Most girls aspired to be models in their adult future, only to be shut down by parents warning them that the industry is cut throat, and the lifestyle isn't very healthy. It's no secret that some runway models' stick thin figures aren't exactly the healthiest body type gained with a balanced diet and exercise. I remember once watching a television show that featured a woman who was a professional model "coach". She taught them the appropriate way to pose for photos, walk down the runway, etc. While she was having a coaching session, one of the models fainted due to lack of nutrition, and the coach told her to get up and drink some water, and to only drink water whenever she felt hungry. This line stuck with me, and turned me off to professional modeling completely. While I have the utmost respect for models and for whoever decides to go down this road professionally, the idea of not eating to gain this body type frightens me.
This all may begin to change though, with a new law that was passed in France on December 17th, 2015. Under this law, the employment of models in France must be accompanied with a doctor's note proving that they are of a healthy weight. If an employer breaks this law, the consequences reach up to six months in jail and fines up to $81,000. Being that France is the home to Paris, one of the modeling, fashion, and beauty epicenters of the globe, this is a huge progression for the modeling industry. The law also states that that photos of models whose bodies are digitally altered used in advertisements must state that the the photographs are digitally edited. Yet again a progression in the industry where photo editing is prevalent, and anorexia as well.
20% of girls in France have restricted their eating, and anorexia has the highest rate of death among all mental illnesses. 35% of people who begin some type of diet will take this diet to unhealthy extremes. All these statistics only prove that industries that involve dieting, weight watching, and calorie counting must have some type of reform. The media outlets that produce unhealthy images of women's bodies are only causing harm to women, especially teenage girls, as a whole. These images bombard the lives of women daily, telling them that they aren't thin enough, their skin isn't flawless enough, and more degrading messages. To think of the many unhealthy practices that models have to go through on a daily basis are frightening, and the reforms that the French modeling industry have taken should be implemented on a more global scale.
