Should overly skinny models be banned?

[serious crayons]

If you watch some of the '70 cop shows, not only do they show bodies, they show how they got in that condition.  People are shown being beaten, shot and stabbed and the wounds actually having bloody holes and blood splattered.

Oh, I guess I didn't remember them that way. But then, I didn't watch that much TV in the '70s. Or maybe I got desensitized myself! 

I guess nowadays if you want blood and gore, you have to turn to medical shows. Some of those are pretty sickening.

Nowadays you see someone shot on TV, the person falls down and there is either no sign of a wound or you just see a hole or a bloody shirt and no wound.

That's true. What I was thinking of are incidents I've seen on "24," like when Jack Bauer, in a hurry to pressure this guy into handing over some info, suddenly without warning shot the guy's perfectly innocent wife in the kneecap right before the guy's eyes. I think he has also tortured, or threatened to torture, various other people (I only started watching last season). From what I've seen the wounds aren't particularly bloody, but having the hero of a show resort to those kind of methods is something I don't think they did in the '70s.

[Penthesilea]

Back on topic:

I'm with moremojo and Katherine here: I don't like overly skinny models, too. And I think it can (not must) damage children's image of how they should look like and can cause problems.
I'de be happy if overly skinny models weren't shown anymore. But: I'm not for banning. The thought of state authorities (in this case: local authorities) ruling and intervening into marcetplace for such a "minor" reason makes me cringe. Governments have always and will always intervene and rule certain aspects of economy, which is right and necessary (the ban of child labour is a good example). But governments should not overly intervene where it is not absolute necessary.

Children are exposed to many different things which can harm them: violent TV programms, alcohol, street traffic - it's an endless row.
It's the parent's duty to protect their children from it respectively to make them able to deal with these things.

The fact that some (many?) parents fail their duties does not justify to let governments overregulate things. Governments intervening should be reserved for the most important (as most dangerous) aspects. In my opinion aclohol is more threatening for children's/teenager's health than false role models. So I'm ok with laws for alcohol consume, but not for overly skinny models. (BTW: is the legal drinking age in all US states 21? That's something which for me, as an European, is strange too: letting teenagers drive cars at age 16, letting them vote and being an adult by law at 18, but they can't drink a beer before 21. But that's another topic).

That's true. What I was thinking of are incidents I've seen on "24," like when Jack Bauer, in a hurry to pressure this guy into handing over some info, suddenly without warning shot the guy's perfectly innocent wife in the kneecap right before the guy's eyes. I think he has also tortured, or threatened to torture, various other people (I only started watching last season). From what I've seen the wounds aren't particularly bloody, but having the hero of a show resort to those kind of methods is something I don't think they did in the '70s.

Uaaarg  . This is so awful. The massage is clear: it's ok to torture if it serves the purpose. I'm really not overly sensitive, but to show the "good" guys misregard humanity, to violate Human Rights means showing far more wrong role models for teenagers as overly skinny models are.

[delalluvia]

(BTW: is the legal drinking age in all US states 21? That's something which for me, as an European, is strange too: letting teenagers drive cars at age 16, letting them vote and being an adult by law at 18, but they can't drink a beer before 21. But that's another topic).

It is, but an interesting off-topic.  Last I heard, don't know if this is no longer the case, some states still had under 21 drinking, but it depended upon the strength of the alcohol - some beers were OK, but not hard liquors.

I remember one of my classes got into a debate about the age of drinking in Europe versus the U.S.  I think it was said that it costs a lot of money for someone to get a driver's license in Europe - in the particular case Germany - but you could buy a beer very very young.

So you had a dearth of very young people being able to buy and drink alcohol AND those who were able to drive legally.

In the U.S. it doesn't cost very much at all to get a driver's license or buy a beer, so you could have a large population of very young people both drinking AND driving.

The discussion went something like that.  I don't know how accurate it was. 

[serious crayons]

I turned 18 a few years after my state lowered the drinking age from 21 to 18. Then a few years later, the federal government said any state that wanted federal funding for highways had to set its drinking age at 21, and after that I think they all did.

So I was in that brief window of 18-year-old drinking (though I actually started at 15 -- I had friends who either were 18 or could pass for it.)

And yes, it seems incredible that you are considered old enough to get married, buy a house or fight in a war 18, but not to drink a beer.