A law in France banning the use of unhealthily thin fashion models has come into effect.<\/p>\n
Models will need to provide a doctor’s certificate attesting to their overall physical health, with special regard to their body mass index (BMI) – a measure of weight in relation to height.<\/p>\n
The health ministry says the aim is to fight eating disorders and inaccessible ideals of beauty.<\/p>\n
Digitally altered photos will also have to be labelled from 1 October.<\/p>\n
Images where a model’s appearance has been manipulated will need to be marked photographie retouch\u00e9e (English: retouched photograph).<\/p>\n
A previous version of the bill had suggested a minimum BMI for models, prompting protests from modelling agencies in France.<\/p>\n
But the final version, backed by MPs 2015, allows doctors to decide whether a model is too thin by taking into account their weight, age, and body shape.<\/p>\n
Employers breaking the law could face fines of up to 75,000 euros (\u00a363,500; $82,000) and up to six months in jail.<\/p>\n
“Exposing young people to normative and unrealistic images of bodies leads to a sense of self-depreciation and poor self-esteem that can impact health-related behaviour,” said France’s Minister of Social Affairs and Health, Marisol Touraine, in a statement on Friday, French media report.<\/p>\n
France is not the first country to legislate on underweight models – Italy, Spain and Israel have all done so.<\/p>\n
Anorexia affects between 30,000 to 40,000 people in France, 90% of whom are women.
\n–<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A law in France banning the use of unhealthily thin fashion models has come into effect. Models will need to provide a doctor’s certificate attesting to their overall physical health, with special regard to their body mass index (BMI) – a measure of weight in relation to height. The health ministry says the aim is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[137],"tags":[623,3758,6842],"yoast_head":"\n