Retouchée au Féminin: The Gendered Nature of the French Law Mandating Labeling of Digitally Modified Images

Rachel F Rodgers,Katherine Laveway

doi:10.3390/laws10030062

Rachel F Rodgers, Katherine Laveway

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https://doi.org/10.3390/laws10030062

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Journal: Laws	Publication Date: Jul 31, 2021
License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Northeastern University, Hôpital Lapeyronie

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The majority of advertisements contain thin-ideal imagery that have been digitally modified. A robust body of research has suggested that exposure to these retouched images has negative effects on body image and increases eating disorder risk. Furthermore, these concerns are known to be highly gendered both in nature and in their extent, with women revealing higher levels of concerns predominantly related to thinness. Although not supported as a useful approach by empirical data, in 2017, France introduced a law requiring advertisers to label images featuring models whose weight and/or shape have been altered. These images must bear the label “photographie retouchée”, or “retouched image”. However, this legislation has been difficult to enforce, as unlike other French legislation related to labeling advertising, its lack of specificity makes it difficult to identify violations. Paradoxically, given its intentions, where applied, uses of the label disproportionately focus on women’s bodies in the media, as compared to men’s bodies. These findings highlight the need for legislation that is enforceable and supported by the allocation of sufficient resources. In addition, findings highlight the importance of grounding legislation and policy in the extant relevant data and involving strategic stakeholders in its creation.

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The saturation of the visual environment with images of unrealistic bodies has been highlighted as a major contributing factor to population levels of body image concerns and eating disorder risk (Levine and Murnen 2009; Want 2009)
The findings showed that while none of the advertisements that exclusively portrayed male models bore the label, the label did appear on some mixed-gender images
Consistent with this, social pressures to achieve media ideals are stronger among women who report higher rates of body image concerns and engagement in harmful appearancechanging behaviors (Schaefer et al 2017)

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Introduction

The saturation of the visual environment with images of unrealistic bodies has been highlighted as a major contributing factor to population levels of body image concerns and eating disorder risk (Levine and Murnen 2009; Want 2009). Noted to be increasing among men, such concerns continue to disproportionately affect women (Frederick et al 2007). Consistent with this, gender differences exist in media representation with unrealistic, sexualized, and objectified representations of women outnumbering those of men (Stankiewicz and Rosselli 2008). Limitations on the use of digital modification in media imagery and advertising have aimed to reduce harmful media influences on men’s and women’s body image. In 2017, new legislation was passed in France targeting this in print media. The aim of the present study was to explore the ways in which this legislation is both explicitly and implicitly gendered in its conceptualization and implementation, and critically interrogate its capacity to protect individuals across genders from harmful and unrealistic media depictions

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