Are Models Too Skinny Research Paper

1515 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essays on the fashion industry advertising and body image

Position Paper
Are Models Too Skinny?
Esmée Zilverberg
B1
Brigitte van Pelt
Avans University of Applied Sciences
Are Models Too Skinny?
The question: are models too skinny, is a debate has going on since 1900. The discussion about fashion models and their body shape has been raging for over a century (Caroline Evans, 2015). The body shape of models influences the rest of the population. The ideal body type these days are the bodies of the models, and this needs to change. The reason there need to be a change is because models are too skinny and a lot of them got underweight.
The requirements for models in the high fashion industry are strict. The models must meet the sample sizes which the designers deliver for the fashion shows and the shoots. There is a vicious circle. The designer designs clothing in a size he or she thinks looks the best. After the show, magazines use the clothes that the models were wearing for their shoots. The magazines have to cast models at agencies who …show more content…

This view of a perfect body has consequences for the self-image of young girls and woman. It is also proven that most of the models are too skinny. These models are below the minimum BMI of 18.5. Being underweight brings some risks. Last but not least it is not logical that fashion designers use such small sizes because the average woman in America has a size 16. It would be more logical and fair if designer starts to use a more common size to promote their sales. I still believe the view of the perfect body needs to be changed. The sizes of the fashion models are for many women not achievable and it is not necessary and healthy to be as skinny as some of the models. Luckily more and more people start to realize models do not need to be as thin and unhealthy as the used to be. The new law in France must apply in every country and it need to be sharpened. All models have in the further a perfectly, healthy and more common

Show More
Related

  • Leslie twiggy Hornby

    1283 Words  | 3 Pages

    From Twiggy to Kate Moss, the fashion industry has been attached to idealizing extreme slenderness, encouraging real women to hate their bodies and at extreme, develop anorexia or bulimia. If these models are exemplars of ideal beauty, then the measure for women is that to be beautiful, starvation level is required. It appears that the media and the fashion industry would have the public believe that ultra thinness symbolizes beauty when in reality, the standard represents infertility, and premature death. The public has to realize that Twiggy is different.

    Read More

  • Comparison Between Marilyn Monroe and Kate Upton

    1874 Words  | 4 Pages

    Marilyn Monroe created a legendary image and was one of the most beautiful women of her time. Today, Kate Upton is almost the same size and some refer to her as “fat.” The ideal image fifty years ago was much more attainable than today’s standard extremely tall and thin models. What has changed in society to make us think this way? Modeling has changed drastically from an image that was curvy and healthy to an image that is very thin and hard to achieve.

    Read More

  • Negative Essay On Anorexia Nervosa

    823 Words  | 2 Pages

    All body types must be represented in the media. There has to be a balance between bodies, not biased towards one. There has to be equality within how people look. There has to be thin and fat models alike to represent everyone. Although a lot of female models are thin and most male models are muscular, not all of them are unhealthily so. In some cases, being thin is genetic rather than a disorder. Only a handful of models are Anorexic, but since the internet and other forms of media highlight these cases, it appears there are more than there

    Read More

  • Media And Eating Disorders Essay

    772 Words  | 2 Pages

    The photos seen in magazines of these models are also airbrushed and photo shopped before being printed. The body shapes of the models are unrealistic, unhealthy, and unobtainable for the average person. In addition to the models, magazines are also filled with advertisements. Most ads in magazines are directed towards beauty in some form. Again, these ads all show photographs of women with the unreachable “perfect body” that can cause multiple victims to feel insecure and unhappy about their body shape and weight.

    Read More

  • Anorexia and the Media

    576 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although thin people seem to dominate society, the average size for a woman today is a size twelve. That puts the number of models on a smaller scale, and boosts the number of ordinary girls that make up most of society today. It’s not just about ordinary girls outnumbering models; it’s about the way that the media portrays these models. Slowly, the image of the “thin and beautiful” being the best is going down the drain. Larger models and actresses are taking the places of the “thin.” Hopefully, this will decrease the increasing numbers of anorexics in the United States as well as all over the world.

    Read More

  • Anorexia Essay

    642 Words  | 2 Pages

    Rather than feature and promote unnatural body weights, society can benefit from the promotion of a healthy physical appearance. This would increase self acceptance for young girls of their body. After all, women and girls come in all sizes and shapes. If society cares about the future of our young girls, steps should be taken to minimize eating disorders. With the knowledge that young girls can be very impressionable, society and the media have a responsibility to stop promoting unrealistic body images. The need to have clothing look better on the runway is not more important than the health concerns of young women.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay: Vanity Size In A Clothing Store

    710 Words  | 2 Pages

    If you’ve ever been to a clothing store before, you have probably seen this phrase on a tag, one size fits all or one size fits most, but do you think one size really fits all? Whether too small or too big the reality is, one size does not fit all or most, “one size fits no one.” Companies each day are manipulating clothing by “vanity sizing” or “insanity sizing” which is a term that means, companies are manufacturing articles of clothing to be small or smaller than the normal size in order to increase sales. “Vanity sizing started off as a marketing tool.” Original sizing charts never had sizes 0 or 2 on them, until now because we are finally realizing that there are millions of sizes in the world. So companies are adding

    Read More

  • The Dangers for Models of Being Overly Skinny

    1249 Words  | 3 Pages

    “My lips and fingers were blue because I was so thin that my heart was struggling to pump blood around my body”, said teen model fashion Georgina (Carroll 1). The new skinny has become excessively scrawny. Is it definitely not normal for today’s society models to walk around with blue fingers starving themselves until their organs start failing! As for the model agencies, they couldn’t care less of the pressure and dangerous practices they put the models through in order for them to stay thin for the runway. Even fashion Designers continue to produce the smallest couture sample sizes and scout for the slimiest bodies to wear the designs not aware of the consequences of the pressure they not only put on models, but on the society girls to look like these starving models. And when the models continue to get offers from the most important fashion industries like Prada, it motivates them to keep doing what they are doing to stay in the shape they are in (Carroll 1). But little did the outside world know what this pressure had on the models and what they were doing to their bodies to peruse their modeling careers.

    Read More

  • Unrealistic Body Images

    1147 Words  | 3 Pages

    In conclusion, women should be comfortable in their own skin and shouldn’t feel compelled to be as thin as a model. Women need to feel appropriate and content in their own skin, and to not feel inferior to the model on TV or pasted in a magazine advertisement. We are all different and no woman is exactly the same and even the ones that seem to be picture perfect have flaws and love handles, and women need to realize that is the truth. So, by accepting one’s self for who they truly are and what they have accomplished in life is what is going to boost our self-esteem. Once the world understands this, then the media won’t have such a monumental affect on society.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Plus Size

    1070 Words  | 3 Pages

    sizeism, discrimination of someone based on their size or shape, (“sizeism”) is becoming less acceptable. Now is the time we want our daughters to grow up, we want them to grow up in a society that inspires them to thrive as they are and not one that makes them scrutinize every little detail of their body. Dread, the feeling most girls get when they look in the mirror or have to try on tight clothes, society is the reason girls hate the way they look, it makes them want to starve themselves and take extreme measures to get the body that fits societies standards. Do we

    Read More

  • The Need for Diversity in the Fashion Industry

    1415 Words  | 3 Pages

    Fashion models don’t need to be thin, they need to be diverse and healthy at whatever weight that is. Not everyone is supposed to be thin, some women are big boned and curvy, others are naturally slim and small boned, some are tall, others are short, some are light skinned and others are darker. So many diverse looks exist in the world today and the fashion industry need to change their perception of perfect. Body image in our society is out of control. We have young men and women comparing themselves to unrealistic models and images in the media and feeling bad about the way their own bodies look because they somehow don’t measure up. (Dunham, 2011) The struggle for models to be thin has led to models becoming anorexic or bulimic, untimely deaths, and inferiority complexes. Even worse is the fact that they influence a whole generation of young women who look up to these models and think “thin” is how they are supposed to be. They influence what we buy, how we eat and what we wear. Why has this specific group captured our attention so much? Why do we seem to be so fascinated in their lives, to the point where we try to look and act just like them? The media is largely to be blamed for this, many people believe the media has forced the notion that everything supermodels do is ideal. Others believe that the society is to be blamed because we have created a fascination with their lives. There are many opinions, and I agree with both of these specific opinions. We allow ourselves to be captivated by these people's lives, and the media portrayal of their lives seem to also enthrall us. (Customessaymeister, 2013) Despite the severe risks of forcing models to become too thin, designers, fashion editors, fashion brands and agencies still ...

    Read More

  • Plus Size Models Encouraging Obessity

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    Step out into the everyday world as an average American and you will witness an entanglement of varied body size, and shape. Now, enter the world of the media, a world in which you are formally introduced to high fashion, where flashing lights, money, glamour and riches crash around you, satiating every crevice of your being. Here, you will find two unified body types, divided into two categories of shape in women; thin, and thick. Naturally, any woman who wishes to someday strut down the catwalk in Zac Posen, or pose in Marie Claire wearing Dolce and Cabana must have a body that fits one of these required molds, right? It is a well-known reality that many women who cannot reach by healthy means, or do not already have, the desired body type for fashion industries, will develop an eating disorder to starve their way into the position. However, most fail to address the issue of obesity that curdles on the other end of the physical spectrum; the plus size modeling industry. This statement not only boils the blood of millions of American Women, but begs the question: If extremely thin models promote eating disorders, should we prohibit advertisers, especially those in fashion, from using plus size models, as they may promote obesity? To put it simply, no. Plus size models do not promote obesity because they only provide thicker, much larger women, confidence and appreciation for their body without pressuring them to take unhealthy means to shed pounds; they do not encourage overeating and lack of exercise.

    Read More

  • The Fashion Industry Promotes Eating Disorders

    1130 Words  | 3 Pages

    Society is now so used to seeing these models who have their beauty and superiority idolized that they feel all women must look this way. However, looking like a model is becoming increasingly unattainable. According to Bennett the difference between the catwalk and reality is so stark that the slightest change in a girls form makes them self-conscious because they are constantly sizing themselves up to models (Bennett). Today models are dramatically thinner and taller than they were a few years a...

    Read More

  • The Influcen of the Fashion Industry on Teenagers' Standard of Beauty

    406 Words  | 1 Pages

    Nowadays, the fashion industry is such a negative push on teenagers’ standard of beauty that it is now becoming an unsolved dilemma for our society. Firstly, Sarah Murdoch, the representative of Bonds underwear, is of the opinion that the fashion industry encourages “unhealthy body images” (Dunkerley, 2008) that are thought to be unrealistic and unhealthy for most women and girls. Besides, the fact that most designers prefer to choose thin models than bigger size ones (Bolger, 2007) shows us an astonishing phenomenon that there are series of clothes from size 0 to size 4 seen not only in the fashion shows but also even in the sale markets because they think that there will be “stigma attached” when doing something for “plus-size people” (Stevens, 2010). Naomi Crafti, representing Eating Disorders Victoria, thinks that teenagers are becoming obsessed with “the very skinny models on the catwalk” in the fashion shows (Stevens, 2010) which gradually leads to “eating disorders, mental health” and “negative body image in young people” (Stevens, 2010).

    Read More

  • Essay On Sizeism

    989 Words  | 2 Pages

    I often find myself asking what is the perfect body type. According to RCL blog 2016, “Today’s media is portraying people with a particular body type as being “perfect”, while others are given the connotation of being “ugly”.” Yet in reality the images seen on magazine covers or on T.V. are not realistic. Overall, I chose this subject so I could voice my opinion and fight for what’s right.

    Read More

More about Are Models Too Skinny Research Paper

Open Document