French Parliament Debates Weight Standards for Fashion Models

From New York Times: French Parliament Debates Weight Standards for Fashion Models

NYT - PARIS — France, which often seems to have style and elegance written into its genetic code, is again confronting one of the dark sides of fashion: the glamorization of too-thin women.

The French Parliament is debating legislation that would effectively set minimum weights for women and girls to work as models, a step that supporters of the bill say is necessary to combat the persistence of anorexia.  

If it becomes law — it is backed by President François Hollande’s Socialist government — modeling agencies and fashion houses that employ models whose body mass index measurements do not meet minimum standards would face criminal penalties.  continue

Anorexia is a real problem.  Is our cultural insistence, that beautiful women fashion models must be impossibly and unhealthily thin, part of that problem?  Wouldn't these women be better role-models if their weight was more realistic, more healthy?  The French Government should move forward with this legislation.