I received a notice from Getty Images today that France has passed a law that as of October 1 any photographs that have been retouched to make the model either thinner or heavier must be noted on the use of the photograph. As a result Getty will no long accept photographs that have been retouched in this way.. The heavy hand of government. We can retouch everything else though (like noses, blemishes, etc). Ironically the new law also requires the models to get medical exams to verify that they do not have too low a BMI. So one can't retouch the models to make them look slimmer (the healthier option) but the models also cannot be too slim.

57 minutes ago, NJGF said:

I received a notice from Getty Images today that France has passed a law that as of October 1 any photographs that have been retouched to make the model either thinner or heavier must be noted on the use of the photograph. As a result Getty will no long accept photographs that have been retouched in this way.. The heavy hand of government. We can retouch everything else though (like noses, blemishes, etc). Ironically the new law also requires the models to get medical exams to verify that they do not have too low a BMI. So one can't retouch the models to make them look slimmer (the healthier option) but the models also cannot be too slim.

Ostensibly, this is to prevent young people (mostly girls) from anorexia and other eating disorders... not just the models themselves, but those who emulate them. I can understand the first concern, as some of these young models have handlers (and parents) that are no better than pimps really.

But as far as protecting the general population of young people, I'm not sure I buy it. My late mother was a psych nurse on an eating disorders unit --- her experience was this: scratch the surface of those patients' psyches and you nearly ALWAYS found some terrible sick abuse, usually sexual abuse. That's why those kids starve themselves to death --- not because they want to look like the models they see in Vogue.

Setting these weight standards is gaining traction in the popular press... but I'm doubtful it's serving any real purpose other than making some activists "feel good."

As soon as you said "popular press" I immediately railed against the idea.  Anything the media likes, is wrong.