Legalizing Beauty Standards or Censorship?

This is a contentious topic for many, but one that is worth talking about: the relationship (if there is any at all) between the media, fashion and eating disorders. In the weekend issue of the Globe & Mail, Siri Agrell wrote "The Perils of Legislating A Healthy Aesthetic" about the schism between the size of fashion models and  healthy body weight (and what that means). The article examines how the government of France has tabled a bill that would, as CNN says, make it "illegal for anyone-including fashion magazines, advertisers and web sites-to incite extreme thinness". According to Ms. Agrell this is a dialogue thats happening here at home too. "In October, a group of fashion designers from Milan attended the L'Oreal Fashion Week in Toronto and asked Fashion Design Council of Canada president Robin Kay to sign a pledge not to use skinny models in the shows.  She refused." Whether its appropriate, or useful for the state to rule on the appropriateness of someone's physique (or more importantly someone's intrepretation of their body image) is a slippery slope in my opinion, especially given that eating disorders are more a social and psychiatric condition rather than a criminal one. 

Click for the slide show that accompanies the Globe & Mail article.