The French Ban The Too Skinny
Filed under: Wacky, Tacky & True > Fashion Smashion > Francophilia
How are they ever going to enforce this???
The French Parliament has created a new bill that would make it illegal for anyone to publicly promote extreme thinness. This includes everything from magazines, newspapers, websites, anything media related.
How do you PROMOTE extreme thinness???
This has "issues" written all over it!
The bill has already been approved unanimously and is set to go for approval to the Senate in the next few weeks.
This law would be the strongest of its type ever passed. The proposed law comes after the death of a Brazilian model in 2006 which was linked to anorexia. Her death prompted officials throughout the fashion industry to re-evaluate and address the use of portraying extremely thin models. This also led to Spain banning extremely thin models from walking in their fashion shows.
The French Health Ministry reports that there about 30,000 to 40,000 people dealing with anorexia in France, with the majority of the cases being women.
Valery Boyer, the conservative lawmaker who created the bill, argued that any media outlet encouraging extreme weight loss or anorexia, should be punishable in court.
Last week, fashion industry members and lawmakers all signed a charter agreeing to promote healthier body images.
Under the new law, if you are found guilty of “inciting others to deprive themselves of food” to an excessive degree, judges will have the power to imprison or fine offenders up to $47,000. Authorities can also sanction those individuals responsible to magazine photos portraying "excessive thinness."
Some in the fashion industry are strongly opposing the bill, such as Didier Grumbach, president of the influential French Federation of Couture. Rightfully so!
Grumbach said, “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.”
This is a troubling and scary issue.
Is the government going too far?
Is the media to blame for anorexia? Is it genetic? What about peer pressure????
So many questions!
[Image via WENN.]
anorexia isn't the only thing that they should be worrying about .
what about over weight people ?
How come it's allowed to call thin people skinny .. but fat people get offended when you call them fat ?
Some people are just naturally skinny. You can't control your metabolism, but you can control what you eat.
Being overweight is a real disorder too… you can try and exercise.. being fat IS NOT BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE! stop calling yourselves "thick" cause you're NOT. you're fat.
You never have a post saying how it's wrong to be over weight.. because youre fat too… and BTW i think you might want to change the picture.. the girl's not even "anorexic" as you would say.
And to #310 pensante…. you're wrong. im Naturally skinny, yet people always think im "anorexic" and seem to think i dont eat. NOBODY knows that, everybody i know thinks if you're skinny, YOU DONT EAT!
and NO they're not doing ANYTIHNG about obesity, wtf are they doing? Are they doing something like this ? NO because fat people would get offended, yet when they say something about skinny people, they dont care.
that's fuckin nuts!! if they do that then they have to ban promoting anyone who is overweight too because that's unhealthy and supposedly sets a bad example right
As someone who has battled anorexia for years and eating disorders and flawed body image for even more years, I FULLY support the French government's legislation. Sure, it does not allow for the naturally skinny, and it does make it hard to decide what is "promoting," but if the pendelum swings too much to the right, it will have to swing back with equal force to the left. eventually it will even out and stabilize, but I'm glad the FINALLYY people are starting to wake up and swinging the pendelum in the opposite direction.
Obesity is MUCH bigger problem in the world. MANY more people die of heart disease, diabetes and other health isssues related to obesity. So better ban those plus size models too. Ridiculous.
actually, "plus-sized" models are normal sized PEOPLE. contrary to what the name implies, plus-sized models aren't always fat. And obesity is a much bigger proplem in the WORLD!????? please, get your head of out your western, "civilized" ass and realize that not everyone in the world lives like us westerners. Most of the world (africa, asia, and even in industrialized countries like in Europe and North America) peopel are living in poverty adn starving. America and Europe are NOT the whole world. please don't be so self-centered and arrogant. (I know this has nothing to o with the skinny model issue, but I just do to comment on that).
Re: bird – YEA FOR YOU! I am over 35 and have NEVER weighed over 110 lbs.! I eat and drink whatever I want without it effecting me. It's all about the FATASSES HATIN" on the skinny people! Is it our problem that they can't keep their fat hands out of their mouths?? It pisses me off so bad when I see an article like this!! Now skinny people are going to be "outlawed"—I think I will buy an island and call it Skinny Island NO FATTIES ALLOWED!!!!
Re: lizzi – How about getting their noses out of the video games??
Re: a – EXACTLY! Thank you! Let the narrow minded people be told what do do by the government because it will start with food and then before you know it, we won't take a shit without the government knowing about it!! Applause for you!!
Re: fatty – WOOHOO! Super Size fries should be against the law for FAT ASS PEOPLE!! Oh i'm sorry, are they making up for that high cal intake with that x-lrg DIET COKE?!?!?! hahahahahaha
Re: chelsea – Does it help one's eating disorder to make it against the law?!?!?!? Go buy a new toothbrush!
Re: Katherine – I completly agree with you! I am 5'3 , over 35 and have never weighed over 110 lbs! I have had overweight people in the office ask me if I am going to eat "that ENTIRE" package of donuts?!? OMG! I can bet that if I asked a fat person if they were "going to eat that entire pizza"?? that I would be the bad guy!
Re: amber – BECAUSE YOUR A FAT ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Re: nikki parker – FAT SKANK ASS BITCHES!! YOU HAVE TO ROLL 'EM IN FLOUR AND LOOK FOR THE WET SPOT TO FUCK 'EM!!!!
SIGNED, EVIL SKINNY BITCH THAT WILL TAKE YOUR MAN WHO LOOKS AT ME WHILE YOUR NOT LOOKING!!!!!!!! HA!
It's well known models are pressured to be too skinny. This new law is great!
They could simply require the minimum BMI allowed to be 18 or something like that…. Too many kids are effed-up these days because of unrealistic airbrushing, starving models, plastic surgery & the public's shallow perception of beauty…
I think once they start to use healthy looking models, everyone will fare much better. Especially the anorexic models!
People! Is not about how you look to other people! You might be a size five (i am) and think you look gorgeous. It is about how healthy you are! Not about discrimination! they are obese and anorexic people dying!!! Open your eyes and don't call everything discrimination!