The French take on anorexia

10th April 2008

The French take on anorexia

The Associated Press reports that French fashion industry representatives have signed a government-backed charter pledging not to encourage eating disorders and to promote healthy body images. The government-backed document asks signatories to promote “a diversity of body representations” and “not to show images of people that could help promote a model of extreme thinness.”

While the move stops short of similar actions undertaken recently by Madrid - and the agreement is non-binding - it nonetheless represents at least a small token of acknowledgment for the role the media plays in eating disorders. I do not believe ultra-thin models are to blame for eating disorders - they’re far too complex in origin - but I do believe unrealistic images of women saturating the media contribute to the sheer popularity of eating disorders.

France’s parliament will consider another tougher and more contested measure against eating disorders later this month. The proposed a bill would make it possible to convict people responsible for Web sites or fashion ads that promote anorexia, with penalties of up to two years in prison and $47,178 USD in fines. The bill, which has the health minister’s support, is set to go before the National Assembly next week.

I’m not sure exactly how viable this last measure is or how it will be enforced. Who determines which ads promote anorexia and which do not? Will the French government enact similar punitive measures for ads they feel promote obesity? Will the government scour pro-ana sites to determine which are hosted or authored by French citizens? While the law in theory sounds groundbreaking, the execution of such a feel-good move is ambiguous at best.

Still, the actions of the French make the U.S. look sophomoric by comparison. New York legislators did pass the “Skinny Models” bill last summer, but the law only places restrictions on the age of models, not on BMI or other health standards. New York City legislators also introduced Res. 0692-2007, which calls on sponsors of NY Fashion Week to adopt a healthy models awareness education campaign and to ban models with a body mass index of lower than 18.5 from walking the Fashion Week runways. However the city’s website shows the resolution was sent to the city’s health committee in February of last year with no further update or action.

The Council of Fashion Designers of America have spurned any legislative attempts to regulate the use of models, although last year it did release recommendations targeting healthier models. The suggestions, which are not mandatory, include keeping models under the age of 16 off the runway, educating industry professionals to identify eating disorders, developing workshops on eating disorder awareness, and to require models identified as eating disordered to receive professional help. In other words, the council gave lip service to eating disorders while stopping short of requiring designers to enact any real change.

Banning ultra-thin models from the runway isn’t likely to make a sizable dent in the rise of eating disorders. To address and correct the larger, underlying reasons why girls and women develop eating disorders requires a far greater public health effort than simply banning super-skinny models. But nor should we glorify or glamorize eating disorders or parade victims about as images of aspirational beauty.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Eating Disorders, Fashion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On April 10th, 2008, Olivia

said:

This makes me very uncomfortable. The fat-acceptance movement seems (and rightly so!) to point out that BMI is an arbitrary standard that has little or nothing to do with how healthy a body is. Now, I’m not for a moment suggesting that there aren’t terrible things happening in the world of fashion to people’s bodies. But if we reject a standard when it’s against us, we can’t just pick it up when it’s for us (which I know that you’re not outright saying, but that’s the implication of supporting any legislation that would judge women by their BMI). We’re smarter and better than that. A BMI won’t tell you that you’re “too fat” and it won’t tell you that you’re “too thin” either.

posted on April 10th, 2008 at 10:31 am

2 On April 10th, 2008, Rachel

I agree and disagree Olivia. I see your point, but I must also point out that while the high end of BMI denoting overweight and obesity has been lowered, the low end defining underweight has remained static. And while BMI may be flawed, I think its flaws are mostly at the upper end of the stratum and not the lower end. Requiring a BMI of 18 may discriminate against a very few number of models, but unfortunately, it’s not the norm. Most women who have these abnormally low BMIs and who work in the fashion industry reach them through starvation and eating disorders. Setting a minimum BMI standard would help far more women than it would hurt.

posted on April 10th, 2008 at 10:59 am

3 On April 10th, 2008, Kyla

I won’t even comment on the previous comments, because my counter argument (about why a BMI is indeed appropriate) would be way too long.

I want to point out, though that while you are probably correct in saying that this probably won’t much impact the rate of eating disorders in the general population, it will greatly impact the rate of eating disorders among models themselves. From a human/worker’s rights perspective, models have just as much right as anyone to not be required to have an ED for the job. It will at least make life better for models (even if they are resistant to the change, which I believe is part of the nature of the disease)

posted on April 10th, 2008 at 1:20 pm

4 On April 10th, 2008, Rachel

You’re absolutely correct, Kyla. I’ve heard so many heartbreaking stories of fashion designers and agents who know a model has an eating disorder, and yet continue to encourage - and even require - her to lose more weight. In Ohio, the state passed a public referendum last year to ban smoking in public places. It passed in large part, due to concerns about workers’ rights. I see this as no different - models have the right to work in a healthy environment which does not require them to starve.

posted on April 10th, 2008 at 2:51 pm

5 On April 10th, 2008, Sarah

When size four models (aka Ali Michael) get sent home from Paris Fashion Weeks for having “plump” thighs, you know the problem is going to be hard to solve.

posted on April 10th, 2008 at 5:05 pm

6 On April 11th, 2008, Catatonic Kid

I well take the point eating disorders are complex beasts, and I think the charter is a good jumping off point for discussion and awareness. I’m inclined to take the view that that the French perhaps legislating against media for this is treacherous ground, at best - government shouldn’t really be in the business of censorship even if it for all the ‘right’ reasons…a slippery slope.

It’s a tough nut to crack, and I really do believe that simply the act of raising these questions is helpful. As with any disease around which there is controversy/stigma the more people understand the better - at the end of the day it is going to be consumers of media that determine the degree to which real action can be taken.

posted on April 11th, 2008 at 1:01 am

7 On April 11th, 2008, Fauve

This really is a complex issue, as Rachel writes. I do think that looking at thin models when I was 17 (in Seventeen Magazine, as a matter of fact) definitely added to my sense of being “flawed” (and I was not fat then…not even close). However, I did not have a tall, “perfect”, extremely thin body. And now, magazines have even skinnier models than when I was young! I would definitely like to see some fuller, larger and differently sized models in mainstream fashion and teen magazines. I think this would help alot, even if most of the models still are very thin. Yet, how to change this worship of skinny models that girls often have? I don’t know. Too much repression, and the girls just go underground with their true feelings and desires. Teens and young women might give lip service to the idea that every type of body can be beautiful. But most of them still wish to be very thin.

posted on April 11th, 2008 at 11:10 am