France Takes Aim at those who Promote Anorexia

[Frodo]

French bill takes aim at those who glamorize the ultra - thin

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: April 15, 2008
Filed at 9:30 p.m. ET

PARIS (AP) -- In image-conscious France, it may soon be a crime to glamorize the ultra-thin. A new French bill cracks down on Web sites that advise anorexics on how to starve -- and could be used to hit fashion industry heavyweights, too.

The groundbreaking bill, adopted Tuesday by Parliament's lower house, recommends fines of up to $71,000 and three-year prison sentences for offenders who encourage ''extreme thinness.'' It goes to the Senate in the coming weeks.

Critics said the bill is too vague about whom it is targeting and doesn't even clearly define ''extreme thinness.''

If passed, the law would be the strongest of its kind anywhere, fashion industry experts said. It is the latest measure proposed after the 2006 anorexia-linked death of Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston prompted efforts throughout the fashion industry to address the health repercussions of ultra-thin models.

Doctors and psychologists treating patients with anorexia nervosa -- a disorder characterized by an extreme fear of becoming overweight -- welcomed the French effort, but said anorexia's link with media images remains hazy.

For the bill's backers, the message behind the measure is important enough.

The bill's author, conservative French lawmaker Valery Boyer, said she wanted to encourage discussion about women's health and body image. Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said Web sites that encourage young girls to starve should not be protected by freedom of expression.

So-called ''pro-ana'' -- for pro-anorexia -- sites and blogs have flourished in the United States and beyond, often hosted by adolescents sharing stories of how they deprive their bodies of nourishment.

French lawmakers and fashion industry members signed a nonbinding charter last week on promoting healthier body images. In 2007, Spain banned from catwalks models whose body mass-to-height ratio is below 18.

Bill author Boyer said such measures did not go far enough.

Her bill has focused attention on pro-anorexia Web sites that give advice on how to eat an apple a day -- and nothing else.

The sites claim to provide emotional support for people who want to become anorexic. Photos of waif-like celebrities are given as ''Thinspirations'' on one blog, along with a list of advice on ''how to skip meals.'' The site's host writes that she is not yet 15.

Boyer said in a telephone interview that her proposed legislation would enable a judge to sanction those responsible for a magazine photo of a model whose ''thinness altered her health.''

''That is the objective of this text,'' she said, without specifying who in particular might be prosecuted.

''The socio-cultural and media environment seems to favor the emergence of troubled nutritional behavior, and that is why I think it necessary to act,'' she said. Boyer insisted she wasn't out to punish models or anorexics themselves.

The bill would make it illegal to ''provoke a person to seek excessive weight loss by encouraging prolonged nutritional deprivation that would have the effect of exposing them to risk of death or directly compromise health.''

It calls for prison terms of up to two years and fines of up to $47,000 for offenders, with punishment increasing to three years in prison and a $71,000 fine in cases where a victim dies of an eating disorder.

Socialist lawmaker Catherine Coutelle said the bill was introduced to lawmakers too quickly -- less than two weeks ago, on April 3 -- to allow for thorough discussion before Tuesday's vote.

Legislator Jean-Marie Le Guen argued against legislating ''social norms'' and said there was no proof that anorexia comes from imitation. ''What is extreme thinness?'' he asked.

While the health dangers of anorexia are obvious, opponents said it should be up to parents and doctors -- not the government -- to deal with the reasons for eating disorders.

Didier Grumbach, president of the French Federation of Couture, rejected legislating body weight.

''Never will we accept in our profession that a judge decides if a young girl is skinny or not skinny,'' he said. ''That doesn't exist in the world, and it will certainly not exist in France.''

Modeling agencies had mixed reactions.

Patrick Lemire of Marilyn modeling agency in Paris, said he believed the bill only affected pro-anorexia Web sites, and brushed off concerns about its affect on the fashion industry.

''We don't have anything to do with health problems of the anorexic kind. The models (at our agency) are thin, but not anorexic,'' he said.

Juliette Menager, casting director for Joule Studio in Paris, said clearer guidelines on model weight could be a good thing.

''There is definitely an enormous problem,'' she said, describing some demands from magazine stylists as ''completely sick.'' She said some models she represents lose even more weight for fashion shows.

''They are so thin during the shows, much more than the rest of the year. Sometimes it's really scary, like a concentration camp.''

The Council of Fashion Designers of America adopted guidelines last year saying it wants its models to be healthy and not anorexic or bulimic. The guidelines are not binding and do not mention a specific mass-to-height ratio.

''While the guidelines are not mandatory and no law exists, each season we continue to hear stories of designers, stylists and agents refusing to work with models who appear unhealthy and supporting them by connecting them to resources and help,'' Steven Kolb, the group's executive director, said in an e-mailed statement.

The French health minister also suggested imposing limits on the body mass index of models at French fashion shows, and said France could push for a Europe-wide anti-anorexia measure when it takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union in July.

Most of the 30,000 to 40,000 people with anorexia in France are women, the Health Ministry says, as are most of the millions of people around the world who suffer from eating disorders.

Marleen S. Williams, a psychology professor at Brigham Young University in Utah who researches the media's effect on anorexic women, said it was nearly impossible to prove the media causes eating disorders.

Williams said studies show fewer eating disorders in ''cultures that value full-bodied women.'' Yet with the new French legal initiative, she fears, ''you're putting your finger in one hole in the dike, but there are other holes, and it's much more complex than that.''

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Associated Press writers Emmanuel Georges-Picot and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.

[Keystone Phil]

I hate the desire for extreme thin figures but should this be legislated against? No. Are we going to start fining the food industry for suggesting we should be just the opposite? Oh, wait...

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

The moves from various fashion weeks around the world banning models with BMIs below 18 has been a very gentle move.

It's a chicken and the egg, while the fashion industry has such a huge thing for the skeletal, then that will be the desired look for too many people. Yes, people have a choice, but the power of suggestion is very very strong. There needs to be more and more disincentives for the industry to promote such unhealthy body types.

I have friends who are models, and I see what they have to do to themselves. Even the guys are suffering in the industry. A friend eats maybe 5 solid meals a week, and he subsists on protein shakes, cigarettes, diet coke and drugs (usually speed and cocaine). The industry is sick at it's core.

[dead0man]

The poor tortured souls.  If only somebody could do something to make them stop!  I got it, THE STATE!  It can solve all our problems.

[specific_name]

The poor tortured souls.  If only somebody could do something to make them stop!  I got it, THE STATE!  It can solve all our problems.

You air are spot on here. I would suggest the death penalty be administered to anyone who suggests that anyone else do something stupid, it's only right.

[jeron]

I should think France has bigger problems than this.

[John Dibble]

I should think France has bigger problems than this.

Like being France? If you ask me that's a worse problem than being Canada. France really needs to solve its French problem before dealing with petty little things like this.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

The poor tortured souls.  If only somebody could do something to make them stop!  I got it, THE STATE!  It can solve all our problems.

As per usual, you've missed the underlying point and stampeded to your ultra-libertarian comfort zone. The all-wonderful and extra-human (apparently) market is the dangerous part of this. The market is in fact dictating the conditions, as opposed to it being dictated to. The fashion industry is utterly obsessed with an image and it projects it without mercy. Humans have always been highly at risk from these popular trends, and I don't care how it happens, but people will not stop doing this to themselves until the industry is brought under some control.... market, free-market, etc etc I couldn't care less, I consider it a serious public health issue.

[dead0man]

I consider it a serious public health issue.

Only to the people stupid enough to buy into it.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I consider it a serious public health issue.

Only to the people stupid enough to buy into it.

I take it you've never known someone with a serious eating disorder?

[dead0man]

Other than friend of a friend kind of thing, no.  Is it a "disease"...like alcoholism?

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Well, my mother nearly died from anorexia in her 20s' - plus a close school friend suffered a cardiac arrest due to severe weight loss.

...and I'll admit a weakness - usually when I'm under stress (there is a strong genetic component) - 20% of recorded cases of eating disorders are among men.

Most clinical eating disorders are mental illnesses. It starts as body-dysmorphic disorder, you view yourself as fatter and uglier than you actually are. So when a person sees themselves as 20lbs heavier, when they're a healthy weight - you see where it goes.

There is also a chemical/psychological addiction, you become addicted to the adrenaline your body is producing to make up for the shortfall of energy. Even more than 30 years later, my mother still has a highly unhealthy relationship with food.

It's a lot more complicated than it's presented.

I think maybe you understand why I'm so firm when it comes to this matter.

[Joe Republic]

Other than friend of a friend kind of thing, no.  Is it a "disease"...like alcoholism?

Anorexia nervosa is a psychological disorder, as defined by the DSM-IV.

[opebo]

I should think France has bigger problems than this.

Like being France? If you ask me that's a worse problem than being Canada.

You two must be very ill informed - both France and Canada are doing much better economically than the US, and particularly in terms of quality of life and access to health care for working class people.

[dead0man]

Other than friend of a friend kind of thing, no.  Is it a "disease"...like alcoholism?

Anorexia nervosa is a psychological disorder, as defined by the DSM-IV.

Sure...and alcoholism is a disease.

But me being a dick about a percieved health risk isn't going to help anybody here, my point still stands.  How is this any buisness of the state?

[Jens]

Other than friend of a friend kind of thing, no.  Is it a "disease"...like alcoholism?

Anorexia nervosa is a psychological disorder, as defined by the DSM-IV.

Sure...and alcoholism is a disease.

Are you joking or do you seriously think that alcolism is just a bad habit!

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Stopping an institutional behaviour that is seriously damaging to the girls is most certainly a state's reponsibility, but given the colour of your avatar you probably disagree.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Are you joking or do you seriously think that alcolism is just a bad habit!

Well, of course it is, Jens. A very bad habit caused by personal weakness. Why, look at me; I drink at least three bottles of whisky a day and I'm not an alcoholic. I can stop any time I want, I just don't want to. Unlike those weaklings!

[dead0man]

Other than friend of a friend kind of thing, no.  Is it a "disease"...like alcoholism?

Anorexia nervosa is a psychological disorder, as defined by the DSM-IV.

Sure...and alcoholism is a disease.

Are you joking or do you seriously think that alcolism is just a bad habit!

Not joking.  If alcoholism is a disease, so is heroin addiction and caffeine addiction and smoking and every other stupid thing INDIVIDUALS CHOSE TO DO that is addicting.  Calling these things diseases is just making excuses for irresponsible behaviour.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Stopping an institutional behaviour that is seriously damaging to the girls is most certainly a state's responsibility, but given the colour of your avatar you probably disagree.

[/quote]You're right.  I do disagree.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I see the argument that it's not the business of the state. I'm not really one for extreme nanny-statism.

If we use the libertarian angle, the market will not be forced by consumers to change as long as the industry in question is controlling consumer behavior to such an extent. So, yes, an academic quibble over the role of the state is nowhere near as important as the mental and physical health of the 'citizenry'.

[dead0man]

But nobody is being forced to be thin.  Nobody is being forced to be a model.  Nobody is forcing anybody to try and look like a model.  What is the state going to do, make models gain weight?  Advertisements suggesting that thin = ugly?

And how the hell am I on the same side as French Socialists on this?

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

It has nothing to do with force, sure there is a point where a person makes a decision - but what that decision is based on is important - then that situation gets out of control.

So no, nobody is forcing someone to stop eating, or become bullemic, but a completely unchecked, highly influential industry is dangerous.

[dead0man]

Like Hollywood or the music industry?  Does the state need to step in there and make sure they aren't polluting our minds with sex and violence?  I'm sure Tipper Gore and the Fundies would love that.

[Jens]

Other than friend of a friend kind of thing, no.  Is it a "disease"...like alcoholism?

Anorexia nervosa is a psychological disorder, as defined by the DSM-IV.

Sure...and alcoholism is a disease.

Are you joking or do you seriously think that alcolism is just a bad habit!

Not joking.  If alcoholism is a disease, so is heroin addiction and caffeine addiction and smoking and every other stupid thing INDIVIDUALS CHOSE TO DO that is addicting.  Calling these things diseases is just making excuses for irresponsible behaviour.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Stopping an institutional behaviour that is seriously damaging to the girls is most certainly a state's responsibility, but given the colour of your avatar you probably disagree.

You're right.  I do disagree.
[/quote]
First: There is a major difference between a drug that is addictive no matter who uses it and a substance that the vast majority will not become addicted to.
Second: Your irrational hate for the state and its institutions are quite sad and probably the reason why Libertarians never will experience a electoral breakthrough (you personally is of cause not responsible for that)

[dead0man]

Stopping an institutional behaviour that is seriously damaging to the girls is most certainly a state's responsibility, but given the colour of your avatar you probably disagree.

You're right.  I do disagree.

First: There is a major difference between a drug that is addictive no matter who uses it and a substance that the vast majority will not become addicted to.

Agreed.  I'm not sure what that has to do with the discussion as Alcohol is less addictive than cigs (cig addiction isn't a "disease") and more addictive than pot (pot addiction isn't a "disease").

You must be logged in to read this quote.

irrational hate?  Nah.  The state is needed I just think it's a lot bigger than it should be.  You might not agree with it, but it's a rational position to take.