Israel Bans “Skinny” Models
We may all be talking about Iran, but Israel’s Knesset recognizes a different threat:
The Knesset approved a law late Monday night that bans the display of underweight models in Israeli advertising, prohibits ads from abroad if they feature models deemed underweight, and requires advertisers to note when images have been visually manipulated to make the models appear thinner.
The increased prevalence of eating disorders in Israeli society, particularly among young girls, prompted Danny Danon of Likud and Rachel Adatto of Kadima to draft the law, which intends to discourage the idealization of excessively thin bodies.
“This law is another step in the war against eating disorders,” Adatto, a physician, said after a preliminary reading of the draft law. Underweight models, she said, “can no longer serve as role models for innocent youths who adopt and copy the illusion of thinness.”
The law defines underweight in keeping with the internationally accepted Body Mass Index (BMI) standard, a ratio of weight compared to height. Anyone with a ratio under 18.5 is considered underweight.
Oh well, there goes Kate Moss’s career I guess.
I thought that at least one fashion magazine stated something equivalent–that it wouldn’t be using any overly-skinny teenagers in fashion shoots. (Several people noticed nothing was said about the size of models used in any of the ads, however..)
Oh, great. First they tried to ban us from making fat jokes, and now there’s actual government-mandated discrimination against skinny people. F**k you tub-o-lards!
/just kidding, please don’t ban me