subject: Being As Thin As A Model Is Not A Good Idea [print this page] The professional model is today's ideal, as far as figures are concerned. Before you accuse me of trying to turn all American men and women into professional models -- in size, anyhow -- I want to tell you that I don't want, expect or advise you to become this slender.
Psychologists and eating-disorder experts are worried about the same thing. They say the fashion industry has gone too far in pushing a dangerously thin image that women, and even very young girls, may try to emulate.
"We know seeing super-thin models can play a role in causing anorexia," says Nada Stotland, professor of psychiatry at Rush Medical College in Chicago and vice president of the American Psychiatric Association. Because many models and actresses are so thin, it makes anorexics think their emaciated bodies are normal, she says. "But these people look scary. They don't look normal."
The widespread concern that model thinness has progressed from willowy to wasted has reached a threshold as evidenced by the recent actions of fashion show organizers.
The Madrid fashion show in 2008 banned overly thin models, saying it wanted to project beauty and health. Organizers said models had to be within a healthy weight range. That means a 5-foot-9 woman would need to weigh at least 125 pounds.
Officials in India, Britain and Milan also have expressed concerns, but some experts say consumers in the USA will have to demand models with fuller figures for it to happen here.
"The promotion of the thin, sexy ideal in our culture has created a situation where the majority of girls and women don't like their bodies," says body-image researcher Sarah Mumen, professor of psychology at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. "And body dissatisfaction can lead girls to participate in very unhealthy behaviors to try to control weight".
Experts call these behaviors disordered eating, a broad term used to describe a range of eating problems -- from frequent dieting to anorexia nervosa (which is self-starvation, low weight and fear of being fat) to bulimia nervosa (the binge-and-purge disorder).
Girls today, even very young ones, are being bombarded with the message that they need to be super-skinny to be sexy, says psychologist Sharon Lamb, co-author of "Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters From Marketers' Schemes".
It used to be that women would only occasionally see rail-thin models, such as Twiggy, the '60's fashion icon. "But now they see them every day. It's the norm," Lamb says, from ads, catalogs and magazines to popular TV shows such as 'America's Next Top Model' and 'Project Runway'. "They are seeing skinny models over and over again."
On top of that, gaunt images of celebrities such as Nicole Richie and Kate Bosworth are plastered on magazine covers, she says.
What worries Lamb most is that these images are filtering down to girls as young as 9 and 10. Some really sexy clothes are available in children's sizes 6X, says Lamb. "Girls are being taught at a very young age that thin and sexy is the way they should be when they grow up, so they'd better start working on that now," she says.
'Glamour's Leive believes the media has a powerful influence on women's body images and a responsibility to represent women of all sizes. "We do not run photos of anybody in the magazine who we believe to be at an unhealthy weight. We frequently feature women of all different sizes. We all know that you can look fabulous in clothes without being a size 2."
Models will become heavier if that's what consumers demand. If people decide thin is out, the fashion industry won't have thin models anymore. And the one thing we all know is people want clothes to cover their bodies. Unfortunately, most people aren't comfortable with their bodies.
You needn't look like a model. You should look like yourself -- your better self -- the self that you could be, once your body has lost the needless and useless fat. You'll live longer, and have more fun living, too, once your weight has reached a normal range for your height.
