WUNRN
French Bill Barring Ultrathin Models Clears a Political Hurdle
By ALISSA J.
RUBIN - APRIL 3, 2015
PARIS — Controversial new measures to prohibit modeling agencies from
hiring dangerously thin models and to require that retouched photos of models
be clearly labeled overcame a major legislative hurdle on Friday, winning
approval by the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament.
If approved by the Senate, the measures, which are part of a larger
overhaul of the French health care laws, would put France
in the vanguard in punishing the fashion world for its use of very thin models.
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FRANCE – PARLIAMENT DEBATES WEIGHT STANDARDS FOR FASHION
MODELS TO COMBAT PERSISTENCE OF ANOREXIA
By ALISSA J.
RUBIN - MARCH 18, 2015
PARIS — France,
which often seems to have style and elegance written into its genetic code, is
again confronting one of the dark sides of fashion: the glamorization of
too-thin women.
The French Parliament is debating legislation that would effectively set
minimum weights for women and girls to work as models, a step that supporters
of the bill say is necessary to combat the persistence of anorexia.
If it becomes law — it is backed by President François Hollande’s Socialist
government — modeling agencies and fashion houses that employ models whose body
mass index measurements do not meet minimum standards would face criminal
penalties.
Israel already bans the use of underweight and underage models, while other
countries, including Italy and Spain, have weighed legislation similar to the
one under consideration in France but for now continue to rely on voluntary
pacts with the fashion industry.
If France approves the legislation, it would almost certainly raise the
debate to a new level, especially in Paris, the spiritual capital of the
fashion world. An effort to pass similar provisions in 2008 failed after heavy
criticism from the fashion industry.
French lawmakers are debating legislation that would set
minimum weights for women and girls to work as models as a way to combat the
persistence of anorexia. Credit Patrick Kovarik/Agence France-Presse — Getty
Images
“We can’t resolve it with a law but we can begin a public health policy to
prevent and protect and limit the number of those suffering from anorexia,”
said Olivier Véran, a neurologist and a member of the National Assembly, the
lower house of Parliament.
He is the author of the anti-anorexia provision, which is part of a
comprehensive health law being debated in the National Assembly. He estimated
that 30,000 to 40,000 people in France suffer from anorexia.
The proposed legislation would use as its base internationally accepted
body mass index standards to determine whether a model was too thin and would
set criminal penalties for hiring models who fell below the standards
determined by the law. The index suggests that a woman who is 5 feet 7 inches
tall should weigh at least 120 pounds. But the final legal standards would be
determined by the French health authorities, who could adjust them for factors
such as bone size.
Violators would have to pay a fine of about $83,000 and serve as many as
six months in prison.
The struggle over the appearance and health of fashion models is hardly a
new one. It became more public in 2006 after the deaths of two models, a
Brazilian and a Uruguayan, which set off a spate of voluntary standards in the
industry and the effort in some places, including New York, to use healthier
looking models.
The death in 2010 of a French model and actress,
Isabelle Caro, who at one point weighed just 55 pounds, fueled further calls
for steps to address anorexia.
So far the fashion industry has opposed legislation to address the issue,
although a number of designers have spoken out in favor of using “healthy
models” and promoting healthful lifestyles.
There is no official database of models’ heights and weights, and with
regulations against using underweight models on the rise, most models and
agencies are close-mouthed about the subject. Many in the industry say,
however, that a number of the top models would likely weigh less than the
healthy threshold set by the body mass index of about 18 or 18.5.
Widely publicized figures for weights of models like Kate Moss at the
height of her fashion career indicate she would have had a body mass index of
15 to 16, which was similar to that of Twiggy, a 1960s supermodel. More recent
models, such as Naomi Campbell and Gisele Bündchen, are reported to have body
mass indexes between 16 and 17. A body mass index of less than 18 does not
necessarily mean that someone has an eating disorder.
The National Union of Modeling Agencies in France issued a statement saying
it was complying with a voluntary charter that discourages the use of anorexic
models and that was approved by the government in 2008. The statement also said
that an appropriate minimum weight for models had yet to be determined.
“Anorexia is a mental illness that cannot be fought by a ‘arithmomania,’ ”
the union’s statement said. It called on the fashion world to take a uniform
approach internationally and deplored the use of “selectively repressive”
measures, referring to those now under consideration.
Calls to 10 modeling agencies with offices in Paris found none willing to
respond to questions on the issue.
Elite, a top international agency, said through the secretary of its
spokeswoman in Paris, Celine Rousseau, “We do not wish to comment on this
news.”
When some international designers have been questioned about the problem,
such as Karl Lagerfeld in a 2012 interview, they have denied having ever
worked with anorexic models.
Even a glance through photos from the recent Fashion Week in Paris reveals
many women whose bodies are almost without curves and whose faces have hollows
where there should be cheeks.
But whether there is a connection between fashion’s images of women and the
continuing phenomenon of tens of thousands of primarily but not exclusively
young women in Western developed countries suffering from anorexia is hard to
determine and unlikely to be halted just by an increase in the weight of
models, French psychiatrists said. They recommended an array of steps to attack
the problem.
“It’s not having a model weigh three kilos more that will resolve the
problem,” said Marie Rose Moro, a child psychiatrist and the director of the
Maison de Solenn, a residential facility that treats eating disorders and other
mental health problems in young people. One
kilogram is 2.2 pounds.
There is a “transnational sort of tyranny of thinness,” Dr. Moro said,
adding that unlike in previous eras, to have a “rounded” shape today is equated
with a lack of self-control and with “excess, obesity, poor health.”
Marcel Rufo, a psychiatrist with a clinic in Marseille for adolescents with
anorexia or other troubles, said he believed that the public was searching for
an explanation for children’s pursuit of thinness. He noted the proliferation
of posts on blogs and on Twitter promoting the idea that girls should have a space between their
thighs when standing with their legs together and that their stomachs should be
concave.
“Parents, the public authorities, deputies in the National Assembly want to
find a cause, something to blame,” Dr. Rufo said.
“So, one designates fashion as to blame, but I believe that it is much more
complicated than that,” he said.