I much prefer small government as opposed to a nanny state. This kind of policy doesn't sit well with me; photoshopped images aren't necessarily exploitative.
ADVERTISERS would be barred from portraying women in an exploitative or discriminatory way, under a ''pro-women'' policy Victorian Labor is expected to take to November's state election.
Under the plan, discussion of ''positive'' presentation of women in the media would be incorporated into primary and secondary school curriculums in Victoria, and the ad industry would be encouraged to declare when an image had been digitally altered to enhance a woman's breast size or reduce her waist or thighs.
The fashion industry would also be encouraged to employ models ''in many different shapes and sizes''.
As part of Premier John Brumby's so-called respect agenda, Labor would introduce regulations ''to ensure positive representation of women in the media and advertising as well as remove exploitative and discriminatory representations''.
Such a move could bring on a clash with the ad industry, which is largely self-regulating and operates mainly at a national level. The pro-women measures are contained in a draft policy platform expected to be endorsed at a Victorian ALP conference this weekend, the last before the November 27 state election.
The policy would commit a returned Brumby government to boosting women's self-esteem by promoting positive body images and helping young women with eating disorders.
''A healthy self-esteem helps young people face and overcome many of the challenges of life,'' the draft policy says.
''A positive body image is bound up with this and helps young people to be their best - at school, in sport and with family and friends.
''Providing young people with the skills and knowledge to be resilient helps them value individuality, accept difference, address the limitations that our culture can place on young people and expand their options.''
The draft platform says Labor will conduct research to find out the extent of eating disorders among women in Victoria, and establish statewide guidelines for consistent specialist care for youths with anorexia and other disorders.
It also says promoting healthy body image is important to help combat increasing use of steroids by young men.
Labor's draft policy says the party will promote women's health by boosting patients' access to women doctors in hospital emergency departments, outpatient care, out-of-hours GP services and community health centres.
It commits the state ALP to recognising the health needs of non-heterosexual Victorians.
''Labor believes in a society that embraces diversity,'' it says.
''Labor will support our gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex communities and ensure that their vulnerable members are safe, valued and respected.''
The policy would commit a returned Labor government to strengthening Victoria's laws against homophobic harassment.
More crap, but this time from the new federal government:
A big tick to women's morale
Caroline Marcus
A FASHION, advertising and media code of conduct will be introduced by the Federal Government in which organisations can apply for a "body-image-friendly" symbol similar to the Heart Foundation's tick for approved foods.
The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal exclusively the details of the voluntary code, which will be launched by Youth Minister Kate Ellis this morning.
The announcement follows an almost two-year consultation process that began in October 2008, when Ms Ellis announced she wanted to curb the glamorisation of unhealthily thin women, which has contributed to children as young as six counting calories and developing eating disorders.
The key principles of the code include:
NOT running advertisements for rapid weight loss, cosmetic surgery, excessive exercise or other commercials that may promote a negative body image.
ONLY using models aged 16 or older to model adult clothes, both on catwalks and in print.
REFRAINING from using models who are very thin or male models who are excessively muscular.
DISCLOSING when images have been retouched and refraining from enhancing photographs in a way that changes a person's body shape, for example lengthening their legs or trimming their waist, or removing freckles, lines and other distinguishing marks.
STOCKING clothing in a wide variety of sizes in shops to reflect the demand from customers.
USING a broad range of body shapes, sizes and ethnicities in editorial and advertising.
The Government has also committed $500,000 in funding to develop education programs, together with the eating disorder group The Butterfly Foundation, to promote the code.
The school program will see 2500 educators trained to teach 100,000 students aged between eight and 18 about positive body image, covering topics such as media literacy and self-esteem.
A panel chaired by author and former Cosmopolitan editor Mia Freedman and comprising health and academic experts will spend the next six months defining the criteria organisations have to meet in order to be awarded the body-image-friendly symbol.
Ms Ellis urged the industry to embrace the voluntary code.
"Body image is an issue that we must take seriously because it is affecting the health and happiness of substantial sections of our community," she said.
"The symbol is a win for consumers. It will empower consumers to tell the fashion, beauty, media and modelling industries what they want and provide greater choice."
The code has received the endorsement of leading women's and girls' magazines The Australian Women's Weekly and Girlfriend, along with plus size agency BGM Models.
The Australian Women's Weekly editor Helen McCabe said the magazine would commit to identifying photographs of women that had been altered digitally.
"As Australia's biggest-selling magazine, I am proud to be taking a leading role in what is going to be a gradual process for the industry," McCabe said.
"Our readers are highly sophisticated and increasingly demand the images they see of women be more realistic."
A big tick to women's morale
Caroline Marcus
A FASHION, advertising and media code of conduct will be introduced by the Federal Government in which organisations can apply for a "body-image-friendly" symbol similar to the Heart Foundation's tick for approved foods.
The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal exclusively the details of the voluntary code, which will be launched by Youth Minister Kate Ellis this morning.
The announcement follows an almost two-year consultation process that began in October 2008, when Ms Ellis announced she wanted to curb the glamorisation of unhealthily thin women, which has contributed to children as young as six counting calories and developing eating disorders.
The key principles of the code include:
NOT running advertisements for rapid weight loss, cosmetic surgery, excessive exercise or other commercials that may promote a negative body image.
ONLY using models aged 16 or older to model adult clothes, both on catwalks and in print.
REFRAINING from using models who are very thin or male models who are excessively muscular.
DISCLOSING when images have been retouched and refraining from enhancing photographs in a way that changes a person's body shape, for example lengthening their legs or trimming their waist, or removing freckles, lines and other distinguishing marks.
STOCKING clothing in a wide variety of sizes in shops to reflect the demand from customers.
USING a broad range of body shapes, sizes and ethnicities in editorial and advertising.
The Government has also committed $500,000 in funding to develop education programs, together with the eating disorder group The Butterfly Foundation, to promote the code.
The school program will see 2500 educators trained to teach 100,000 students aged between eight and 18 about positive body image, covering topics such as media literacy and self-esteem.
A panel chaired by author and former Cosmopolitan editor Mia Freedman and comprising health and academic experts will spend the next six months defining the criteria organisations have to meet in order to be awarded the body-image-friendly symbol.
Ms Ellis urged the industry to embrace the voluntary code.
"Body image is an issue that we must take seriously because it is affecting the health and happiness of substantial sections of our community," she said.
"The symbol is a win for consumers. It will empower consumers to tell the fashion, beauty, media and modelling industries what they want and provide greater choice."
The code has received the endorsement of leading women's and girls' magazines The Australian Women's Weekly and Girlfriend, along with plus size agency BGM Models.
The Australian Women's Weekly editor Helen McCabe said the magazine would commit to identifying photographs of women that had been altered digitally.
"As Australia's biggest-selling magazine, I am proud to be taking a leading role in what is going to be a gradual process for the industry," McCabe said.
"Our readers are highly sophisticated and increasingly demand the images they see of women be more realistic."
French politician Valérie Boyer too is pushing hard for a law forcing warning labels attached to photoshopped images in the French media.
As much as I sympathise with anorexic victims and am sometimes horrified at certain blatantly photoshopped images I think the Aussie Fed Govt & French Parliament have more urgent things to see to and settle.Passing laws or holding conferences about advertising codes cost money that could be put to more immediate & better use.
While I applaud efforts made to improve the image of women & men in all their natural allure I think magazine readers & TV viewers shouldn't be under-estimated either.We know when something doesn't look right & its become blasé even verging on comedy & ridicule.
Its not up to any Nanny state to survey teenagers being influenced by & believing in photoshopped images in advertising & fashion.Its up to parents to keep an eye on what their children are reading & watching on TV.And its for media editors to change the office's brand of coffee in the coffee machine.Would'nt hurt at all to have a balanced mix of thin & rounder models in the business.I'm not a socoiologue but all this image uproar creepily brings Big Brother to my mind.Just saying....
As much as I sympathise with anorexic victims and am sometimes horrified at certain blatantly photoshopped images I think the Aussie Fed Govt & French Parliament have more urgent things to see to and settle.Passing laws or holding conferences about advertising codes cost money that could be put to more immediate & better use.
While I applaud efforts made to improve the image of women & men in all their natural allure I think magazine readers & TV viewers shouldn't be under-estimated either.We know when something doesn't look right & its become blasé even verging on comedy & ridicule.
Its not up to any Nanny state to survey teenagers being influenced by & believing in photoshopped images in advertising & fashion.Its up to parents to keep an eye on what their children are reading & watching on TV.And its for media editors to change the office's brand of coffee in the coffee machine.Would'nt hurt at all to have a balanced mix of thin & rounder models in the business.I'm not a socoiologue but all this image uproar creepily brings Big Brother to my mind.Just saying....
Given magazines are going to be asked to disclose when Photoshop is used (which is every, single image) will they also ask that make-up use be disclosed? It too is a masking and enhancement tool.
I wish they'd get out of my life and let me live it as I see fit:
SKINNY models will be banished from catwalks and magazines under a massive overhaul of the fashion industry.
Diets for rapid weight loss and cosmetic surgery advertisements also will be phased out of magazines and clothing labels will be asked to stock a wide range of sizes in a new industry code of conduct.
Fashion labels and magazines also will disclose every celebrity photograph that has been air- brushed. And designers will be asked to use only models who are a healthy weight.
Skinny models with a dangerously low body-mass index and excessively muscular men will not be seen on catwalks.
Federal Youth Minister Kate Ellis will today unveil a new body image tick of approval, similar to the Heart Foundation's tick of healthy foods, for the media, advertising and fashion industries to stop the glamorisation of unhealthily thin women which has led to children developing eating disorders.
In a world first, the Federal Government is trying to tackle the issue of body image so that ordinary Australians do not feel pressure to attain unrealistic cultural ideals of beauty.
"Body image is an issue that we must take seriously because it is affecting the health and happiness of substantial sections of our community," Ms Ellis said. "It will empower consumers to tell the fashion, beauty, media and modelling industries what they want and provide greater choice."
The Sunday Times can exclusively reveal the details of the new code, which was developed after a two-year consultation process. It includes:
* Not running advertisements for rapid weight loss, cosmetic surgery, excessive exercise or other commercials that may promote a negative body image.
* Only using models aged 16 or older to model adult clothes, both on catwalks and in print.
* Refraining from using models who are very thin or male models who are excessively muscular.
* Disclosing when images have been retouched and refraining from enhancing photographs in a way that changes a person's body shape, for example, lengthening their legs or trimming their waist, or removing freckles, lines and other distinguishing marks.
* Stocking clothing in a wide variety of sizes in shops to reflect the demand from customers.
* Using a broad range of body shapes, sizes and ethnicities in editorial and advertising.
The Government has committed $500,000 to develop education programs with the eating disorder group The Butterfly Foundation and to promote the code.
The school program will have 2500 educators trained to teach 100,000 students aged between eight and 18 about positive body image, covering topics such as media literacy and self-esteem.
The code has received the endorsement of leading women's and girls' magazines The Australian Women's Weekly and Girlfriend, along with plus-size agency BGM Models.
Australian Women's Weekly editor Helen McCabe said the magazine would commit to identifying airbrushed photographs of women and said readers were increasingly demanding that photographs of women be more realistic.
"In the spirit of the code of conduct, The Weekly undertakes to identify photographs of women that have been digitally altered," she said.
"I am proud to be taking a leading role in what is going to be a gradual process for the industry."
Figures show 70 to 76 per cent of Australian high school girls consistently choose an ideal figure they wish to have that is thinner than their own.
I love this one most of all:
Stocking clothing in a wide variety of sizes in shops to reflect the demand from customers.
If a shop wants to cater for a particular demographic, they can. If there's a demand from other sizes and shapes, that's up to the store to cater to them. Not for a government to insist that they must.
If the store fails to find customers (as this "demand" statement implies) then they'll go bust. That's simple economics and doesn't need any kind of regulation.
Stocking clothing in a wide variety of sizes in shops to reflect the demand from customers.
If a shop wants to cater for a particular demographic, they can. If there's a demand from other sizes and shapes, that's up to the store to cater to them. Not for a government to insist that they must.
If the store fails to find customers (as this "demand" statement implies) then they'll go bust. That's simple economics and doesn't need any kind of regulation.
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