A "Model" Way to Fight Anorexia
France joins the fashion fight against using "dangerously thin" models?
Add France on to the distinguished list of countries joining the worldwide drive to fight anorexia. Other countries, including Italy and Great Britain, have already taken measures to fight the promotion of excessively skinny top models. But Spain remains the country that has put the most money where their mouth is by banning models from their fashion shows whose bodies were under the BMI of 18.
Music to my ears...hearing the new report that some organizations representing fashion houses and advertising firms in Paris signed a charter of good conduct about using images that contribute to or promote extreme thinness. Those who sign the charter commit to "heighten public awareness about the acceptance of physical diversity."
What? Did they say "physical diversity"? Wow! Body diversity...what a concept (a way of thinking that I have promoted and written about for decades). Anyone who works out in the back of an aerobics or palates class (that would be me) can clearly see that body diversity is alive and well in America anyway. Even in a class of "fit" women, 50 women working out means 50 different and beautiful types of bodies. I've always said, "viva la difference!"
Anyway, now some French companies and organizations are seemingly singing a new tune. On a volunteer basis, however, people signing on are pledging to promote diversity in the representation of the body, avoiding all forms of stereotyping that can favor the creation of an aesthetic archetype that is potentially dangerous to youth.
But I always say, "actions speak louder than words." And according to one American teen model's account in June/July Teen Vogue, scary skinny is definitely NOT out of fashion, literally. Ali Michael recalls during her past trip to Paris that in fact she was told by runway decision-makers that she had "fat legs" and "huge ankles." Simply put, designers in Paris didn't want to work with Ali now that she was healthy.
What kind of precedent are we setting with this super skinny model standard? Two words - eating disorders. Ali admits in her Teen Vogue interview that most of the models she knows that are very thin have some kind of issue with food. Ali believes that if healthy sized models dominated the runways, the public would be much more accepting of and interested in the fashion world. I couldn't agree more Ali!
All the charter signing and mention of "physical diversity" is a step in the right direction. But changing the way the fashion world and specific designers think is altogether another matter.
Now, if we can only have a more realistically sized winner on America's Next Top Model. Now that I think about it, that is exactly what happened on the just-completed season of America's Next Top Model. The winner was Whitney, considered a "plus size" model on the show. I still can't figure out how she qualifies as a "plus size" when I believe she was wearing a regular size 10 on the show. Hey, Tyra, how about a show called America's Next Top Normal-Size Model?
The dialogue continues!
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: body image, America's Next Top Model, anorexia, healthy diet
Add France on to the distinguished list of countries joining the worldwide drive to fight anorexia. Other countries, including Italy and Great Britain, have already taken measures to fight the promotion of excessively skinny top models. But Spain remains the country that has put the most money where their mouth is by banning models from their fashion shows whose bodies were under the BMI of 18.
Music to my ears...hearing the new report that some organizations representing fashion houses and advertising firms in Paris signed a charter of good conduct about using images that contribute to or promote extreme thinness. Those who sign the charter commit to "heighten public awareness about the acceptance of physical diversity."
What? Did they say "physical diversity"? Wow! Body diversity...what a concept (a way of thinking that I have promoted and written about for decades). Anyone who works out in the back of an aerobics or palates class (that would be me) can clearly see that body diversity is alive and well in America anyway. Even in a class of "fit" women, 50 women working out means 50 different and beautiful types of bodies. I've always said, "viva la difference!"
Anyway, now some French companies and organizations are seemingly singing a new tune. On a volunteer basis, however, people signing on are pledging to promote diversity in the representation of the body, avoiding all forms of stereotyping that can favor the creation of an aesthetic archetype that is potentially dangerous to youth.
But I always say, "actions speak louder than words." And according to one American teen model's account in June/July Teen Vogue, scary skinny is definitely NOT out of fashion, literally. Ali Michael recalls during her past trip to Paris that in fact she was told by runway decision-makers that she had "fat legs" and "huge ankles." Simply put, designers in Paris didn't want to work with Ali now that she was healthy.
What kind of precedent are we setting with this super skinny model standard? Two words - eating disorders. Ali admits in her Teen Vogue interview that most of the models she knows that are very thin have some kind of issue with food. Ali believes that if healthy sized models dominated the runways, the public would be much more accepting of and interested in the fashion world. I couldn't agree more Ali!
All the charter signing and mention of "physical diversity" is a step in the right direction. But changing the way the fashion world and specific designers think is altogether another matter.
Now, if we can only have a more realistically sized winner on America's Next Top Model. Now that I think about it, that is exactly what happened on the just-completed season of America's Next Top Model. The winner was Whitney, considered a "plus size" model on the show. I still can't figure out how she qualifies as a "plus size" when I believe she was wearing a regular size 10 on the show. Hey, Tyra, how about a show called America's Next Top Normal-Size Model?
The dialogue continues!
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: body image, America's Next Top Model, anorexia, healthy diet
5 Comments:
Body type diversity really is the next frontier - you are right.
But, oh, what a lot of work to do to get there!
Maybe "skinny runway" is in in the modeling world...but I think it's out in the real world.
I hate how being chunky or larger means that you’re obviously unhealthy. Even with a strict diet and vastly increased exercise, I was only barely “normal” sized, and no matter how much weight I lost, my mother always said I needed to lose “just ten more pounds”.
I can’t help the fact that I have naturally large breasts or a more full figure. Of course, since then, I have gained more weight due to being poor and having to starve myself for a few months to make rent and keep a roof over my head while in college. Adding to that, I had to take a job that had weird hours, leading to sleep deprivation and irregular sleep patterns. And then on top of that the stress of being a full time student while trying to network and possibly get ahead in the academic arena, it’s no wonder that I gained weight more easily. Of course, since I don’t hate myself for how I look now, I’m considered bad because my body image is supposed to be self-flagellating instead of calm acceptance and working to make myself healthier. Of course, since I don’t do it fast enough, I’m considered a failure, but then again, my body frame and shape doesn’t lend itself to “melting” fat into waifish thinness anyway.
What bothers me is that there’s a tiny line between being “unacceptably overweight” and “normal”, and if you’re a size 16, you’re considered “gross and horrible” while if you’re a size 10, you’re somehow just fine.
Even if you are obese, there is no reason to promote hating yourself. Sure, it’s a good idea to reevaluate your lifestyle and make changes to diet and exercise, but the main prescription that I hope that doctors will start withholding is that painful value judgment of those of us who aren’t wafer thin, as though we are lost causes and just because we don’t have the money, time, genetics, plastic surgery and personal trainers that top models and celebrities have, doesn’t make us inferior and deserving of scorn and prejudice. How can you ever love your body even if you do lose weight if you’re constantly bombarded with the admonition that if you are a certain size, that you as a person are unacceptable? It’s one thing to treat someone’s overall health, but it’s quite another to blame an arbitrary weight as a judgment of someone’s success or failure at life.
I hate having to apologize for my size, even though I have no problems getting to where I need to go, am healthy, have good eating habits, and do all I can to maintain a good healthy body. I constantly have to defend myself and give evidence that I am not some sloppy fat pig who just rolls around in lard all day, simply because of my size, which, if you look at the average American, is not exactly even over the mid range in weight or size.
This society bothers me so much when I see people more willing to blame a person for a problem than to find a solution to benefit everyone. We’re so much happier to talk about the evils of fast food and disgusting fat people who jus t can’t control themselves instead of actually finding good ways to help people live healthy lives at whatever size their good health finds them at.
And as a final note, I’d like to mention that in our society, we SAY that we value health, but it’s not particularly true when I look at things. Thin people who don’t gain an ounce no matter what they eat are considered “lucky” because they can eat “anything”. We all look with jealous eyes at the garbage that they can consume without apparently suffering any physical effects. The truth of it, though, is that eating unhealthily, no matter how much weight you don’t gain, is still unhealthy and it’s still bad for you. Instead, we look up to these skin and bones people who can “eat whatever they want” because in our society, excess is considered privilege, and as long as you can be excessive in all areas that we value (sex, love, money, eating, etc), without appearing to get any of the negative effects (STDs, bankruptcy, fatness, etc), then you’re revered as a better person, even though appearances can be deceiving, and more often than not, these people are just as unhealthy inside as most of us are on the outside.
I hate how having a BMI under 18 is automatically considered unhealthy. I am a perfectly healthy and fit 25 year old that has a BMI of 17.5. I take great care of myself by eating healthy and exercising. I have always been thin. I completely agree with body type diversity, but diversity means accepting all body types - even those that are thin. Living healthy should be the ultimate goal - and then end result of that is different for everyone.
i agree with everyone here
i have a BMI of 16.6 and have always been thin all my life
in fact i have recently GAINED some weight
but doesnt matter cause im still supposely "in starvation" which is not true because I eat probably more than an overweight person
also im sick of people telling me im anorexic and having to defend myself
people should really have some respect for others
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