Cadaverous 16-year-olds - the chosen models of the fashion industry

[Sarah Ibarruri]

Liz Jones, former editor of Marie Claire, says this about the models the fashion industry uses, and why they use these, and how these force magazines to choose the same. More at the link below. (Even a J.K. Rowling quote about the cadaverous models).

-------------------------

"Unless they promote women as toothpicks, they will lose their chauffeur-driven jobs and front-row seats at fashion shows," she wrote. "[Designers] want you to believe that you are not beautiful enough or young enough or thin enough, and they do that by draping CADAVEROUS 16-YEAR-OLDS across double-page spreads so you will feel so wretched that you will have to buy their products to make yourself feel better."

There is a very real problem with the abundance of skinny imagery that abounds in popular media. I challenge any person who denies such a thing: just look over a single days worth of comments on this very site (www.diet-blog.com). There are so many troubled girls - and so many of them mention the thin models they see. No I'm not talking about people diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa - I'm talking about the thousands upon thousands of young women spend half their waking hours burning with self-hate - fueled in part by the abundant obsession with skinny models.

-------------------------

http://weightloss.infodox.net/article/4210-skinny-models-telling-it-like-it-is.html

[David__77]

1. I think this article is biased against very thin people.

Some people are very thin and healthy. Not everyone who is very thin is unhealthy, has an eating disorder, or "should" gain weight.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

5. Perhaps you misinterpreted. Read this...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/769290.stm


"The media's obsession with painfully thin fashion models has contributed to the growth in eating disorders among young girls, according to the British Medical Association.

A report by the association published on Tuesday identifies a link between the images of "abnormally thin" models which dominate TV and magazines, and the rise in conditions such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia. The degree of thinness exhibited by models chosen to promote products is both unachievable and biologically inappropriate. It is the first time that the BMA has acknowledged such a link.

The report says that 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%."

(rest of article at the link)

[David__77]

8. I think there are valid points, but saying "sickly," "anorexic," "cadaverous," etc. is a problem.

It's presumptuous. Also, references to concentration camp victims is tasteless. The 22-26 percent is average for healthy, but lower ranges can be healthy, as can higher.

[Warpy]

14. Women with body fat that low fit all those adjectives to a T. It is NOT HEALTHY.

Women that thin lose the ability to menstruate and their hormone levels drop low enough they begin to suffer from osteoporosis among other diseases of starvation.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

15. Yes. Their organs are damaged.

I noticed there are many accounts now online by former models explaining that the fashion industry required them to lose weight above and beyond 'skinniness,' and because bodies BEG for nutrition and they were hungry, they had to resort to drugs to stop eating.

[Mimosa]

19. Have followed fashion photography for 30 years or so?

Images in fashion and the types of women chosen for runway models have changed drastically over the past 20-30 years.

Younger women are affected by the images directed towards them. This in many ways is a woman's issue of some importance.

[MicaelS]

9. "body fat levels as low as 10%"????

God, that's appalling.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

13. Scary, particularly since women are supposed to have a higher % of fat

than men are.

Very dangerous.

[Matariki]

55. Talk about missing the point entirely.

[MicaelS]

2. I call some models appearance "The Dachau Look"...

As they look like they just escaped from Dachau. I like a woman with some meat on her bones. It's a turnoff, and unhealthy IMO, to see these models with their ribcage and hipbones so visible.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

6. I think so! Also, promoting anorexics as the standard of beauty...

is detrimental to little girls who then grow up thinking this is the healthy ideal.

[eilen]

24. I didn't realize how pervasive this had become in the media until

I was watching Big Bang Theory with my husband and he commented the actress playing Penny is kind of overweight. ?!?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

30. Well, men are affected by media too. Men's eyes are accustomed to seeing famous anorexic females

They are exposed to this every day of their lives, as are women. All think this is the normal, healthy woman, and it isn't.

[marlakay]

36. We were watching a movie the other night

Girl with dragon tattoo, the actress lost a lot of weight for the role and my husband was saying how attractive she was. I said she was too thin.

Men are trained by the models and Victoria secret ads to like super thin. As you grow older it's almost impossible to keep a thin figure.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

37. Oh yes. Not only that. Women are supposed to have a higher % of fat in their bodies...

and the amount of fat the Victoria's Secret emaciated, young teen models have is ridiculously low. And yet the media touts them as the very picture of health, and after watching half-nude anorexics with heavy makeup and hairstyling parade themselves year after year, even men begin to think that's the idea of female health.

[elehhhhna]

42. Vouge i nterviewed her @ dinner w/ the director, he actually

TOLD her it was "okay to eat" before they ordered their food.

creeeeeeeeeepy

[meaculpa2011]

48. I couldn't help thinking...

that by today's standards of female beauty Penny is considered overweight.

Any man that would find some bag o' bones more attractive than Kaley Cuocco needs to have his hormones checked.

[octothorpe]

67. Woah, you husband isn't the only one...

I don't watch big bang theory usually, but I've seen it before and couldn't imagine anyone saying she's overweight... I looked at the recent episodes and she looks perfectly fine to me. So I then searched google and came across crazy stuff like this: http://www.celebheights.com/s/Kaley-Cuoco-1749.html

Ughh. People make me sick. I was got extremely annoyed and disgusted a couple weeks ago when I stumbled across some other celeb site and the comments were ragging on normal looking lady (forgot who it was) because they thought she was too fat. So twisted how some people can be.

[SoCalDem]

3. It's disgusting isn't it?

The odd thing is that the whole "super-model" industry sprang to life during the halcyon years of the Swinging Sixties.


Most young models of the era were shapely..not extremely tall either

Until Twiggy came along..

Even Twiggy was not super thin by what's expected of today's models

[Sarah Ibarruri]

7. Yup. It's pretty awful! nt

[wtmusic]

4. If someone spends half their waking hours burning with self-hate

- for any reason at all - they need psychiatric help.

And it wouldn't hurt to take a break from the "popular media".

[Sarah Ibarruri]

11. It would be nice if we could shut the media off on the U.S. for about, oh 5 years???

I'd love it!!!

The media has such a detrimental effect on society.

What would happen if the only media available were factual news (zero sensationalism), and nothing else? I often wonder...

[CrispyQ]

21. Yes. After seeing "Miss Representation," it's apparent why only one station has shown it.

Our media is disgusting. (added on edit to clarify the recipient of the eyes.)

I'm thinking of hosting a screening. I'm at least going to check out the cost.

http://missrepresentation.org/faq/

The site says the DVD will be for sale soon, but I want to start sharing it with everyone I know. This issue has such a huge impact on our culture & most people are so conditioned they don't even see it.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

27. I saw it! It's wonderful and needs to be shown in schools everywhere

All children and adults should be aware of this.

[elehhhhna]

43. Here in Houston that program was full of commercials for plastic surgeons and

weightloss clinics.

Creeepy.

[Number23]

10. Interesting. These comments are several years old

Here is the Rowling blog where she made the quote - http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/extrastuff_view.cfm?id=22
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/toothpick-models-the-fashionistas-fight-back-473429.html

But they are still relevant.

There is no question that the bias against non-skinny women is prevalent. Just read where some obnoxious ass made reference to Michelle Obama's "large posterior." This woman is fit with a capital F and people are still talking shit about her body.

The pressure on girls to be skinny (as well as white and blonde) is suffocating. As a mother of two little girls, this is definitely something I'm worried about.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

12. I meant the bias towards anorexics, but you're right...

there is a SECOND bias! I'd dismissed that one entirely till you pointed it out.

So there are two biases:

(1) In favor of cadaverous anorexic idealized females;
(2) Against overweight women.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

16. Absolutely. Mrs. Obama looks fantastic! She's strong and very shapely. nt

[CrispyQ]

45. I wish I had the First Lady's arms.

She looks fab! Fit, healthy, happy.

I'm certain he would never have said that about a white First Lady.

And of course, he would never say that about a man.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

17. I've never understood the idea behind the cadaverous look

I don't think it can originate from men in general. To me, a healthy look is sexier than a cadaver. But maybe at my age I don't represent trendy tastes. Women idealized in media in the 50s and 60s like Marilyn Monroe were not sickly-looking. I don't think this originates from women, either. Do women really want to look breastless and cadaverous as though they were terminally ill? I don't think so. Then why does this unreal fashion model look become so prevalent if everyone hates it?

Editting: Twiggy is the first major media figure I recall who became celebrated for looking morbidly thin and I guess that was towards the end of the 60s. I recall people shaking their heads at the idea that this was an ideal of beauty by some.

[Hippo_Tron]

20. They're selling clothes and the idea is for them to be a walking clothes hanger

The cadaverous aspects are then masked by effects with camera work and airbrush. I suppose that's why people believe you can be that skinny and still look good.

Fact of the matter is that celebrities and models aren't necessarily better looking than other people. They just have lots of good pictures taken of them with perfect makeup, perfect hair, and great visual effects.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

28. Yep! They're photoshopped. If these starved girls were shown

the way they look in real life, it would be very scary for everyone that now admires them.

[eilen]

29. Every magazine cover and editorial is photoshopped

Brittney Spears recently posted a before and after of a coverphoto of her on a major magazine. They photoshop so much that often the individual is barely recognizable. There was a recent cover of Scarlett Johansson and I didn't even know it was her.

[eilen]

31. The problem is that customers wonder and doubt the garments will suit them having to fit over

actual breasts and hips.

[CrispyQ]

47. I have to admit a morbid fascination with those National Inquirer type magazines

when they feature real shots of stars without their makeup.

As women, we compare ourselves to these beauties every time we go to the grocery store. It's nice to see what they really look like. I remember thinking, "How does Goldie Hawn look so much younger than me when she is at least 12-15 years older than me?" Then I saw her on one of those covers & I came to my senses. I know they use makeup & air brushing, but even knowing this, we are conditioned to accept her air brushed looks at 'face value' so to speak - lol - & then you compare your own reality 50+ face.

I think these types of photos have a positive impact on men, too. They finally see what a makeover, lighting & air brushing can achieve.

Another side effect of sexualizing women is the impact it has on older women. Once you're no longer seen in a sexual way, you are invisible. I laughed so hard during an episode of "Six Feet Under" when the mother became friends with the Kathy Bates character. KB shop lifts one day while they are shopping & the mother is horrified. "What if you get caught?" she whispers to KB as they walk toward the exit. KB scoffs & replies, "Are you kidding? Women our age are invisible in our society."

I don't advocate putting this to the test, but there is an element of truth to what she says. I remember the year I first was called "Ma'am" by a young clerk. It was . . . a moment. I am becoming invisible.

But it can be empowering, too. ~smile.

[Hippo_Tron]

18. Striving for un-obtainable goals and losing self-esteem in the process is a part of life

Growing up is about accepting your imperfections and learning how to strive for attainable goals.

That said, this is an area where the striving part is not really something that's constructive for teenage girls. At least when teenage boys strive to be like professional athletes (even though almost none of them ever will be) they are doing something that is generally healthy and constructive (up to a point).

[U4ikLefty]

22. "Cadaverous" is a great word.

must save in memory bank for later use.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

26. It does give one a visual of these starved-to-work girl models nt

[CrispyQ]

49. I've also heard them called Lollipop Girls

because their heads look so large on their abnormally skinny bodies.

I look at some of these girls & I think you could snap their arm if you hugged them too hard.

[Odin2005]

23. They should be BANNED from using these starved models!

Get rid of the obsession with thinness and the incidence of eating disorders will drop to near zero.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

25. That's what needs to happen. The obsession with the thinness needs to STOP

It's causing all kinds psychological problems that lead to eating disorders, from overeating to anorexia.

[sendero]

32. The people bleating this bullshit refrain...

.. have the cart before the horse. These models are chosen not by some arbitrary secret handshake, but like every other model, color, message, idea, motif and pitch in advertising is chosen. To Make Sales.

Whether any of these jackasses can admit it or not, the standard of beauty for women (and men for that matter) is THIN THIN THIN.

If you didn't sign on to this world in the genetically-gifted club, GET OVER IT, 99.9% of people didn't. Bitching about those who did is really unseemly.

[got root]

35. R u serious!?

There is much you still have to learn, that's fer sure.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

38. Don't pay any attention to that one. I think he's only trying to get attention. nt

[sendero]

41. I'm dead serious..

.... and I'm tired of people who accept bullshit arguments without thinking them through. You think these models are chosen arbitrarily? Please.

These models are chosen because they SELL and they SELL because they are SELLING A DREAM. A dream of YOUTH and BEAUTY.

Is advertising often pernicious? Yes, in many more ways than selling a body image that is unattainable by 99.9% of the population.

Pickup truck ads prey on a man's sense of masculinity. Apple ads prey on a person's sense of "hipness". Advertising's job is to give you are reason to buy something, and it is often not a good reason.

Advertising preys on your weaknesses IF YOU LET IT. Stop letting it, you will be much better off.

[U4ikLefty]

53. Mr. Obvious strikes again.

Tell me, why are the skinny youth sold to Americans as uber-attractive?

Who set up that paradigm? Got any ANSWERS Einstein?

[Quantess]

60. I have some ideas.

I should know, because I am a woman who for several years spent about half her waking hours obsessively scheming how to either lose weight or keep her weight down.

I was a chubby kid who liked to eat a lot, but I felt so badly shamed, a bit from from other girls, but even worse from "concerned" adult women who had such big, serious eyes and a grave, whispering, finger-wagging tone when they talked about my "size". God how mortifying! Nowadays, my weight would have been considered dead-average for a 10 year old.

But then I learned how to eat healthfully, and learned which foods I could pig out on and which foods to avoid. But I always felt, "the skinnier, the better". In my 20s I felt that my self-worth was directly connected to my weight. As long as I was thin, everything was okay. Being thin was all that mattered to me, at some points in my life. And I've been successful at staying slim!

I learned some tricks, like drink black coffee if you feel hungry. Drink tons of water so you won't have room in your stomach for food. I ate metabolife pills every day (ephedra) for a while. There was even a phase when I skipped real food as much as possible and ate Spirutein (high-protein nutritional paste) instead. I exercised so much I had irregular periods.

My cynical view: Humans have evolved with food scarcity, and now that we have a relative abundance of food, we don't have an "off switch" to stop eating. A lot of men are fatter than they should be, but they don't have the same pressure to be near-skeletal, as for women. In a way, women (lots of men, too) are lucky that we store fat so efficiently, because it means we are tough survivors.

I happen to like the looks of my facial bones, which can only be seen when I'm thin. Also, clothing is a lot more enjoyable when slim.

[Occulus]

50. No.

This is not a "bullshit refrain". Recently (last year, I think) one of these models* posed nude on a cover of some magazine to show just how "thin" she really was, and flatly stated that this is the norm for the industry. This is not "thin is beautiful". This is "you are a walking coat hangar, and we want you as thin as one". That girl looked like a concentration camp survivor.

There isn't anything here that points to an out-of-whack society, a "wrong impression" given to girls and young women (even though that's what ends up happening), or anything of the sort. No, this is a very dangerous and abusive employer practice that causes actual damage and sometimes long-term physical side effects and it really should fall under the purview of OSHA (at least in the US).

You're wrong to simply dismiss this as people complaining that they're not in the genetically-gifted club. These girls and young women are being out and out abused by their employers, and it needs to be stopped for their own health and physical well-being.

*Her name was Isabelle Caro. Note my use of the past tense.

[U4ikLefty]

54. Google that name....Isabelle Caro.

Thank you Occulus.

[Quantess]

61. Look at talentless fattie Neil Cavuto, for example.

How did he slide by, I ask you?

(I ask that same qustion to myself everytime I catch sight of his flabby jowls and hear his froggy voice saying something whiny, like he's choking down a slab of bacon fat).

[Speck Tater]

33. I dont' find skinny women sexy at all.

Who wants to date someone who could put your eye out with her elbow?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

39. ROFL! This is true. :) nt

[DonCoquixote]

34. at the risk of the race card

A lot of this is also very thinly (no pun meant) disguised racism. It says a lot where even the Frist lady can get made fun of because she has a large butt, or where Beyonce wears blonde hair all the time. We latinos tend to dislike the "heroin chic" look anyway.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

40. :) The 'heroin chic' cadaver girl is not an attractive image, even nude and with lots of makeup

I will admit that the fashion world pushes the anorexic, underage models as the standard of beauty and fashion.

However, you're right that men of Latin background love women who are more than a mere sack of bones with a couple of silicone insertions thrown into the chest and some hair dye.

Same with African-American guys.

As to white men, I hope they all haven't been sold the media's anorexic-on-silicone model as the ideal. Sometimes I think the media has managed to sell that to them, and they think that's what female health is, but hopefully not!!!

[BreweryYardRat]

58. Speaking as a white man, we haven't all "been sold anorexic-on-silicone as the ideal."

My girlfriend's heavy. So what? I love her because she's smart, kind, empathetic, forgiving of my flaws, has a generally great personality, has a beautiful face, and shares a lot of my interests.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

65. It's good to hear that you love your woman not for what she looks like...

But for who she is as a person.

[elehhhhna]

44. the hottest "female" haute couture model today is an anorexic trans man

he's pretty but ain't no bodyfat nowhere.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

52. How monstrous the fashion industry has become. It makes me sick. nt

[Matariki]

56. Interesting. Back in the 70's & 80's I was fairly certain that Cosmopolitan's models were men

large hands, adam's apples and zero body fat. Hard for most women to be held to that standard of beauty.

[MineralMan]

46. Very true, and horrifying, IMO.

I hate seeing those ads. The only publication I read that ever has fashion ads is The New Yorker. Their fashion issue is one I can't stand to page through. I have a friend whose daughter is anorexic. She's in her mid 20s now, and continues to suffer from this strange and alarming condition. It has caused my friend to go from a man with a good life to a man who is ripped apart by his daughter's condition. Awful.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

51. I'm sorry to hear about your friend. :( It's horrible to see a child look that way and

starve herself out of fear that if she's not thin thin thin, she won't be the anorexic picture of beauty. It's so awful.

[Lunacee2012]

57. R & K, I'll have to read this later.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

63. Thanks! nt

[Liberal_in_LA]

59. yep. designers like how the clothes hang on a skeletal body. No breasts or hips or thighs to

interfer with the clothes.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

62. Exactly. And yes, it's true that clothes on a hanger look good...

A woman looking like a skeleton is not a healthy woman.

[WillyT]

64. Well... In My Lifetime...

We Went From...

Marylin



Gina



Sophia



And Jane



To... Twiggy



Just sayin...

[Sarah Ibarruri]

66. I actually heard someone say recently that Marilyn Monroe was a heavy woman

Things have gotten out of control sick with regard to what women should look like.

Nowadays we are seeing anorexics with chest and butt implants and fillers in their cheeks to compensate for the fat that has disappeared from their cheeks. The fashion industry has turned the ideal of a woman into some bizarre, medically-tampered creature.

[octothorpe]

68. Ever read the comments on those stupid celebrity websites?

It's maddening to read the crap some of these people say about women who look just like Marilyn Manroe in those pictures.

It annoys me more when it's men doing it though. Particularly when you look them up and see they are the most hideous looking creatures ever. (I'm a guy, btw)

[Sarah Ibarruri]

69. You're right! When it's men attacking women and you see that the men are

highly unattractive, it just makes it worse. Why do they feel entitled to insult women that way?

[BeHereNow]

70. I recall reading somewhere that her dress size was 14.

Don't know what that would translate to in today's sizing.
Thanks for posting this thread though- it is important.
My cousin has suffered from anorexia for over twenty years.
It's a cruel condition.
We talk on the phone often and she tells me what goes
through her mind about her body and food.
Fortunately, there is a doctor in San Diego who is a pioneer
in the study of treating anorexia by using brain imaging.
He is convinced it is related to neurotransmitter malfunctioning.
My cousin thinks so too.

BHN

[Sarah Ibarruri]

71. I'm sorry about your cousin.

I do know that discussing this with people who are older, they have said that anorexia was not one of the problems people had to deal with, and now anorexia is an epidemic - of women only. Men with anorexia are the exception, not the rule.

85%-90% of those suffering with anorexia, are female. This, from the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa.

http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/

[BeHereNow]

72. Thanks- hopefully she will remain determined to fight it.

Given the number of hospitalizations she has been through and her age,
I am hopeful that she may.
The good news is, she is reaching out to family members, which is a first.
BHN

[Sarah Ibarruri]

73. Thank goodness. Anorexia has claimed too many lives already. nt