A French Law Bans “Too Thin” From Being In

Posted by: BookGirl on: April 16, 2008

In: Debate| Global| Politics
Comment!

Passed in the lower house of the government and up for debate in the upper Senate level, a new French law takes on the fashion world’s too thin trend. The law punishes media outlets that propagate anorexic or bulimic messages with up to three years in jail and $75,000 in fines.

The Federation of Couture says the law is unfair because there is no way to regulate personal body weight via the government.

Granted the Federation of Couture wants models to be clothes hangers and not people, but even experts in the field of eating disorders are skeptical of the positives of such a law.

Full NYT article HERE.

Personally, I think the legislator who proposed the law is trying to help, but laws don’t always fix things. The eating disorder issue is a complex and deep problem that has to do with female self-esteem as well a media representations. I admire the attempt to bring such an important topic to the forefront, but I don’t think this law is the right way to go about it.

Still, the bill sends a clear, strong message that women’s health issues should trump beauty trends. I’m totally in support of that.

Your thoughts?

Tags: anorexia, ban, Bill, body image, bulimia, couture, eating disorders, Fashion, france, Law, models, skinny, too thin, weight

4 Responses to "A French Law Bans “Too Thin” From Being In"

1 | Allison
April 16, 2008 at 4:16 pm

My first reaction was, “What’s too thin?” I agree, media and fashion have gotten out of control with portraying beauty as a size triple 0, but there are a lot of people who are naturally thin. We have America cracking down on obesity and France banning anorexia, it’s starting to sound like we want to force the perfect body. Don’t get me wrong, both conditions are equally as bad for your health, but you can’t ban something like that without educating people. I don’t know the right answer, but some how I don’t think this is it.

2 | BookGirl
April 16, 2008 at 6:54 pm

Allison:
Since you know me personally, you know how I feel about that. I’ve always been thin and I hate that my body type is being put out there as a trend because I envy people with curves.

I feel people that make laws like these have good intentions, but the laws are counterproductive because what they are addressing is usually too gray to be held to black and white standards.

Thanks for your comment. You are the best!

3 | Lalesha.
April 1, 2009 at 11:08 am

I dont think there is anythiong wrong with Anorexia. i want to be anorexic.
im huge. i tried evry diet ever, to no avail.

4 | SB
May 6, 2009 at 9:53 pm

I always want to be thin, and I never be thin all my life. eventhough i went for any liposuction, i went for any this and that lipo meso etc etc, its never work.

I have friend who want to be fat, but she never fat at all, she looks like bulimic girl, but she ate 6portion of normal man. and drink water like she’s a camel.

I have to work with one model from russia and she’s just 17, she looks like dying, and when she lay down to pose, I only see a bone. and I never display her picture anywhere, It looks scary, her bone is more attracting than the cloths.

most woman always want people to think they’re look good, if someone saying this and that about their body, they’ll think about it day and night.

Leave a Reply

Search Categories