The Effects of Thin Models On Today’s Teenagers
The Effects of Thin Models on Today's Teenagers
The media's obsession with painfully thin fashion models has supposedly contributed to the growth in eating disorders among young girls, according to the British Medical Association. There are an estimated 60,000 people in Britain with eating disorders. 20% of these die, 40% never recover and 90% are female.
The report brought out by the association says the models and actresses in the 1990s commonly had body fat levels as low as 10% - the average for a healthy woman is 22% to 26%.
Is it because of this that children as young as 5 or 6 are being treated for eating disorders?
Women's magazines have been under attack for years, accused of promoting unrealistic body images of exceptionally thin models.
Should they be made to have "more realistic body shapes" or are thin models what fashion needs to stay at the top?
Editor for Vogue, Alexandra Shuman is for the argument that today's models are not to blame for the many cases of eating disorders among obsessed teenagers.
She says that all they are doing is showing images of woman they regard as interesting or beautiful or fashionable, and that they are not actually saying that you have to be like it.
Premier, the London-based model agency that represents supermodels Naomi Campell and Claudia Schiffer also agree that the models are not to blame. They say that women who buy the fashion magazines featuring thin models were as much to blame as the editors and advertisers.
"It is a supply and demand thing - advertisers, magazines and agencies supply the image that consumers want to see. Statistics have repeatedly shown that if you stick a beautiful skinny girl on the cover of a magazine you sell more copies."
A research carried out in 1999 studied 219 girls aged 13 to 17. The girls were given a 15-month subscription to a magazine and then compared with a similar group who were not allowed to read the magazine.
The researches said that despite the increased amount of time participants spent reading the fashion magazine, there were no effects on body dissatisfaction, thin-ideal internalisation, dieting or negative effect over time.
The study suggested that the negative effects have little long-term impact. Teenagers who already had a poor body image however, felt more negative about themselves and more ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
A research carried out in 1999 studied 219 girls aged 13 to 17. The girls were given a 15-month subscription to a magazine and then compared with a similar group who were not allowed to read the magazine.
The researches said that despite the increased amount of time participants spent reading the fashion magazine, there were no effects on body dissatisfaction, thin-ideal internalisation, dieting or negative effect over time.
The study suggested that the negative effects have little long-term impact. Teenagers who already had a poor body image however, felt more negative about themselves and more depressed after reading the magazine.
This evidence came to the conclusion that media images don't cause eating disorders, but if someone is going through an emotionally turbulent time, it is possible that if they are bombarded with particular images, their thought processes might be influenced.
Some people believe that we are not really blaming the right people. That if people stopped being so rude and commenting on how others looked, then a lot of weight confidence problems would also stop.
The point also comes up that no one complains about female athletes being skinny and yet models are ostracised. The thought that if women work out instead of using diet to control their shape then they will have quality bodies and no health problems.
The models are thin because fashion designers want their clothes to look their absolute best. For example - if you were advertising food, you would not set the photograph of the food in a filthy kitchen, so when you advertise clothing, you would put the clothes onto a model that looks the best. It is a fact that the majority of clothes look better on tall, thin women. The clothes hang better.
The counter argument is against such thin models
We live in a very image conscious society. Young girls previously satisfied with their body shape are going around carrying a thin image they have seen in the media. It is suspected that they begin to compare themselves unfavourably to the images for a variety of reasons.
In a thin culture, it is thought that thin equals success, but it can be very difficult for a girl to acknowledge the impact of media images.
It is the poor young girls who see these waifs in the magazines that suffer the most to become the unrealistic idols they watch and admire. The images just reflect the illusionary ideals that the world we live in tell us is acceptable. Intelligent women are starting to stand up and say "NO" to the beauty myth.
Beauty in being skinny though, is primarily a Western concept. In such places as India, it's the voluptuous, well-rounded women that are desired. In a land of hot spicy curries and kebabs, it's a crime to see some women entertainers and models look like dry, bland sticks.
Many believe that woman of all shapes and sizes should be used by the Designers. You may be more likely to buy designer clothes if you could see what they would look like on the average women. By using all shapes and sizes, designers would be able to show if they have any real talent, and it may help in the battle against eating disorders.
It is a wonder who the designers actually think they are making the clothes for. Certainly not the average women. And are they incapable of making attractive clothes for average people? Some believe it is time to change the current attitude because it is affecting the health of many young girls.
The emphasis on being skinny is against nature itself. By portraying skinny models as the sample of beautiful women is totally against nature's own pattern, and is thought that such thinness should not be promoted.
There is constant pressure on models to remain waif like so that they continue to be employed, and the influence they have on may young and inpressionable girls who see these models as glamorous and wish to be just like them.
Impossible role models are set for today's young women. Pressure is put on them to feel they have to be slim to be beautiful and are ugly and ignorant if they are heavier than the models that they are constantly exposed to.
Another problem would be at the opposite end of anorexia. Obesity. This too is a growing problem with a large amount of sufferers. It is hard to know if these figures will go up if the models gain more weight instead of the thin image.
In conclusion to these points of view, the equation skinny fashion models = eating disorders is overly simplistic and oven has a much deeper root below the surface. Looks are all about confidence and nothing else. Anyone who is comfortable with his or her appearance should model if they want to.
Models nowadays are 23% lighter than the "normal" woman. Its interesting to ask have models become thinner, do women on average weigh more, or is there a combination of these two factors? In any event, whatever the reason, the image of women portrayed by models in the media seems to be much further away from reality than it was in the past - and many believe that surely that can't be good.
I personally believe in the supply and demand idea, where it's the thin models that sell the products, and so the purchasers are as much to blame as the designers and employers of the models.
The media I think can make the insecure believe that if women are slim then they can live a fantasy world - they'll get guys, they'll get the riches, and the world will bow to them; they'll be famous. But this isn't true.
Being a teenage girl myself, I know every pressure there is put on teenagers and young women for a perfect figure, and I know how these images are degrading.
I think the models should have fuller figures, of which Sophie Dahl is a prime example, to prevent skinny, sometimes ill models infecting the young.
It is obvious that the viewers should not be so gullible to believe that the images they see are what they have to look like.
People really do forget about the feelings of thin people when discussing the subject of eating disorders. Some women are naturally thin but have difficulty putting on weight.
As the great social commentator Popeye once said;
"I am what I am"
People should heed his words and be happy with who they are. He wasn't exactly an oil painting but he always ended up with the girl!
Harriet Kemp 9H2
