Spain's Policy on Runway Models - Good or Bad

[skydiver51 0]

I totally agree. Women that are way too skinny look like they have aids.

[windcatcher 0]

I think it's a great policy!
And btw, I don't necessarily agree with the whole BMI thing, which doesn't take into account the fact that some people weigh a lot more because they have MUSCLE. A lot of muscular people would be considered overweight, or possibly even obese, which is asinine.

Mother to the cutest little thing in the world...

[ImGunnaJump 0]

I think it's great...it may not reverberate through the whole fashion industry and cause profound change, but hopefully it will cause people to talk and think and make some sort of incremental difference.

When I see those fashion shows profiled on T.V., a lot of those models look like the walking dead. There are a few, like Naomi Campbell, who look relatively healthy but for the most part they look horrible - so bad that I can't believe the designers would want someone that sickly to represent them. But I guess that the designers have their heads so far up their own that they don't care.

Which is why it's good the government is stepping in. No one in the fashion world is looking out for these young women - not the designers, not their agents, perhaps not even their families. If fact, they're telling these paler-than-death stick figures to drop ten more pounds

"...I've learned that while the "needs" in life are important (food, water, shelter), it's the "wants" in life (ice cream, chocolate, sex) that make it worth the effort." Kbordson

[Zep 0]

I think some of you maybe missing the point of why Spain took this action.
The government dosn't care if the models are fat or skinny,
The government cares about the young girls who are trying to emulate these models
and ending up with health problems, go figure.

Gone fishing

[skycat 0]

I agree with this, I think Derek would be considered overweight according to his BMI, but he is at 8% body fat from adventure racing and tunnel ratting. He is just solid lean muscle almost no fat on him, and boy does he make an under armor shirt look yummy.

Fly it like you stole it!

[BillyVance 34]

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But...I will say this:

I prefer a girl with curves. Too skinny--the sex is like banging a duffle bag full of baseball bats.

Nice way to describe it!

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[Frenchy68 0]

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It's annoying to see runway clothes that nobody except models and actresses can actually wear.

The bulk of designer wear sales is to average size persons (average more so by western European standards than US standards). If designers feel their work is best shown on skeletons, then so be it. They're custom made for the models anyway, and do not reflect what is actually being sold. Telling couture houses whom they can and can not hire based on weight and body shape is getting involved into creative decisions which, in my opinion, any government has no business being involved. Why not force a painter not to use the color blue because it can be depressing...???
Also, be aware that fashion shows are more advertising stunts than anything else. Franchising is where most houses make their money. For each Gucci dress sold, there are probably 50 pairs of shoes sold...

"For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

[ImGunnaJump 0]

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I think some of you maybe missing the point of why Spain took this action.
The government dosn't care if the models are fat or skinny,
The government cares about the young girls who are trying to emulate these models
and ending up with health problems, go figure.

The models/the young girls who emulate them - two sides of the same coin.

O.K., maybe I missed the point from the Spanish government's perspective - they only care about one side of this coin. But in my mind, the unintended consequence of their stepping in will be looking out for the models who influence the young women at the end of the runway, which I think is a great thing. When they are actually healthy and look it, hopefully, there will be a trickle-down effect upon the girls who try to be like them.

Right now it seems to be just a token effort, at best, anyway. But I hope somehow some real change can begin.

"...I've learned that while the "needs" in life are important (food, water, shelter), it's the "wants" in life (ice cream, chocolate, sex) that make it worth the effort." Kbordson

[Tonto 1]

My BMI is 24, so I'm borderline fat. Better get on that and start to diet.

The risk of a government saying "You are too xxx to do xxx job" is the thin end of the wedge. There are way too many fat people hiding behind "Slow metabolisms" and "Glandular problems" in this world. If you voted that this was a good idea, you'd better start to worry about governments decieding you're too fat to work at your chosen trade.

Stop eating rubbish and do some exercise.

Look around the 1st world people. It's not the thin people that are the problem. It's all those "healthy curve" "like a little meat on the bone" fat people out there dying of heart attacks. Being fat is a 1st world problem. Being thin is not.

I know someone with a BMI of 18. They are capable of rock climbing multi pitch all day, and can fly an S3-S flat out for 3 min in the 40's. You don't get to do that without muscle, and they are not "weak" or "sick" or a "toothpick bitch."

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[piisfish 135]

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Women that are way too skinny look like they have aids.

is that how you do HIV tests ??

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[Beverly 1]

It is great, I should go to Spain and be a runway model.
BMI = 19

I think true friendship is under-rated

Twitter: @Dreamskygirlsa

[rehmwa 2]

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and i think its a very good thing!!! I can not stand the starving smack addict look!!

Not just to you Viking, but a lot of posts like yours.

I'm surprised at the number of posters that want the government to interfere, just because something cosmetic 'annoys' them. It says a lot about our culture of "can't someone else fix it?" and "why do I have to deal with little things when I can force others to comply with my biases?"

I personally don't like the super thin look. But it's none of my business, nor is it the government's business.

Heck, if Spain is into controlling women's bodies, I know of a rather large political group here that would be interested in another aspect of women's choices.......

Strangely enough, those that want to force women to eat so they fit some arbitrary definition of "normal" would be outraged if this was an abortion issue. Just shows how subjective and intrusive government policy can be. And how inconsistent voters are.

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[jeiber 0]

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I personally find it disgusting and despicable that so many of these models are absolute waifs as the effect of female self-image from an early age has to be tremendous. I think this policy is a step in the right direction, but I'm wondering if others think the same thing.

I think this is a step in the WRONG direction! What right do we have to tell people how they have to look?

What's worse, is this is due to pressure from the government. So now government is dictating private sector policy. What's next, piercings? The government is going to ban more than a few piercings? Or how about tattoos? Maybe we should enact policy on how many tattoos a person can have.

Hell, if the government is going to push restrictions on how skinny a person can be, I think they should restrict how fat a person can be as well. I motion that overweight people (according to the CDC) can no longer be served anything but salad and water, in a restaraunt.

Bottom line, I think it's disgusting as well.... BUT, I also believe it's wrong to base policy on mere opinion.

Worried about the role model thing? Ok, so now we have to change our lives, so we can be role models for OTHER people's kids? Maybe if mom and dad spent more time with their kids, actually parenting, maybe the rest of us wouldn't have to walk on egg shells, ensuring we're being a good role model for people we don't know.

Shhh... you hear that sound? That's the sound of nobody caring!

[skydiver51 0]

It just brings up memories of how people with aids look.

[lawrocket 3]

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What right do we have to tell people how they have to look?

If, for example, I am paying a person's salary, I have the privilege of telling that person how he'she should look. Nobody better show up in my office in a pair of ratty jeans and tee-shirt. If the person is gonna work for me, the person can dress and appear according to my standards of professionalism. They don't like it, they can go elsewhere.

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What's worse, is this is due to pressure from the government. So now government is dictating private sector policy.

Had the government required it, I would have a problem with it. Government pressure, on the other hand, I don't mind as much. The organizers are a private entity. They can say "no" to government pressure. They did not, and I'm fine with that.

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What's next, piercings? The government is going to ban more than a few piercings? Or how about tattoos? Maybe we should enact policy on how many tattoos a person can have.

A government doing that would be wrong. A private entity would be fine. This private entity is not employing Bun E Carlos to model these things. If the government required it, I'd have a problem with it. But it's not the case here.

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I also believe it's wrong to base policy on mere opinion.

Policy is rarely based on fact. Waiting for the facts usually means that the proposed policy becomes obsolete, since it is too late for the policy to work.

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Ok, so now we have to change our lives, so we can be role models for OTHER people's kids?

No. It just means your employment opportunities are more limited.

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Maybe if mom and dad spent more time with their kids, actually parenting, maybe the rest of us wouldn't have to walk on egg shells, ensuring we're being a good role model for people we don't know.

That goes without saying.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[jeiber 0]

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f, for example, I am paying a person's salary, I have the privilege of telling that person how he'she should look. Nobody better show up in my office in a pair of ratty jeans and tee-shirt. If the person is gonna work for me, the person can dress and appear according to my standards of professionalism. They don't like it, they can go elsewhere.

Yes, I agree with your point, but it seems very clear that the industry was yielding to outside influences (the government). What if a 3rd party started pressuring/forcing you into running your business in a certain manner, in the name of aesthetics?

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They can say "no" to government pressure.

Legally yes, but we both know how the government can punish the private sector for not abiding by requests. Funding can be pulled, permits/licenses are now suddently hard to obtain, code violations are found, etc.

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A government doing that would be wrong. A private entity would be fine.

What about a government entity exerting it's will through a private entity? Is this ok? I don't think so. Again, this policy is a direct result of government pressure.

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No. It just means your employment opportunities are more limited.

So let's say the government enacts a significant 'fat tax' to combat increased medical issues due to obesity. They offer private corporations an exemption if they enact policy to only employ (desk work) people who meet a certain physical criteria that the CDC decides on. This would be ok with you?

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That goes without saying.

Evidently not in Spain.

Shhh... you hear that sound? That's the sound of nobody caring!

[JohnRich 4]

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Spain has instituted a policy wherein some models are being banned from its top fashion show on the basis that they are too skinny.

Government has no business regulating what size of models which a private business can use in its shows.

Let the market decide.

If women are offended by a company's skinny models, they'll buy from someone else. If another businessman wants to use normal-sized models and reap the profit from a positive reaction, so be it. But government should butt the hell out.

[shropshire 0]

The models have to be that shape....
All clothes hangers are made of wire

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[pirana 0]

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Government has no business regulating what size of models which a private business can use in its shows.

Let the market decide.

If women are offended by a company's skinny models, they'll buy from someone else. If another businessman wants to use normal-sized models and reap the profit from a positive reaction, so be it. But government should butt the hell out.

Agreed. I think if there is going to be legislation related to body weight, the first move should be to outlaw the other extreme - morbid obesity (using something realistic, as opposed to the BMI).

That being said, I also believe in free will, free markets, and the right of people to kill themselves (as long as they don't take out others while they are at it).

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[JohnRich 4]

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If women are offended by a company's skinny models, they'll buy from someone else. If another businessman wants to use normal-sized models and reap the profit from a positive reaction, so be it. But government should butt the hell out.

Agreed...

Once they get their foot in the door with this law, just imagine what will come next:

"Playboy" will be required to show no photos in its magazine of any models with breasts over a size 34-C. Justification: The display of large breasts in men's magazines causes women to have "breast envy", which harms their psyche, and causes millions of women to undergo painful breast implant surgery.

Male strippers will be required to be 20 lbs. overweight. Justification: Women won't have an unreasonable expectation of physical fitness condition from their coach-potatoe husbands.

I am shocked that 50% of the people here believe this is the business of government...

Do you want police at fashion shows, snatching models off the runway, and leading them away in handcuffs to a jail cell full of doughnuts?

What about the opposite extreme, as pirana states. Do you want the government cracking down on people that are "too fat"?

[PLFXpert 0]

(Haven't read others' responses yet, as I'm having a shit day, pardon my french.)

Bad.

I don't disagree with the desire to see less bones and more tones but I would not support legislation for such.

Companies and designers should have the right to make the decision (under current decency laws) who or what they want representing them and their product.

Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

[rehmwa 2]

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Do you want police at fashion shows, snatching models off the runway, and leading them away in handcuffs to a jail cell full of doughnuts?

That's it, I going to cop school.

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

[SpeedRacer 1]

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Do you want police at fashion shows, snatching models off the runway, and leading them away in handcuffs to a jail cell full of doughnuts?

That's it, I going to cop school.

Yeah, it does sound like a novel idea for the beginning of a porno.

Speed Racer
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[Botellines 0]

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Once they get their foot in the door with this law, just imagine what will come next:

A lot of imaginaton you got there. First of all, it is not a law, The government is just putting some pressure. Although i am not 100% positive i am fairly sure that the government puts money towards that event, se he has some rights.

Second, do you think it is a bad idea? it is akin to control the comercials of some dangerous substances like tobacco and alcohol, and most governments do it one way or another.

[Dolph 0]

Yeah i think it's a bad idea that the government would use my tax money to pressure private companies to maintain some government approved aestethic standard.

Don't you?

It's a waste of my tax money. It's government putting its nose where it should not be. it's about empowering an entity that already has too much say - and it's doing so with your own money.

And as Tonto pointed out, skinnyness (yay, new word!) isn't the big killer in Western societies. Neither is women thinking their asses are too big or men worrying about their bulging waistline.

Huge asses and beer guts are far more dangerous overall than skinnyness. If the government wants to use my money, put it there - in preventative measures. Don't f'ing use it on something as silly as *models*.

In my not so humble opinion, politicians putting tax payers money towards influencing fashion shows are slightly smarter than the people that pay any attention to said shows. That's not saying a lot, but lat least the politicians are trying to expand their base of power.