Ultra-thin offenders face jail in France
ULTRA-thin models in France must now prove they are healthy with a doctor’s certificate. If they do not bring a certificate confirming their health in terms of body mass index, they could be fined and jailed for up to six months
French politicians this week adopted a bill forcing ultra-thin models to furnish a doctor’s certificate confirming they are healthy, and magazines that photoshop their silhouettes to label the images as “touched up”.
The bill stipulates that models must obtain a medical certificate stating that their health, “assessed in particular in terms of body mass index, is compatible with the practice of the [modelling] profession”.
Breaking the law will be punishable by up to six months’ jail and a fine of à75 000 (about R1.2-million).
Legislators also voted that images of models that are altered to “make the silhouette narrower or wider” should be labelled “touched up”.
An earlier draft of the bill had caused howls of protest in the fashion industry by proposing that a minimum body mass index (a measure of body fat based on height and weight) be imposed for models.
In the end, parliamentarians agreed to let doctors decide whether a model is too thin, taking into account criteria including age, gender and body shape.
An earlier version of the bill also made it an offence punishable by up to a year in jail to encourage excessive thinness, a measure aimed at “pro-ana” websites that are seen as promoting anorexia or bulimia.
That proposal was excised from the text adopted by the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, on Thursday.
In France, an estimated 30 000 to 40 000 people — almost all of them adolescents — suffer from anorexia nervosa, an eating disorder with a high mortality rate. — AFP
An earlier draft had caused howls of protest in the fashion industry
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