France Bans Skinny Models from the Fashion Industry
Last Friday, April 3rd, the lower branch of the French Parliament, the National Assembly, passed legislation that would ban dangerously thin models from the fashion industry. As part of a wider health care bill expected to become law this week, the fashion industry is targeted to help change the perception of body image in the fashion world. The bill is currently awaiting approval from the Senate.
The bill has multiple provisions, including the following:
- Models will be required to present a doctor’s certificate to employers that says they are healthy enough to work based on a Body Mass Index (BMI) measurement, and will be subject to periodic weigh-ins. Those who do not comply will be fined.
- Sites that encourage anorexia will be outlawed. Those who administer pro-anorexia propagated sites will also be fined 10,000 euro and could potentially serve up to a year in prison.
- Photographs that have been retouched – whether to make a model heavier or thinner – will be required to be clearly labels so citizens are aware of the retouches.
The legislation is spearheaded by French politician and neurologist, Olivier Veran, who hopes to assure that models are protected and are not pressured to become malnourished. Under the law, anyone whose BMI is below a certain level would not be allowed to work as a catwalk model. Agencies will also be severely punished if they encourage excessive weight loss, including a fine of 80,000 euros for those who continue to hire dangerously thin models.
The legislation in France comes in the wake of the death of Isabella Caro, age 28, a French fashion model who was affected by anorexia and died in 2010.
Supporting the Legislation:
Those officials who have supported the legislation believe it will help curb the cases of anorexia in France. It is believed that an estimated 40,000 people suffer from anorexia in France, nine out of 10 of them women and girls.
Doctors and women’s rights groups have long campaigned against the images of unnatural and unhealthy thinness portrayed by the fashion industry. The bill will help protect models from being pushed into losing an unhealthy amount of weight. It will reduce the images of too-thin women popularized by the fashion industry and protect young girls from these images.
Realizing the Disadvantages:
The French legislation has not only received applause, but opposition also, as it is believed the law could be disadvantageous to the fashion industry and girls across the country.
It is argued that the criminalization of pro-weight loss websites poses a problem. How is the government supposed to monitor and regulate the “thinspiration” hashtags and skinny memes? The bill offers a subjective interpretation of what is considered to be encouraging weight loss: what qualifies as provoking thinness and encouraging dietary restrictions? Also, since eating disorders are considered a serious mental illness, by criminalizing these sites officials are hurting people who need help most.
Besides the subjectivity of online regulation, some argue that the bill perpetuates panic about female body image, and it encourages even more policing and control over women’s bodies. Models are required to police themselves, while agencies are encouraged to continue scrutinizing the bodies of model, and if neither complies then they are slapped with fines.
If you are interested in learning about the proposed French law, you can do so at the following links:
- PBS Newshour: France votes to ban ultra-thin models in eating disorder crackdown
- NPR: France Takes Aim At Companies That Hire Ultrathin Models
- Daily Beast: France Is Wrong To Outlaw ‘Too Thin’
- New York Times: French Bill Barring Ultrathin Models Clears a Hurdle
- BBC News: French MPs back ban on skinny catwalk models
