As if the pressure of seeing attainable beauty in print weren’t enough for us all, the models of high fashion have become so thin as to raise the concern of the French government. In a groundbreaking move by French National Assembly, a new bill has been adopted that would make it illegal to “publicly incite extreme thinness” according to the Associated Press. This ban, if approved by the Senate, would affect all media including fashion magazines, Web sites and print advertising.

You know the kind of skinny we’re talking about. The heroine chic look of the late 90s that just never went away had gained steady popularity among designers. In many circles, the thinner the model, the better – with disastrous results. The French legislation is aimed at not only protecting the well-being of the thousands of women involved in the French fashion scene but also the millions of women worldwide who are influenced by the work of high-end designers – and the appearance of the women who model the clothes.

In 2006 a Brazilian model died from complications linked to anorexia. Since then there have been a string of attempts by governments and the international fashion industry itself to take a look at the reality of using such ultra-thin models and the effect that practice has on the industry and society as a whole. Spain banned such models from catwalks in 2007.

The new French legislation has garnered unanimous support from the ruling UMP party with conservative lawmakers agreeing that the act of encouraging extreme weight loss and/or anorexia should be punishable in court. If passed, this law would be the most wide-sweeping legislation thus far in this arena.

The bill is being opposed by some in the fashion industry on the principle of keeping the government out of the business of dictating beauty standards, but many other voices in the same industry applaud the bill as a much-needed action. Others joining the chorus of approving voices are medical doctors and psychologists who specialize in treating patients with eating disorders. They are pleased to see some form of public attempt to address the problem, but caution that many factors contribute to eating disorders, with visual media being one of many.

Anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder that results in a patient’s heightened fear of being or becoming overweight afflicts girls as young as elementary school and often times continues into adulthood. The condition leads its sufferers to intentionally starve themselves in order to lose weight and then to maintain that weight loss. Research points to the condition becoming a mental and physical addiction every bit as hard to fight as alcoholism. French lawmakers hope to combat proponents of such self-starvation techniques – including one web site that advises its readers on how to subsist on eating a single apple each day.

The bill would include fines of up to $47,000 for offenders found guilty of “inciting others to [excessively] deprive themselves of food.” The consequences could escalate to include imprisonment as well.

Related Articles
	How Video Games Affect Our Image Long gone are the days when video games were the sole domain of pre-teen boys swapping game cartridges out of their lunchboxes. Today the video game industry is a multi-billion dollar-a-year industry so ingrained in pop-culture that movie studios and game developers watch each other’s   ...Read more		Who is ANA? (Anorexia Nervosa) Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder that can turn a person’s life upside down. For a long time this self-destructive condition wasn’t talked about publicly, but as more women - especially young girls - are falling victim, creating public awareness is needed now more than ever. If you or someone   ...Read more