Skinny Models Banned
Modeling agencies are outraged.
The regional government of Madrid, Spain (who sponsors the Fashion Week show) has imposed restrictions that effectively ban skinny models from appearing on the catwalk.
From NY Fashion Week Spring 2007
...the fashion industry had a responsibility to portray healthy body images. "Fashion is a mirror and many teenagers imitate what they see on the catwalk," said regional official Concha Guerra. ( via Washington Post)The model must have a BMI of 18 or over. So far 30% of models have been turned away. Under current health guidelines a BMI of 18.5 or under is considered underweight.
Eating disorder activists said many Spanish model agencies and designers oppose the ban and they had doubts whether the new rules would be followed.UPDATE: This issue has developed further - read more here."If they don't go along with it the next step is to seek legislation, just like with tobacco," said Carmen Gonzalez of Spain's Association in Defense of Attention for Anorexia and Bulimia, which has campaigned for restrictions since the 1990s.
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Intuitively, amenorrhea due to low body weight would seem to be an unhealthy condition, however intuition is not always correct, and I'm not sure one way or the other about this. It's possible that intermittant fertility may actually be protective of the individual.
Being fit, people have said to me,"You can eat anything you want!" At times I have responded,"Yes I can, but I'm not foolish enough to do it!"
This is from another topic, but I wanted to say to Jan that your story about your aunt and her (and your)crooked pinky finger was very touching and illustrated to me the very caring nature of your comments on this site.
ReplyIf one of your normal functions shuts down, that's a sign that what you are doing is unhealthy and that it's time to correct the situation, rather than continue, before something worse happens.
Replyyeah well i have a BMI of 17.2 and i am still healthy
ReplyI'm fed up of the whole 'too skinny' debate. The bottom line is if someone is starving themselves they are too skinny and not healthy.
ReplyHOWEVER models have always been thin and clothes do look better on thin models. I'm not convinced that seeing thin models makes everyone desperate to be thin or starve themselves, most people are in agreement that in real life these women are too thin. If the size of catwalk models was so influential why are so many people still obese? and so many children are now disturbingly fat.
I'm a 6 ft tall woman and i weigh around 9 and a half stone. I have always been slim. As a teenager i was constantly made to justify my size, while other girls pilled on the pounds i didn't - it's just my body shape. I was very thin as a teenager and always asked if i was starving myself. I've never been on a diet or eatten a diet product in my life, my friends and family have always been in disbelief about how much i eat and never get fat. I have asked the doctors why i'm always under weight despite eatting healthily, i have a fast metabolism and come from a skinny tall family, it's the way i am.
Please leave thin people alone. We aren't all curvy girls, with enormous breasts and arses.
You are using authoritarianism as a synonym for socialism, but I get your point. The difference is that when the free market went to the government looking for financial incentives, they opened the door to its input, just like they would if they'd gone to a corporate sponsor, like a soft-drink company or a car company or whatever.
I think that most corporate and government decisions are based on appearances. PR, if you will. They don't really care if the models are sick, or they'd establish a full-time weight restriction like Israel has. Though authoritative, you can say their government is concerned with that. In Spain etc, all they seem to want to achieve is being able to say that government money is not supporting possible scandals caused by death, drug arrests, and fainting on the catwalk. Notice how the rules were only established after the 2 models died (6 died, but Ana Carolina Reston and Luisel Ramos were the only 2 who got a lot of media attention) and after the Russian model whose name I don't remember fainted on the catwalk. It is all about plausible deniability in saying their money wasn't funding that kind of thing.
ReplyThanks, Dr. J. On the amenorrhea, I've read a lot/met Dr. Elsimar Coutinho, since my mother is his patient, and he defends the theory that periods should be hormonally stopped. He is a fascinating man, but I'm not convinced, haha. I'll keep my "useless bleeding" instead of having a device that releases artificial hormones inserted in my body.
I have to agree with W here. I think nature knows best. The theory that women were healthier because they hardly had periods since they were always pregnant doesn't seem very credible to me, because they used to die earlier than men, not later than men like they do now. But I think hormone health will be the last great breakthrough in medicine. Just like post-menopausal women used to be diagnosed with mental disorders and locked up, I think there is promising work being done, like the study by Cambridge university that gave 80-something anorexics small dosages of cortisone and no therapy whatsoever and found that they had higher recovery rates than the ones achieved by traditional ED treatment through therapy. I think a lot of "mental disorders" will still be proven to have a hormonal component.
Mary, the problem with the fashion industry currently is, as you said, you are an exception already, and yet if you wanted to become a model, they'd tell you needed to lose at least 15 pounds. Can you see how messed up that is? How can *you* need to lose weight?
Replyi think this is so sad that they have to use anorexic teenage girls instead of ordenary girls from off the street! i am 15 and im only 45kg but i feel good about my weight when i see pictures like that. the media seriously need to re-think their models because its not hot or inspirational!!
ReplyThere is no point on being that thin because most guys don't even like it! why do models feel like they have to be that thin?
Replyi think it is bad for their health but if they want to be anorexic than should because they hav a freedom of choice! I may not no much about this stuff because i am only 13 but i wouldnt buy a top if i saw it on a fat model and i dont think many people would! So i think skinny models are good and bad!
ReplyBrogan W, sorry to break it to you but you are anerexic, VERY MUCH SO! Even normal anerexic people eat around 300 cals a day. I'm sure your beautiful they way you are you don't need to be a skeleton to be beautiful. This model in the picture is to skinny! and whoever thinks she isnt is crazy!
Replynope because "fat models" as YOU call them are an inspiration unlike the tall set of bones in this picture!
ReplyModels SHOULD be skinny. Clothing looks better on a thin person - it drapes right. Who wants to see a fat model?The rest of us don't have to be Twiggy, but if the models are, what's the issue? A dangerous choice, but they get paid to maintain their bodies. The high fashion industry is the place for these models. Those of us that are bigger will have to settle for Wal-Mart.
ReplyBecause they have to be that thin to get hired. How old are you, 4?
ReplyThe point of my comment was to say I diapprove of discrimination based on size.
ReplyJust a comment on the amenorrhea thing...I sometimes let my body fat get too low when I run a lot. I don't seem to get my period when it gets below about 15% or so, but even when I let my body fat get down to 11%, I still wasn't underweight and definitely not bony or anything. I was ripped as hell, but not "skinny".
My roommate in college had Marfan's syndrome and she was 6'4" and weighed about 145 lbs. She looked like a skeleton and she actually was used as a model in the campus fashion show. She was healthy, I guess, as far as I could tell. But she was on medication for her Marfan's syndrome and couldn't participate in any contact sports and wasn't expected to live very long. She constantly told me that she wished she had a small, curvy body like mine and I always told her that I wished I had her long legs. I sometimes wonder how many models do have Marfan's syndrome? Some of those catwalk models kind of look like they do.
ReplyThat is discusting and i feel that you dont have to be that skinny to be a model. Why can the directors can't see that. Also men are not attracted to that. And whos going to buy the custome if they look like that.
Charlie.
ReplyThere’s a difference between having an eating disorder, and having good genes. I understand that some models do in fact go anorexic or bulimic to be so thin, but there’s no way of knowing what models have eating disorders and what don’t. It isn’t fair to punish everyone for the health issues of some. There shouldn't be a ban against "skinny" models unless there is a ban against "overweight" models as well.
ReplyIm doing a paper on models that should bee a certain weight. What do you think about this. I like your idea of banning models that are too skinny
Replyi love modeling and i really wanna become a proffesional one on the catwalk
Replyyoung girls that see these short of pics on the t.v and in mags think that it is natural becuase it is all tthey see. and girls and tenagers are tryiong to hard to become this image! it looks like they are ill and very very hungary!
Replywow that is really sick to be seen like that omg you guys are to dam skinny and its gross most guys like to see some meat on them girls but ya you guys may be really prettey until u look at you body can you say GRoSS on sick i cant stayed looking at it it makes me want to get sick
ReplyI find this exremly interesting. I am doing a report for this particuar topic for school. Being a young woman and struggling with being fairly over-weight, its hard for me to continue my dream of one day becomeing a runway model, although now with the influence of a new friendship, I do not want my body portraied as fat because am most definatley NOT. But when I was dreaming that sick dream of being a super-skinny, it was hard for me to fathom ever being able to walk on that runway- I shamefully admitt I did to the purge n' puke dance a few times and regert it immensely. This is the voice of a young girl who was influenced by this hell those people have created for us young girls. According the thesourus 'model' is a synonym for 'EXAMPLE!' I mean hello what kind of example is death?
Replysay there isn't much wrong with being anorexic.. its just that i find the picture a bit creepy..anyways i have no idea why they want such a horrifyingly skinny person up there to be the star.. i consider it WEIRD!!
ReplyI have been looking endlessly online to find an adequate weight GAIN program because I am naturally extremely thin. All I have found are weight loss programs and suggestions and diets etc. The few websites that talk about underweight women all seem to accuse me in some way of being anorexic or bulemic. (obviously not the case if I am looking for weight gain options). The only weight gain sites I find are for muscle building men. Skinny models are not the problem at all. I have been scouted many a time because it is my natural physique. My BMI is pretty low and I have spoken to my doctors about it and they seem to find me perfectly healthy and consider me lucky. I am not a health food fanatic. As a matter of fact, I probably eat more unhealthy because I am trying desperately to put on some pounds. To critisize people for their skinny physique is EXACTLY like walking up to someone who is overweight and calling them a fat pig. Just becasue the mentality of the fashion industry accepts skinny does NOT mean all skinny people want to be as thin as they are. I dont expect anyone to understand this thought; however, because we have all been brainwashed that there is only one great way to look. Fat people are happy about the ban on skinny models because they feel beautiful in their own skin, and now are singling out another look. This is NOT fixing the problem. It is taking the focus of one size and putting it on the other. If fat is good now, then something else must be bad, and that is skinny. Society is simply looking to point fingers and this is a situation where there is no right, wrong, good, or bad. It is a shame that so much focus is placed on size and not actual health.
ReplyAmanda; THANK YOU!
I'm not naturally thin, or thin at all really, but I hate how everyone is into this whole 'body acceptance' thing, when it's obvious they have a problem accepting any body that doesn't meet THEIR standards.
People are so acidic for no reason.
Replyand one additional thing to add:
a fashion model (unless they are designing their own clothes) is not a ROLE model. A voiceless image should not be someone's role model, unless that person chooses to stand for nothing. So the arguement that these women/men are role models is completely invalid. A role model is someone who inspires with a voice, point of view, and opinion/action. NOT someone who is paid to walk and take pictures.
ReplyModels:
ReplyYou know what you should do? Go grab a juicy hamburger at McDonalds with a large McFlurry and greasy fries. i love carbs
Hey everyone, get over yourselves. Some models are naturally very very thin. Some have eating disorders to look that way. And guess what? Some people are naturally big boned or overweight. Some eat a lot of crap food and let themselves go and become obese. Neither of those who go to either extreme are healthy. Some guys like skinny chicks. Some like them bigger. Once you accept yourself you'll find something better to do with your time than rant about girls that aren't up to your "curvaceous" standards.
Replywell said. and ps, I love Big Macs. McFlurries too. Im still thin. Sorry.
Replyok. so youre really dumb. its called a plus-size model. dur
ReplyJim, could you please change the name of the topic to Minus-size Models Banned?
ReplyIt has been proven that the false, air brushed images that appear in fashion magazines cause young girls to have depression and body dysmorphic disorder. The fashion industry works alongside the cosmetics industry and by causing girls to see themselves in a negative light they are assuring themselves profits in the sale of cosmetics. Some people are naturally thin, some people starve themselves to be thin. People should learn to differenciate between the two. Women are meant to be curvy, lets start being realistic.
Replythey probally do theres a certain weight to be a model just like there is for to skinny models!!!!!
Monica
Reply
Are you thinking of suicide because you are small? I can tell you how to put on muscle; it's a very easy process. The first 30 pounds of muscle should come without a lot of difficulty.
ReplyI am 5'4 and weigh 100lbs. If you were to calculate my BMI, I'm sure it would be low, and under 18 however I do not look annorexic. Banning skinny models is just stupid. Some people are naturally skinny, and you are just making them feel bad. And if this is a health factor, you should ban over-weight models as well, because that is also unhealthy. And when people go to a fashion show and see a model wearing an item of clothing, they aren't going to judge the way those pants look on the model. People have different body types and although it may look good on one person, it might not on the other. So the person would obviously try the item of clothing on, meaning the model is just there to advertise the clothing. And for those of you who say you want to see how it will look on you, well just try it on before you buy it, I mean you can't judge that on how it looks on someone else. I would also like to add that fashion is just a reflection of our society, not the cause of it. So stop blaming it on models because refulating the size of one is not going to solve our health issues.
Replythis ban is so stupid. who wants to see fat people walk down a runway? anyone who weighs over 110 pounds is over-weight. i am at 95 right now, and i am still trying to lose 5 lbs. i feel so fat right now, and i cant even imagine weighing 110. usually i eat yogurt, soup and sometimes a salad if im hungry. so all you fat people should put down your burgers and lose some weight!
Replywhy do girls strave them selves? i am a 14 almost 15 year old and i hate the wayi look. no matter how hard i try i still look the same. i don't know what else to saybut its wrong to starve urself and just live life because in the end, life is too short to be worried about ur weight.
Replyi am fat and ugly but i am loved by many. i am a great help and everyone thinks so. i try to take life by the horns and try my hardest. don't let your weight hold you back. get out there and you never no. u may lose a couple of kilos just by having fun
Reply