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Anorexia in top models
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Models are beautiful and well known. Many little girls look at what the models look like and see just pure beauty. They don’t see the money, the fame and the lifestyle. They just see the beauty and they want to be that Covergirl that has the perfect makeup and is just stunningly beautiful. They want to be in front of the camera having all the attention. Every little girl has had this experience atleast once. Call me crazy, but I still have that dream. I did some research to see what it is like and found some pretty disturbing things. The models have so much physical and mental strain. A small amount of the models are depressed or anorexic because their directors have way unrealistic expectations for their models. They have to be skinny, but
“A small study published in Eating Disorders the journal of treatment and prevention, that involved 22 women” (Hollandsworth). Girls are choosing unhealthy ways to stay fit and what they call the perfect size just to have a big appeal to the audience when at pageants. The encouragement of this behavior can lead to many body complications and disorders for these girls as they develop, only because they are not truly developing as an average young lady. “A 2007 report issued by the American Psychological Association Task force on the Sexualization of girls claims that parents who put their daughters in beauty pageants can contribute in very direct concrete ways to the precocious sexualization of the daughters” ( Hollandsworth). There has been research to prove that the actions of the young ladies is not all on their own, they have assistance with getting prepared for competitions and what to perform in competitions. Parents add more than what is necessary and can have a negative impact and not even know they are making matters worst than what they have to be. “Kiddie pageants are flourishing. Fueled by a reality TV show, an estimated 250,000 American girls participate in more than 5,000 beauty pageants every year” (Hollandsworth). Exploitation of these young girls is the “NEW BIG THING” to see and enjoy. Adults would rather watch little girls flaunt themselves
With all the traveling and being in the public’s eye, it is not uncommon for a model to have anxiety issues. “We found that the majority of models begin their careers very young — most start working before age 16” (modelalliance.org). The majority of models start working at the age of 16 and some even younger. They are required to work just as hard and be able to take the same jobs has models older than them. “60.5% of models lack the privacy while changing into clothes, 46.4% posed nude because they were okay with it, 86.8% have been asked to pose nude without advanced notice and 27.5% ended but posing nude because they felt they had to even though they didn’t want to” (modelalliance.org). Many models are exposed to modeling naked no matter what age they are. “‘Insecurity is in everyone and we don’t feel it just because we’re models. We just see ourselves more often because we’re in pictures all the time, so it’s become more apparent to us. It’s easier for us to admit that we are insecure. Models aren’t any different and we don’t think that we’re that perfect image’” (telegraph.co.uk). This statement was made by male model, Jamie Jewitt; Jamie has explains that he was not always as fit as he is and he usually only sees his imperfections. In the statement, he explains how everyone has insecurities even models like him and it's easier to admit it because of the amount of times they are in
Is it acceptable for toddler girls under the age of six to dress and act the way a twenty-six year old women would dress and act, just to participate in child beauty pageants? Young girls dressed in revealing clothing, being caked in make-up, getting fake tans, wearing fake eyelashes, teeth, hair, and nails, or even performing extremely mature routines are a few reasons pertaining to why it is unacceptable for toddlers to be in the modeling industry. Beauty pageants are very popular in the United States, and are growing rapidly (A Beauty Pageant Ban). Toddlers and Tiaras is a popular television show promoting children in beauty pageants causing contestant entries to rise. It’s estimated in the United States alone each year 250,000 children compete in child pageants of that, over 100,000 are girls under the age of twelve (Rapport). Out of the 250,000 participants in these beauty pageants, studies have shown that approximately half of these children are unhappy with their body and wish to go on a diet to fix their self image (Rapport). Youth pageants are clearly causing children to only focus on physical appearance and not the true beauty of the child's personality. Consequently, the negative effects on a toddler’s life, safety, mental, and physical health over power the benefits of toddlers participating in the beauty pageants.
Women are told that in order to get anywhere in life they must constantly worry about their outer appearance. In Jennifer Weiner’s article, “When Can Women Stop Trying to Look Perfect?” she delves deeply into how today’s society women’s worth is based on how they look. Weiner believes that women who do not meet the standards of beauty do not have as many opportunities.
Beauty is a cruel mistress. Every day, Americans are bombarded by images of flawless women with perfect hair and smooth skin, tiny waists and generous busts. They are presented to us draped in designer clothing, looking sultry or perky or anywhere in between. And although the picture itself is alluring, the reality behind the visage is much more sinister. They are representations of beauty ideals, sirens that silently screech “this is what a woman is supposed to look like!” Through means of media distribution and physical alteration, technology has created unrealistic beauty ideals, resulting in distorted female body images.
Nowadays, a standard stage of growing up is feeling the stress of one’s body image due to the growing pressure from society and media. In 2012 there was a survey that said “A full 50 percent of children from 8 to 10 years old report being ‘unhappy’ with their bodies” (ProQuest Staff). This is because when girls are growing up they see models/ actresses on TV and magazines that are thin and look beautiful and they think that’s what they are supposed to look like; unfortunately this is unrealistic. In 2006 there was a fashion model named Luise Ramos who died of a heart attack moments after she steps off the runway during fashion week in Montevideo (ProQuest Staff). News accounts later report that Ramos, 22, had been eating only lettuce and diet
“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.
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 ...
Kirstie Clements states, “The longer I worked with models, the more the food deprivation became obvious. Cigarettes and Diet Coke were dietary staples. Sometimes you would see the tell-tale signs of anorexia, where a girl develops a light fuzz on her face and arms as her body struggles to stay warm.” (The Truth About Size Zero.) Banning size zero models might help the other models starving themselves to be a size zero because then they wouldn’t be different than the other models. There is one agency that pressures models to be a size zero, but if they aren’t skinny enough they won’t give the model a job. Zuzanna Buchwald told us how her agents said she needed to stop eating and exercise to lose weight. This developed into anorexia and bulimia that Buchwald battled for four years. Buchwald says, “I was very weak, very down all the time. I had problems with teeth, my complexion was grey, my skin was dry. It was a terrible experience. And even though I beat both disorders, even now I have a very emotional relationship with food.”(The Illness Changed My Relationship with Food Forever) Eating disorders aren’t just a problem in teens, they are a problem in the models
Though Cristine herself claims she has never been negatively influenced by the media or fashion institutions, she expresses sincere concern over for her 14 year old daughter. In her opinion, and in many others, including myself, models are too thin and represent a dangerous impression upon young, easily influenced girls.
People are always complaining about how they aren’t as pretty as models on billboards, or how they aren’t as thin as that other girl. Why do we do this to ourselves? It’s benefitting absolutely nobody and it just makes us feel bad about ourselves. The answer is because society has engraved in our minds that we need to be someone we’re not in order to look beautiful. Throughout time, society has shaped our attitudes about appearances, making it perfectly normal and even encouraged, to be five feet ten inches and 95 pounds. People have felt trapped by this ideal. Society has made these beauty standards unattainable, therefore making it self defeating. This is evident in A Doll’s House, where the main character, Nora, feels trapped by Torvald and society’s standard of beauty. The ideal appearance that is prevalent in society is also apparent in the novel, The Samurai’s Garden, where Sachi is embarrassed of the condition of her skin due to leprosy and the stigmas associated with the disease. The burden of having to live up to society’s standard of beauty can affect one psychologically and emotionally, as portrayed in A Doll’s House and The Samurai’s Garden.
A tall, glamorous runway model is every girl’s dream. Long beautiful legs, lean body, and beautiful shiny hair is what an average young woman views as an ideal image for a female. If you don’t resemble the images of those stunning Victoria Secret models and Fashion Week models, you suddenly become ashamed of your own body. It is a great life to have with the high pay, fame, drinking champagne on a yacht with famous celebrities and even being on the Vogue cover page. Fashion Modeling Industry has been the most influential source in our young women’s lives. Young girls and young women are seen eating as little as they can, even starving themselves at times to resemble those models. What they don’t realize is that they are contributing to the 2.7 percentage of 13- 18 year olds suffering from anorexia and bulimia. Susan Albers, a psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic said exposure to thin models is a great trigger in maintaining an eating disorder. When watching America’s Next Top Model or flipping through a Fashion magazine, these young women don’t apprehend that those models are either naturally slim or they are suffering from an eating disorder themselves, in other words, hostages in the dark hell hid behind those runway curtains. The growing number of young anorexia and bulimia patients, and the number of websites such as thinspiration, where girls put up pictures of their thin bodies clearly suggest that the fashion modeling industry do not at all bear any responsibility in providing healthy, realistic physical role models for young women.
Strength, power, and self-confidence are three meaningful words that the poem “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou illustrates. Angelou uses alliteration, rhythm scheme and her own personal style to convey the meaning of a “phenomenal woman,” which is what she considers all women to be. Angelou, as an example, enlightens readers that not all hardships and tribulations have to be known. One can interpret that every woman experiences a trial in their life that eventually makes them a stronger individual. Moreover, a “phenomenal woman” is different, but beautiful in their own unique way. She states at the end of each stanza, “I’m a woman / Phenomenally. / Phenomenal woman, / That’s me” (line 10-13). The word phenomenal has great significance, which is being extraordinary. Angelou enables women to believe that being their own individual makes them dissimilar to another woman. However, she expresses that one’s inner beauty also contributes to the way a person can differentiate themselves from one another.
If no one stops exposing young girls in beauty pageants, what are our next generations going to look like? Young girls running around portraying fake looks, turning into someone completely different from who they truly are. Although beauty pageants may reinforce the fairy tale that physical beauty guarantees fame, fortune, and happiness, this activity may tarnish the child with physical, emotional, and societal lifetime difficulties. The exposition of children to the glitz pageant circuit is becoming evident in their growth and development as young women.
The lights, the camera's, the designer clothes, and the beautiful models, all of these are contributing pieces of a runway fashion show. But the models who are strutting down the runway, showing off high standard fashion clothes, are not the only models that are out there. There are many types of models that work in this line of business. There are commercial models, catalog models, plus size models, parts models, and so many more. All models have something in common though, they all live a challenging life. Although many believe that being famous, or on the cover of top rated magazines will make you happy and feel fulfilled, living that form of life can create a feeling of having no privacy. There are many perks however, in working as a model. For example, if working as a runway model, it is not unheard of to have a salary of five hundred dollars per hour. That high of a salary is mainly only given if it is a very large name show. Catalog models can receive one hundred dollars to two hundred or more. The amount of an hourly salary is dependent upon the popularity of the company or brand being modeled and if the model has a good reputation. The life of a model is very busy and includes a multitude of challenges that the model needs to be ready for.