Should Models Have a Minimum Weight Limit? Essay

It is proven that models nowadays weigh 23% less than the average woman.Girls believe that to have the ideal body, you need to be toned and slim, wheres for guys being muscular is the definition of perfection. The problem starts to become much severe , when it ultimately leads to serious habits such as eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia and in most cases, suicidal attempts.

The fashion industry plays a huge role in portraying bad images of ideal beauty, which in turn affects today’s society perception of their own body image. Not only are women affected by what is seen and heard about how the perfect body should appear, children of young ages are now feeling insecure and obsessed with their bodies before they reach teenage years. This ‘ideal image’ the fashion industry continues to enforce only focuses on very thin models who seem to be in shape and are very healthy. Furthermore, many people think of the influence from the fashion industry as being human representations (models). Because of the rising problem with the image of beauty within the fashion industry, it is shown that even mannequins and non-human representations (mannequins, dolls, photoshopping) of bodies play a significant role in women’s body image; which causes problems to the individual. (Anshutz & Engels, 2010). Body image and self-satisfaction, eating disorders and non-human representations all can cause harm to the individual, if prolonged.

Laine Sterbenz, a student from the University of Kentucky and popular blogger on Odyssey, concludes that skinny models give girls and women motivation to live healthier lifestyles in a way no other body type could. In her post, she argues that models have that skinny body that is desired by every girl, the ideal to work to attain. She then continues into saying that if overweight models were to be used, or even average sized ones, then women wouldn’t actually have the motivation to want to eat better and live a healthier life, because they would already be satisfied with how they look. While Sterbenz brings up valid points, she weakens the argument by contradicting her own statements, and unwittingly promoting unhealthy eating habits and

It seems like every young girl dreams of becoming a model these days. Every young girl has the desire to get thinner than other girls in order to look like models on T.V, magazines and so on. The New York Times publishes articles for the majority of the audience to read, which is mostly adults. Mim Udovitch’s article, “A Secret Society of the Starving” talks about two major eating disorders that are anorexia and bulimia within many girls. Udovitch reports stories about three girls that are going through these disorders or have gone through them. The three girls Udovitch includes are Claire, Chaos, and Futurebird. Ken Jackson’s interpretation of

Cindy Crawford in a magazine interview states, “‘do you look at me and want to puke?’ Evidently, they’re not hearing or paying attention to a deafening ‘Yes’ from the seven million American girls and women who, according to Dr. Vivian Meehan, suffer from eating disorders” (Zimmerman). Even if you don’t have an eating disorder, you are still affected by the media and supermodels. Saying to yourself “If I had those shoes I’d look as stunning as her”, models are used to sell products but instead sell their bodies and the products are just vamping that up. Models leave millions of young impressionable people, striving for an unachievable perfection. Dr. Morris Fishbein says, “Of all of the fads which have afflicted mankind, none seems more difficult to explain than the desire of American women striving for the barber pole figure.” (Zimmerman). Why is being a bean pole so sought after? If the media

One may believe that slim celebrity pictures make people avoid being that weight, while it is also believed that these celebrities may be causing a weight drop in people around the world. Kelly Cutrone, owner of People’s Revolution, states that models are born with the characteristics needed to model, and these models are not unhealthy. Also, Psychologist Douglas Bunnell states that stars simply show the horrors of eating disorders, and how people should avoid disorders of this kind. However, it seems as though the models are underweight as many have passed out because of dehydration. In refutation to Bunnell, it seems, through studies, that smaller celebrities inspire young people to become the

The Fashion Industry is affecting the way many people look at themselves. In today’s society there is always an ad promoting fast food, clothing brands, Cars. Etc. almost all of them have a model to promote their products. These fashion models are usually, extremely thin, tan, tall, and gorgeous. This set a negative standard for many women on what they should look like and can often cause to self-esteem issues. The Media is having a negative effect on body image by choosing to settle toward an unrealistic persona. In Addition, this has created many young girls, to have eating disorders such as bulimia, anorexia, and fasting. However, some businesses have started gravitating toward plus size models to stop the affects it has on society. Plus, also many companies are limiting the amount of photo shopping and airbrushing. The issues are far from being resolved but numerous people are working toward making a change.

Everyone is special and unique in their own way. No one can change the way someone looks and acts. So why let the modeling industry change the way someone should look like. People can not let the modeling industry have an affect on them to where they have eating

If it isn't bad enough that the media only shows fashion models who are much smaller than most of the women in our society anyway, the new trend is for the images of these women to be digitally retouched and airbrushed so as to make them appear even smaller than they are in real life. Not only

When Victoria’s Secret is allowed to have models prance around on screen but Lane Bryant Ads (lingerie for plus size women) is banned then there’s a problem. The media is portraying these models who are thin to the point where it is unhealthy. And the media is feeding society lies. A perfect example is of Gerran Tyler. Tyler was a 12 year old supermodel. She walks the run way for clients like Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, and Betsey Johnson. She’s tall, thin, the perfect model because she hasn’t hit puberty yet. She walked during New York Fashion Week and posed for these designer brands advertisements. This body type is unachievable for almost all adult women (Roberts). Somebody in their twenties or thirties doesn’t have the ability to look like a twelve year old girl, but this is how these designers are telling us to look. Tyler had an amazing career and high expectations but the fame didn’t last long. As she got older and hit puberty she began to develop boobs, hips, and curves. She began getting less and less bookings. Her supermodel career was virtually over. “Eighty percent of 10-year-old American girls say they have been on a diet” and the, “Number one magic wish for young girls 11-17 is to be thinner” (Missrepresentation). This self-esteem problem with young girls is a result of these unobtainable ideas of beauty. Jennifer Siebel, creator of the documentary Missrepresentation, says

Having a skinny body is very important in the modeling industry. Bigger women always get turned down. This makes them feel unhealthy and not as beautiful as the other women that are modeling. The hard part for models is to keep their weight down to a certain number, otherwise, they are not allowed to model anymore. Today, in America many women are suffering from eating disorders, and other negative behaviors which make women do things to their body that they should not do. Men are attracted to healthy women regardless if the woman is older. Most modeling agencies prefer skinny women because they believe having smaller women as models would attract men there to support them. The media thinks being overweight is ugly which is unfair for bigger women because women of any size should be able to model. The media shows thin women on television

For many years there has been size discrimination amongst the fashion industry. Some companies want to say that women are too big or too skinny. Yet this may be true in some cases, this does not mean that their assumptions should affect who can and cannot model. When fashion industries are picking models, they should consider that not every woman is the same size and their weight, if healthy, should not affect their chances of becoming a model.

Photo editing to get the “perfect” body makes women turn to eating disorders to obtain that look

Throughout the years, models have been progressively been getting skinnier. "Size 6 (UK size 10) was a normal size" (Littlejohn). There are many downsides to the super thin models of today. They cause unattainable standards of beauty for people which leads to eating disorders such as bulimia, anorexia, and binge eating. This is affecting models and teenage girls the most, peoples health is being sacrificed for "fashion", and it needs to stop.

A large contributing factor to this problem is that many people in the fashion world encourage the use of overly thin models in editorials and fashion shows. For example, as Kathryn Shattuck, What's On Today: [The Arts/Cultural Desk], mentions that Kelly Cutrone, world renowned fashion publicist, encourages, “Clothes look better on thin people. The fabric hangs better” (1). The fashion industry’s emphasis on being thin and its use of extremely underweight models in unacceptable. Many people would agree that the fashion industry plays the majority role in eating disorders, but Lisa Hilton, British Vogue writer, disagrees. Hilton argues, “Its objective is selling clothes, and the consensus remains that in order to achieve this, models need to be thin . . . Fashion is about fantasy, about impossibility, about, dare we say it, art. Most women can’t tell the difference” (1). Hilton condescendingly continues to refute the criticisms that models are too thin and the fashion industry encourages eating disorders.