Will a new California law help protect professional models?
A California legislator’s proposal to create new health standards and workplace protections for professional models in California cleared its first major obstacle on Wednesday, aided in part by testimony from former models who described harsh working conditions that involved sexual harassment and coercion to lose weight.
According to Mercury News, many talent agents objected the new piece of legislation, which is currently called Assembly Bill 2539 “Promoting Healthy Images” legislation – passed on a 5 to 2 vote. It now heads to the Assembly Appropriations Committee and if it passes there, would move to state Senate committees for consideration.
From Mercury News:
“I think that the powerful women beside me have made a compelling case” for the legislation, Marin County Democrat Marc Levine, the bill’s author, told the seven members of the Assembly’s Committee on Labor and Employment. They had just heard from three ex-models who recounted a workplace environment that they characterized as physically and mentally abusive.
“We made history by providing vital protection for farmworkers, and banning smoking in the workplace” as well as increasing the state’s minimum wage, Levine said. “This bill continues California’s worker protection efforts.”
Here’s the new requirements, if passed:
- All modeling agencies be licensed with the state Labor Commission
- Models be specified as employees, not contract workers.
- Require the state Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board adopt standards for models that address issues like workplace safety, eating disorders and sexual exploitation.
Penalties would be determined under current state labor law.
Levine said that the legislation would not only add vital protections for models, who he said typically begin working in the industry as children, but would also address concerns about the pressure models face about extreme thinness, and the social implications those images have, particularly on adolescent girls.
A former fashion model Nikki DuBose revealed that she was sexually harassed, financially exploited and pressured to lose weight. In fact Dubose revealed she became anorexic thanks to the modeling industry. “That is what happens in the modeling industry on a regular basis, and that is what happened to me.”
Via Mercury News
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