- Skeletal Fashion Models Glorify Anorexia - bloomsberrie4
The average American woman weighs 140 pounds and is 5'4" tall, while the average American model weighs only 117 pounds, despite being 5'11" tall. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, most fashion models are thinner than a staggering 98% of American women. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that many women suffer from low self-esteem and poor body image.
Why the Fashion Industry Uses Skeletal Models
According to modelling agencies in the UK, fashion models need to be thin to fit into the clothes samples provided for various catwalk shows and fashion shoots. Many clothes designers themselves openly suggest that their clothes look better when they hang well, on a thin model, thus attempting to rationalise and justify the use of skeletal models. If models are told by their agency that they need to be a certain weight and the agency is given tiny clothes samples by a designer, then surely the buck stops with the clothes designer?
Do You Find Skeletons Sexy or Anorexia Attractive?
The 2007 Model Health Inquiry highlighted that 50% of British models surveyed, believed that eating disorders, namely anorexia and bulimia, were a significant problem. Seventy percent of the models perceived there to be a trend for thinner models during the previous five years. This report is rather alarming, when one considers how seriously eating disorders can damage women, as well as men. While the presence of skeletal fashion models and stick-thin celebrities does not cause anorexia, it certainly does not help those trying to recover and maintain a healthy weight.
Stick-Thin Fashion Models, Low Self-Esteem and Poor Body Image
As identified in Susie Orbach's Bodies, it is estimated that a good 2,000 to 5,000 times a week, we receive images of bodies enhanced by digital manipulation, where models are airbrushed, photo-shopped and stretched, to present a body which is simply unattainable in reality.
What kind of a message is this sending to the next generation? How can digital retouching for children's photographs be acceptable? The diet industry is worth billions of dollars, yet obesity has reached epidemic proportions in many Western countries. We receive the same message each and every day, that you need to be "thin to win" or "slim for success," making it easy to see why this has a negative impact upon both self-esteem and body image.
Whilst obesity is on the rise, so are eating disorders, with children as young as five now being treated for anorexia. The key is to accept that your worth is not related to what you weigh. Children need to be taught from a young age that the images they see on posters and in magazines are neither real nor attainable in the real world.
Why London Should Follow Madrid and Ban Low BMI Models
Unfortunately, while Madrid has previously banned models of a BMI lower than 18, the main organizer of London Fashion Week (2006) chose not to follow suit. According to Chief Executive of the British Fashion Council, Hilary Riva, they did not wish to interfere in the "aesthetic of any designer's show." The phrase "money talks" certainly springs to mind. When patients in eating disorder units, battling life-threatening conditions are given a target weight of a minimum of BMI 20, what kind of message does this send them?
As highlighted above, whilst skeletal or rail-thin models do not cause eating disorders, they certainly are unhelpful to those with low self-esteem or poor body image. Fashion should be about making people feel good, rather than an excuse to glorify anorexia through promoting a size that only 2% of the population can achieve.
Sources:
National Institute of Mental Health
Orbach, S. Bodies. London: Profile Books, 2010.
Kate Le Page - Kate Henning-Le Page writes about eating disorders, body image and recovery issues. She specializes in anorexia recovery.
