France bans extremely thin models.

From the BBC

6th May 2017

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 to fight eating disorders and inaccessible ideals of beauty. Digitally altered photos will also have to be labelled from 1 October. Images where a model's appearance has been manipulated will need to be marked photographie retouchée (English: retouched photograph). A previous version of the bill had suggested a minimum BMI for models, prompting protests from modelling agencies in France.

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. Employers breaking the law could face fines of up to 75,000 euros (£63,500; $82,000) and up to six months in jail. "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. France is not the first country to legislate on underweight models - Italy, Spain and Israel have all done so. Anorexia affects between 30,000 to 40,000 people in France, 90% of whom are women.

[Well, I guess that it’s a step (or possibly a cat walk) in the right direction. Fashion models in particular have a huge influence on young women and if living up to the often ridiculous thinness of real models wasn’t bad enough they now have ‘impossible ‘digitally enhanced’ models to compete with. Fashion is, quite honestly, toxic especially where it bends the minds of teens and pre-teens to aspire to a body shape that is at best difficult to obtain (and even more difficult to maintain) and at worse impossibly life threatening. People come in all shapes and sizes. There is no one ideal body shape. Even culturally determined shapes change over time and from place to place. As long as you are healthy and at ease in your own body – whilst not comparing yourself to everyone else around you – who really cares? The Fashion Industry has a LOT to answer for in regard to the steep rise in Anorexia especially amongst young women. At least now, finally, we are starting to see something done about it.]