Law against anorexic models goes into effect in Israel

[Mighty AC]

So hardcore porn would still be legal to publish pictures of, but pictures of women with unhealthy weights (thin only, grossly obese would be fine) would be illegal?

There is a fair amount of obese fetish porn available, that's not the problem. The real issue is that porn creates unrealistic expectations about sex. The average guy is not a foot long and does not last for a freakin' hour. I for one would like the government to step in and make porn more realistic. Old, hairy, middle aged guys do not attract random college girls that strip for no reason. In the movies sex should be begged for, be disappointing, last 15 minutes tops and be followed by snoring and the occasional fart.

[Bonam]

There is a fair amount of obese fetish porn available, that's not the problem. The real issue is that porn creates unrealistic expectations about sex. The average guy is not a foot long and does not last for a freakin' hour. I for one would like the government to step in and make porn more realistic. Old, hairy, middle aged guys do not attract random college girls that strip for no reason. In the movies sex should be begged for, be disappointing, last 15 minutes tops and be followed by snoring and the occasional fart.

In general, I am opposed to most government intervention. I think government should be mainly focused on protecting the rights of minorities and championing causes I support. However, I am fine with this. We protect people from second hand smoke, why not unhealthy body image? It's a positive move, even if it was won through government intervention.

I would love to see the handful of publishing companies in North America all agree to publish only healthy female images.

These two statements seem completely at odds with one another. In one, you mock the notion of government controlling the unrealistic and socially unhealthy expectations people might develop by viewing pornographic media, and in the other you seem to support and find reasonable the notion of government controlling unhealthy expectations displayed by fashion media. Do you not think that men and women unable to perform at the levels they observe in porn videos might develop an unhealthy image about themselves just as girls unable to attain the slim figures that models do?

And what about the countless other examples of media portraying something unattainable or unrealistic damaging people's self-image and self-confidence? Should government regulate all of this, allowing the media to show us only dull, dreary, things that the average person might encounter every day in their lives?

I think this is all absurdity. Much of what is shown on TV, in magazines, on the internet, etc, is shown precisely because it is interesting, exciting, sensational, out of the norm, not within the daily experience of your average person.

And regardless of all that, even with a limit on BMI, women chosen to be displayed as beauty models will still be more beautiful than your average woman. Those that have such issues now will still have confidence and self-image issues, if not about weight, then about the shape of their lips or their eyes, or the size of their breasts, or their chest to waist ratio, or their height and the shape of their legs, the clearness of their skin, or whatever else.

No, the only real solution here is good parenting, raising kids to have a healthy self-image and self-respect.

Edited January 7, 2013 by Bonam

[Signals.Cpl]

And regardless of all that, even with a limit on BMI, women chosen to be displayed as beauty models will still be more beautiful than your average woman. Those that have such issues now will still have confidence and self-image issues, if not about weight, then about the shape of their lips or their eyes, or the size of their breasts, or their chest to waist ratio, or their height and the shape of their legs, the clearness of their skin, or whatever else.

No, the only real solution here is good parenting, raising kids to have a healthy self-image and self-respect.

The whole point is to remove the unattainable image which so many strive for through unhealthy means. When you see a 9 year old start to starve herself because she wants to look like x,y or z she is putting her health at risk. Parenting takes you only so far, at some point the massive number of images that bombard girls is astounding and overwhelming and parents protect their children from harming themselves in an attempt to look a certain way. Do you think that the parents of every teen and pre-teen who has an eating disorder is a bad parent and/or failed as a parent?

[Bonam]

The whole point is to remove the unattainable image which so many strive for through unhealthy means.

Again, I ask, why this particular image? What about the countless other examples of unattainable images in our society? Should we regulate them all? Should everything unrealistic be banned from being portrayed? You conveniently ignored and cut out from your quote that key point in my post...

When you see a 9 year old start to starve herself because she wants to look like x,y or z she is putting her health at risk. Parenting takes you only so far, at some point the massive number of images that bombard girls is astounding and overwhelming and parents protect their children from harming themselves in an attempt to look a certain way.

When you see a 9 year old start to starve herself, yes, there is something wrong with either the 9 year old herself or her parents or other immediate factors. This is obvious since the vast majority of 9 year old girls do not in fact starve themselves. That which is far out of the norm, cannot be a result solely of a factor that everyone is exposed to. Something else must also be at work in addition, whether it be bad parenting, a predilection to eating disorders, a circle of friends that further reinforces the media images with peer pressure, a medical condition, etc.

Do you think that the parents of every teen and pre-teen who has an eating disorder is a bad parent and/or failed as a parent?

No, that is not the only explanation, nor did I claim so.

[Signals.Cpl]

Again, I ask, why this particular image? What about the countless other examples of unattainable images in our society? Should we regulate them all? Should everything unrealistic be banned from being portrayed? You conveniently ignored and cut out from your quote that key point in my post...

My point is not about self esteem, my point is about setting unrealistic and unhealthy role models through which young women hurt themselves and in some cases this leads death. Same reason why you wouldn't want to have every actor in a teen oriented movie or tv show smoke and discuss how awesome it is for you... Would you be of the same opinion if we were to see the media in general portray steroids in a very positive light while ignoring the nasty side effects? Do we live that to the parents?

When you see a 9 year old start to starve herself, yes, there is something wrong with either the 9 year old herself or her parents or other immediate factors.

When every media outlet every source of entertainment that a girl cares about bombards her with a picture of what she should look like with the only means of getting there being unhealthy eating habits.

This is obvious since the vast majority of 9 year old girls do not in fact starve themselves.

Maybe not starve themselves but the many start watching their weight and trying to "lose" weight because that is what everyone is talking about?

That which is far out of the norm, cannot be a result solely of a factor that everyone is exposed to.

With the increased reliance on technology and models who are slimmer and slimmer with every year we are seeing a rise with eating disorders, either that is a result of a generation of bad parents or thousands of unrealistic and unhealthy images thrown at them with every day.

Something else must also be at work in addition, whether it be bad parenting, a predilection to eating disorders, a circle of friends that further reinforces the media images with peer pressure, a medical condition, etc.

What about underage drinking and smoking? Do you think that every kid who has done either of those things has bad parents? If you saw Dora the Explorer light up a smoke wouldn't you be a little pissed off? After all good parenting should prevent smoking or such other bad habits no matter at what age the media influence starts...

[Bonam]

My point is not about self esteem, my point is about setting unrealistic and unhealthy role models through which young women hurt themselves and in some cases this leads death. Same reason why you wouldn't want to have every actor in a teen oriented movie or tv show smoke and discuss how awesome it is for you... Would you be of the same opinion if we were to see the media in general portray steroids in a very positive light while ignoring the nasty side effects? Do we live that to the parents?

At this point we're just talking in circles. I've made my points I think very clearly. If you disagree, that's fine.

[The_Squid]

For those who think this is something the government should do, explain how this law would operate. What exactly does the law say? Who gets charged when a model show up for work who is anorexic? How is it enforced? Who tests the model's BMI?