Tuesday, April 15, 2008

If France can do it, why can't we?

France has now made it a federal crime to promote or encourage extreme thinness, such as anorexia, in the media. It is now a crime to have a pro-anorexia website. This will also affect fashion houses, magazines and advertisers. I am glad to see someone, a whole nation in fact, that recognizes that anorexia is a huge problem and that freedom of speech that encourages someone to kill themselves by starvation may not be the kind of free speech that we want to encourage. I understand that this may create a bit of a slippery slope when you begin to censor thoughts and the media. Where is the line of what is censorship and what is not censorship? How to determine when someone is promoting extreme thinness in a magazine? All of these are issues, but in the end, I am glad that now it is a crime to promote anorexia in the media as this kind of thinking needs to be stopped. You can read more about the French law and what it means here.

1 comment:

Whiskeymarie said...

As if it isn't enough that they give us wonderful cuisine, wine and cheese...
another reason the French are miles ahead of us.