France, through with with the meager dimensions of Fashion.
Members of the French Modeling Agencies, and the and the
French Advertising Standards Authority met in Paris on Wednesday to
charter a new promotion of "body
diversity.
Part of the meeting was in response to the death of Brazilian
model Ana Carolina Reston in November
2006, who died at the age of 21,
weighing in at less than 88 pounds for her 56-inch frame and
the death of Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos who died of heart
failure.
The charter outlines a series of guidelines but do not
impose restrictions.
Spain, for instance, has set a minimum body mass
index of 18 for catwalk models. This is equivalent to a
minimum weight
of 123 pounds for a height of 5.74 feet.
Didier Grumbach, president of the French
Fashion Federation, said that the charter "will attack
anything
that encourages excessive weight loss, but the idea is not to
create
more rules." Monsiur Grumbach also added that France's laws
for monitoring health have become increasingly protective:
"Generally speaking [the charter] is a decision to be extremely
careful
and fight [negative body image] in any way we can, but no
more
legislation."
But Legal experts like Valerie Boyr, a deputy from France's
UMP party, have a better idea in mind. Ms. Boyr on Wednesday called
for new legislation that
would impose a $50,000 fine on anyone who promotes
anorexia--through blogs, web sites, and other such propaganda--and
put them in prison for 2 years.
"It's not just women absorbing the propaganda," a British
Model Said. Men are also too thin.
Mark Evans, the head of the men's division at Models 1 agency
in London, admits that the fashion industry tends to go for
"younger,
skinnier boys."
In France, despite current laws that require
modeling agencies to both obtain a
government-issued license and special authorization for
models aged
under 16, and promote medical check-ups,
girls on the catwalks and in fashion
magazines have remained suspiciously thin.
The same day as the agreement was signed in France, a law was
proposed
in the French parliament against "incitement to anorexia".
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