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France latest country to ban use of excessively thin models

Axulus

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Using a model who has a BMI under 18 could result in jail time

France has become the latest country to ban excessively skinny models from working in the ultra-chic country’s fashion industry, joining Israel, Spain and Italy.

According to Reuters, the French legislature voted for a bill Friday the declares: “The activity of model is banned for any person whose Body Mass Index (BMI) is lower than levels proposed by health authorities and decreed by the ministers of health and labor.”

Fashion agencies that are discovered using models with a BMI under 18, which is approximately 121 pounds for a 5 ft., 7 in. model, could face up to six months of jail time and a fine of 75,000 euros ($82,000).

http://time.com/3770696/france-banned-ultra-thin-models/

What do you think? Is this ban a good law? Is it an unfair infringement on freedom?
 
I think it's a fair infringement on freedom. Quite a few of these models died from starvation.
Also, I don't really think that anyone finds excessively skinny models attractive.
 
I think it's a fair infringement on freedom. Quite a few of these models died from starvation.
Also, I don't really think that anyone finds excessively skinny models attractive.

High fashion models aren't suppose to be sexually attractive. They need a particular "look" face-wise, but body-wise, the point is to make the "clothes look good" according to the tastes of heterosexual women and homosexual men.
 
I'd rather they used body fat % instead of BMI. I don't like excessively skinny models and if I see a brand using them I'm not likely to think highly of them. However, I'm not crazy about this law, assuming the models are adults. If you are an adult and you want to starve yourself and another adult wants to take pictures...well, so be it.
 
You'd think Modeling Agencies would be headquartered in Refugee camps to get cheap starving (skinny) talent.
 
If someone is naive enough to believe that that constitutes beauty, that's their problem, right?

And if it helps a few Job Creators move more product, that's good for everyone.

What could go wrong?
 
Is France still an export market for Barbie dolls, or the even skinnier Monster High fashion dolls? Is skinny still a fashion choice as long as the model is injection molded plastic?
 
Are these models consenting adults? Yes? If so I don't support this law.
 
At minimum, such a law would need to set the level of acceptable BMI to be so low that virtually zero non-models in that society are at or below that level. Otherwise, your just saying that the skinniest members of society (most of whom are skinny without being models) are not free to be employed as models.

OTOH, while the "they are adults" argument is superficially easy, then you must apply it to all jobs. That means doing away with many if not most existing regulations on workplace safety where adult employees would otherwise be aware of and choose to accept the risks.
 
Is France still an export market for Barbie dolls, or the even skinnier Monster High fashion dolls? Is skinny still a fashion choice as long as the model is injection molded plastic?
Actually, the unattainable is in right now. Photoshop airbrushed everything!
 
121 lbs for a 5'7" is not guaranteed to be unhealthy for women under say 22 y.o.

Probably 10-15% of women could be that weight with no problems. Mostly determined by genetics or epigenetics.

Down to a BMI of 16 it will be 1-2% of women who are like that naturally. Unless they are 14-15 years old and would get to an 18 BMI by age 22.

This law is too one size fits all.

Maybe a quota of couple 18s per troupe or magazine. And have them medically evaluated.

But using 15 year olds could be a way around this. They haven't filled out yet.

Personally i like BMIs of around 22, but if the woman is an 18 naturally it can be attractive. A forced 22 to 18 looks wrong.

The male analogy to this might be a naturally low muscled man trying to buff all the time. When compared to a naturally muscular man he will have to spend way too much time at the gym and risk a lot of injury to get to an unnatural state. Should the state protect him?
 
I think it's a fair infringement on freedom. Quite a few of these models died from starvation.
Also, I don't really think that anyone finds excessively skinny models attractive.

I don't think its the models who die of starvation but some of those who try to keep as thin or thinner than those models.
We can then start to ban excessively fat models in case some die of heart attacks. We can then go on to ban tall models or short models
 
I'd rather they used body fat % instead of BMI. I don't like excessively skinny models and if I see a brand using them I'm not likely to think highly of them.

Agreed--BMI is a good general guideline but it falls down at the edges. Athletes can be healthy with high BMIs (because it can't tell muscle from fat) and it doesn't take build into account (18 is a healthy BMI for my wife.)

However, I'm not crazy about this law, assuming the models are adults. If you are an adult and you want to starve yourself and another adult wants to take pictures...well, so be it.

Except it's a very lucrative job and many of them don't realize the risks they are taking.
 
I think what happens between fully informed, consenting adults is their own business. But I also think the government has an important oversight role when it comes to unsafe work conditions, or systems that exploit the powerless. So I'm torn about whether this legislation is a good thing or not. On the one hand, if models want to starve themselves for a paycheck, that's a valid choice (stupid IMO, but valid). But being under contract and required to perform at a certain level or risk being sued, or being in a precarious financial situation, creates conditions in which a person can be exploited and/or forced to risk their health to avoid some pretty dire consequences.

I wish there was a better way to determine when a person is dangerously underweight or when pressure to maintain that state becomes abusive or coercive. But since there isn't, I don't know what to make of this law except to say I wish there wasn't good reason for concern.
 
I think what happens between fully informed, consenting adults is their own business. But I also think the government has an important oversight role when it comes to unsafe work conditions, or systems that exploit the powerless. So I'm torn about whether this legislation is a good thing or not. On the one hand, if models want to starve themselves for a paycheck, that's a valid choice (stupid IMO, but valid). But being under contract and required to perform at a certain level or risk being sued, or being in a precarious financial situation, creates conditions in which a person can be exploited and/or forced to risk their health to avoid some pretty dire consequences.

I wish there was a better way to determine when a person is dangerously underweight or when pressure to maintain that state becomes abusive or coercive. But since there isn't, I don't know what to make of this law except to say I wish there wasn't good reason for concern.

Isn't body fat percentage a good enough yardstick?
 
I think what happens between fully informed, consenting adults is their own business. But I also think the government has an important oversight role when it comes to unsafe work conditions, or systems that exploit the powerless. So I'm torn about whether this legislation is a good thing or not. On the one hand, if models want to starve themselves for a paycheck, that's a valid choice (stupid IMO, but valid). But being under contract and required to perform at a certain level or risk being sued, or being in a precarious financial situation, creates conditions in which a person can be exploited and/or forced to risk their health to avoid some pretty dire consequences.

I wish there was a better way to determine when a person is dangerously underweight or when pressure to maintain that state becomes abusive or coercive. But since there isn't, I don't know what to make of this law except to say I wish there wasn't good reason for concern.

Isn't body fat percentage a good enough yardstick?

I don't know. I'm not a doctor or a nutritionist.

Is it?
 
I think it's a fair infringement on freedom. Quite a few of these models died from starvation.
Also, I don't really think that anyone finds excessively skinny models attractive.

I don't think its the models who die of starvation but some of those who try to keep as thin or thinner than those models.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabelle_Caro
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ana_Carolina_Reston
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luisel_Ramos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliana_Ramos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hila_Elmalich
 
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