christmas. her answer was something like this, "I had 2 bowls of icecream, 5 slices of cake, then we had breakfast and then we had lunch. I had 3 pieces of turkey, susages and bacon,potatoes, salad, 4 cokes, a glass of wine, a sandwich, some more cake, chocolate, sweets..." My mom was mortified, mortified i tell you! We still tease my sister about that day.
10having suffered through an eating disorder for now for over 10 years, i can honestly say that my "decision" to develop those bad habits werent from looking at magazines, or watching tv, or emulating anyone who was thin. I can understand how some girls might say "i wanna be like....." and start down that path. I think there is a bigger problem in the mass photoshopping epidemic, where we all see these models, actresses, pop stars, etc on the covers and think "i wanna look like her" when SHE doesnt even look like her....
11I totally agree with Nyaradzom. If we're going to legislate a person's weight, it needs to go both ways. Particularly in the U.S. where obesity among children is so high.
12As much as the pictures are disgusting, it's not the responsibility of the government to look after these things. The fashion industry should be taking the iniative to promote a healthier body shape.
13Nya...I completely agree about Hollywood. Up until a recently people though Kate Winslet was overweight. RIDICULOUS! Like she was the one they called when they wanted a "plump" actress. I am slightly obsessed with her if you can't tell from my avatar.
Also America Ferrera
is not a large actress. Probably an 8 or a 10, but that HUGE in Hollywood.
There is a lovely larger actress in the tv show October Road. She's probably a size 16 or so. She's great and she even gets the hot ex-quarterback that everyone is fighting over. It's a nice little story line. It's refreshing.
14First it's "too thin" and next will be "too obese" and where does it stop? A bit like Nazi Germany in my not so humble opinion.
Just what the world needs, cookie cutter people who all look alike, think alike and are disposable by their government.
Pfffffffffffffffttttt to the Frenchies.
15I agree with a lot of you here...if you're going to legislate "thinness" then they better get on legistlating "fatness" as well. (Maybe it's just me, but "fatness" has become more of the norm in society). Also, not everyone who has an eating disorder has one due to social pressures...my friend in high school had one because her family life was spiraling out of control and the only way she could deal with it was by controlling her portions. She never mentioned anything about models or actresses to me, but eh, maybe that played a role in it too, I'm not sure.
16Well this is one article where the title clearly off mark with the article. The French gov. has not ban thinness. They outlawed the manipulation of others to be thin. If it's ones choice and only ones choice to be thing that person is certainly not going to be fined or tossed in jail.
17sorry typo "to be thin" (correction)
18A woman's size should be governed only by herself.
If a country attempts to control exposure to thinness, they will soon also attempt to control exposure to largeness -- what measures will they be willing to take, under the pretense of good intentions? How extreme will their methods become? How quickly will this begin to impinge on personal life choices and individual freedoms?
Who gets to determine the arbitrary bounds of "acceptable" weight limits and body shapes?
19This is silly. Eating disorders are complicated illnesses involving much more factors than how skinny the models in any given magazine are. I can see the reasoning behind this legislation, but it's profoundly arrogant and misguided to try to legislate standards of beauty out of existence (or into existence), or to legislate culture, beyond restricting access to the extremely obscene or profane (and even then that's a slippery and subjective slope). Trying to outlaw images of a certain type of woman is just stupid, and I doubt it will do much good in the long run.
It sounds like they're making a link between thinness and unhealthiness. That's just as silly as making a link between being overweight and automatically being unhealthy, a subject which has been discussed here before. I'm a size zero, but I'm certainly not unhealthy in any way, and I definitely don't have an eating disorder or any problems with food. There is diversity in beauty, as in all things. I can't believe they're trying to legislate one of those various sorts of beauty out of the culture.
20harmony i am so catching that show now that you say that. I am sick to death of skeletors and such.
21"They outlawed the manipulation of others to be thin."
Does that mean vicious, domineering mothers that berate and lambaste their adolescent daughters for consuming a healthy amount of calories can now be prosecuted?
22I can see the auto connect of they're making it sound like there's a link between thinness and unhealthiness Jude.
But first of all like I said above the French gov. is by no means telling individuals how to govern their own bodies. They're telling external entities whether it be the fashion industry, food industry etc. to back off and stop mentally manipulating people to be thin.
It doesn't mean they can't push their product they're just saying push it a different way other than telling people their too heavy.
23OMG Nya that made me laugh out loud! What a great story!
Harmony - I LOVE Kate Winslet, she is the best!
24I'm down with duck duck--the only one who should be allowed to tell a woman (or anyone else, for that matter) what to do with her body is that that woman, and maybe her doctor.
Unfortunately, as someone who works in the advertising and marketing industry, I know the effects these kinds of media representations of women have on society. The fact of the matter is that media representations of women still have a long way to go in terms of presenting women as actual human beings who have real bodies who take up space and who might not be perfect but still deserve to be treated like humans and not walking coat hangers (as so many designers have described the models) or rolling blobs of faceless fat. Whatever happened to the happy medium?
And hypno has it right--they're not taking away the individual freedom to be thin, they're regulating the industries' presentations of extreme thinness as the sole model for health and beauty. It's the same thing as regulating cigarette advertising to not show cartoon characters or stuff that appeals to kids and teens.
Because no matter how it might affect you personally, there's a reason they put that kind of stuff in advertising: because it works.
25Good points Caterpillar. Thank you for sharing.
How can they enforce this? How do people know where the line is, so they don't cross it? What about people that are naturally very thin?
"It doesn't mean they can't push their product they're just saying push it a different way other than telling people their too heavy."
When does a photographed picture stop being an ad and start being art?
26Yea I think she's amazing, intelligent, beautiful, an amazing artist, a great mother, down to earth, blah blah blah... I'm slightly scary.
27Cabaker my family is so colourful especially my sister, she has so many funny stories. I think other girls wield the most influence on a girl's psyche. Being accepted by your peers is so important and if being hideously thin is what it takes you can bet millions of girls will be down with that. It only takes someone calling a girl fat to set it off.
28I see what you're saying, hypnotic, but where does it end?
Tanning causes skin cancer. Will they outlaw pictures of models who have tans?
Smoking causes lung cancer. Will they outlaw pictures of models smoking?
High heels cause numerous back problems. Will they outlaw pictures of models in heels?
And so on and so forth. And these examples have a far greater impact in terms of the number of people influenced and how much they are influenced than pictures of thin models.
"they're regulating the industries' presentations of extreme thinness as the sole model for health and beauty. It's the same thing as regulating cigarette advertising to not show cartoon characters or stuff that appeals to kids and teens."
It isn't the same thing. If it was, then there wouldn't be pictures of models and celebrities smoking in mainstream magazines.
I don't much like the interference of government in culture, especially this kind of interference.
29Well I would think that it would be based on the use of the photo Jillness. If it's hanging on the side of a bus, building, catalog etc. and attached to a brand name for the sole purpose of pushing a product than the photo transcends art and becomes advertisement.
30So what you're saying is that it's the use of an object/image, rather than the object/image itself, determines its status as art (or not)?
31Well first point to take into consideration, would this be appropriate for the U.S.? I think that's what the final question is inferring and the answer in my opinion would be no. The French gov. as we all know is a socialist not a capitalist society, so in this case what may be appropriate for them may not be appropriate for the U.S. as well. They I believe are well with in the frame works of their gov. and their way of life to do what they did.
I also think the the hypocrisy of the fashion communities response by saying that the French gov. is regulating beauty when that was the problem in the first place. The fashion industry has been regulating beauty for decades now by telling us what is beautiful and feeding us this vary narrow vision of the vast tapestry which is humanity telling us this is what is beautiful. The fashion industry can go F themselves for all I care. Their response to the matter just goes to show how greedy and self serving they are.
32thank god. seriously, though, who finds these girls attractive?
33"saying that the French gov. is regulating beauty when that was the problem in the first place."
It's different, though. The French government would be essentially making it illegal to portray a specific type of beauty. The fashion and beauty industries don't have the power to literally outlaw any kind of looks. They aren't "regulating" beauty in the sense of literally banning images they deem unsuitable from the public eye; they are just choosing which images they themselves use to represent their standards.
There will always be standards of beauty, because that's how human beings are. And those standards of beauty will always be what's rare and difficult to attain, because that's how human beings are. A few hundred years ago, it was much heavier women who were in vogue, because it was much more difficult back then to afford to eat enough to be plump. Now it is a symbol of class and leisure in the Western pop culture to afford to be thin and fit. Outlaw one difficult-to-attain ideal of beauty, and believe me, another will pop up in no time.
34I see what your saying Jude but I wouldn't be so absolutist on the issue. I feel that the saving grace here would be found in what was lacking in the first place.
If the fashion industry were to broaden their marketing and be more inclusive in their perspective rather than shoving this monochromatic vision at us constantly and only this one vision. Then I think the French gov. would be forgiving.
I also understand your point about the natural tide of what's considered beautiful in general. You have to take into consideration though the magnitude of power that mass media has on developing young men and women and how that tilts the playing field to an extreme disadvantage for many.
35I see what you're saying as well, hypnotic
But I think there's a difference between
doing something to encourage the industries to consider different styles and sizes of beauty, and outright banning one particular type.
I just think that rather than banning images of thin models, it might be more helpful to society to ban, let's say, images of Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, etc.
36I agree that something has to be done, its weird a year ago there was so much fuss about skinny models but then it all kind of faded a bit... but these girls are truly getting skinnier and skinnier, its not even desirable anymore, those girls in the picture are not skinny at all compared to Vlada, Irina, Anja and Freja :/
37One thing I forgot to say is that this has been going on for as long as I can remember. Every once in a while, there's some furor over thin models, people call for a ban or some kind of regulation, and then it just sort of dies away. It happens...the debate is healthy, at least.
38Well that is the next point I was going to make to your previous comment Jude. Society has reached points of exclamation on this matter letting the fashion industry know clearly that they want a broader vision. They have been nudged and then some.
The French gov. may have taken it to the line on this matter but they also drew a much needed line for the fashion industry.
39Ridiculous...being obese is just as dangerous and unappealing. Look at Galliano's runway model a while back, the morbidly obese woman! If you are going to ban one extreme, the other should be too. They are both unhealthy and lead to deaths. But it's a lot easier to see that someone is very obese to the point of unhealthy (measuring body fat %!) and measuring extreme thinness. After all if you're tall, think and fit, most people dub you as anorexic these days anyways, just to feel better about their own flab:)
40Point well taken Berlin but the difference between your two examples is one vision has been projected at us constantly, unwavering for decades and placed on a pedestal above all others. Where as the other is presented once in a blue moon and in contrast to the current standard looks like an oddity.
41Jared better watch his weight loss, or no Subway sandwich commercials for him in France!
42LOL! mymellowman
43I think things will ONLY change when people start spending their MONEY on products from campaigns that show "healthy" standards of beauty. If people complain about how terrible the push of thin is, it is up to them to vote it out of fashion...with their money. If the public choses healthy over skeletal, the fashion industry will follow. They just want to sell their product, and we really dictate how they do that by what we spend our money on.
The most powerful ballot is right in your wallet.
(and Harmony I LOVE Kate Winslet too! She is so talented and level headed...and very beautiful.)
44Reading this thread makes me feel like I'm spying on Jude and Hypno!
45Quick close the blinds! There's a giant cup cake at the window!
46HAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!
Cupcake in the window....ah!!! Hysterical, hypno!!
47I wonder, for those of you who agree with the French bill, what you would think about similar proposals penalizing advertisers and publishers for printing imagery that might incite other unhealthy behaviors? I refer back to my examples of tanned or smoking models--not just in advertisements but also in editorial layouts. I'm curious.
48Oh, good one, hypnotic!
49I agree with you Jillness but first we have to harness a mainstream belief that it's o.k. to go against what is being pushed at us. Because as long we we continue to live complacent routine lives and just let the powers that be nudge us this way and that like sheep than it won't happen.
50Post New Comment
Please share your opinion with our community, but make sure it is on topic and follows our Community Rules. We moderate comments and prohibit personal attacks, threats, spam, lewd images, or the promotion of your personal website.