France is taking a proactive step in fighting the promotion of eating disorders in the media with a bill that will make it illegal to promote “extreme” thinness.
According to The Press Association, “(France’s) lower house of parliament passed a bill that would make it illegal for anyone, including magazines, advertisers and Web sites, to publicly incite extreme thinness … The National Assembly approved the bill in a series of votes, after the legislation won unanimous support from the ruling conservative UMP party.”
The bill will go in front of the Senate within a few weeks.
The fashion industry has long been scrutinized for parading emaciated models down catwalks like glorified hangers, selling the clothes on their backs while furthering the notion that one has to be stick thin to be beautiful.
This constant criticism quickly grew to an uproar after the 2006 anorexia-related death of Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston, who carried only 88 pounds on her 5′7″ frame.
After her death, the organizer’s of a Spanish fashion show banned models with a body mass index below 18.
France’s bill would go even further, cracking down on “pro-ana” (pro-anorexic) Web sites that teach girls to eat relatively nothing in an effort to emulate the emaciation popularized by the fashion industry.
This bill would allow lawmakers to fine and imprison anyone promoting starvation as a method of weight loss.
According to Reuters, in a debate about the proposed law against endorsing anorexia, Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said, “Giving young girls advice about how to lie to their doctors, telling them what kinds of food are easiest to vomit, encouraging them to torture themselves whenever they take any kind of food is not part of liberty of expression.
“The messages sent out here are messages of death. Our country should have the means of finding and prosecuting those behind sites like this.”
If passed by the Senate, I wonder what impact that such a bill will have on the fashion industry in France, as well as the fashion industry across the globe.