France passes bill banning too-skinny models

Scale
(Image credit: iStock)

France passed a bill on Friday that bans modeling agents and fashion houses from using models who are excessively thin, or face possible fines and even jail time, Reuters reports.

The move is part of President Francois Hollande's campaign against anorexia; the legislation also made condoning anorexia illegal, and requires any re-touching of photographs to include a message stating that fact. The legislation does not give a specific marker as to what will constitute "too skinny," rather saying that, "the activity of model is banned for any person whose Body Mass Index (BMI) is lower than levels proposed by health authorities and decreed by the ministers of health and labor."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Sarah Eberspacher

Sarah Eberspacher is an associate editor at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked as a sports reporter at The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus and The Arizona Republic. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.