France is set to crack down on glamorising skinny female bodies by making it illegal to ‘incite extreme thinness’ by encouraging people to diet.
A new law voted through by MPs today is aimed at closing down websites and advertising that ‘provokes prolonged dietary restrictions’.
The new rules could also be applied to fashion advertising and catwalk shows that use underweight women models.
It will become illegal to ‘provoke a person to seek excessive weight loss by encouraging prolonged nutritional deprivation that could lead to health risks or death’.
Offenders will face fines of up to £35,000 and three-year prison sentences, the law states.
Penalties for 'encouraging prolonged nutritional deprivation'
French law
Fashion industry experts said that the law would be the strongest of its kind anywhere and could ‘transform the fashion industry worldwide’.
MP Maud Olivier, who proposed the bill in parliament, said: “Certain websites known as ‘pro-Ana’ can push people into a vicious circle of anorexia and authorities cannot do anything about it.
“This law is necessary and will not call into question the idea of freedom of expression on the internet.”
The French legislation comes after countries including Spain, Italy and Brazil all clamped down on skinny models at catwalk shows.
Spain has barred models below a certain body mass index from the Madrid fashion shows.
Italy has insisted on health certificates for fashion show participants.
And Brazil is considering demands to ban underage, underweight models from its catwalks.
Medical experts around the world have warned against the dangers of ultra-skinny catwalk models and images airbrushed to make girls look thinner, which they say encourage anorexia in girls as young as six.
Fashion guru Giorgio Armani said recently that the fashion industry had a duty to ‘work together against anorexia’.
He added: “The industry has to recognise the link between its preference for abnormally thin models and the growth in eating disorders among young women.”
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