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Imagine a picture of an average-sized woman on the cover of Vogue; an accurate depiction of American women. She would have curves, her hair would be a little dry and her collarbone would probably be invisible. Well, seeing that happening would be something new! No, no, no, advertisers know that beauty and thinness sell. But with rising cases of anorexia and bulimia in this country, even among celebrities who are also forced to conform to this stereotype, one has to start to wonder: is the extra money worth the damage these images cause to society?
If you take a look at the front covers of the most of the fashion magazines, you wouldn’t be surprised to find an array of super-thin models staring out from the glossy page with emaciated, sunken faces and protruding, skeletal hipbones. They are women with stick-thin arms and legs and a very sharp, prominent collarbone straddling the shoulders.
These images are not shocking to readers of such magazines: they are the norm. One common stereotype swarms the pages of women’s magazines: To be beautiful, you must be tall, tan, blonde and thin. Headlines pop from flashy covers: “How to Lose 20 Lbs. in 10 Days or Less” and “150 Ways to Look and Feel more beautiful”. Within the pages of these magazines, women are fed an artificial image of beauty. They are bombarded with advertisements for shiny cars, sleek cell phones, swoon-worthy shoes and glittery cosmetics. The ads provide the same, ridiculous notion that if you buy the company’s product you will look as beautiful as the young, sweat-drenched, bronze beauty selling it. But beauty is subjective and cannot be defined by a few key attributes. However, women and girls of all ages are fed this image of artificiality and therefore, strive for something that is essentially unattainable.
The negative, unhealthy, artificial images projected in fashion and beauty related ads combined with the number of ads women are exposed to daily is a dangerous combination. According to the Media Awareness Network, “research indicates that exposure to images of thin, young, air-brushed female bodies is linked to depression, loss of self-esteem and the development of unhealthy eating habits in women and girls.”
But perhaps the most depressing issue is that the younger the viewer of these ads, the more vulnerable she is to experiencing life-altering damage to her self esteem and body image. The problems start earlier than anyone would like to admit. A study published in the Wall Street Journal surveyed students in four Chicago-area schools and discovered that more than half of the fourth-grade girls surveyed were dieting! Teen Magazine also reported in 2003 that 35 percent of girls ages 6 to 12 have admitted to dieting at least once and 50 to 70 percent of girls who are average weight believe themselves to be overweight. It doesn’t seem normal for such young girls to be concerned about adult issues like weight, but with images of skinny, beautiful women permeating every inch of the media that surrounds them on a daily basis, body image issues strike early. Young girls who should be playing with dollhouses are instead counting the calories in their lunchboxes.
But young girls are obviously not the only age group affected. Adolescents are perhaps the most targeted by the media because of their amount of disposable income. Teens have after school jobs and virtually no bills to pay, so advertisers take advantage of this. When girls see ads featuring flawless beauties like Kate Moss, they believe that if they spend their money on the products directed at them, they will, too, be flawless. How can a girl face her peers if she’s the only one in class without the latest RAZR mobile? Or what if she can’t fit into the Express skinny jeans that everyone is wearing? Social suicide.
There seems to be only one logical way to correct this problem: Eliminate, or at the very least, cut back on using models in advertisements that contribute to this stereotype. Countries that have put a ban on models with a BMI of below 18 are headed in the right direction. But, in order to create some real effect, major changes need to happen in advertising.
This is not the type of article we need in America. Anorexia is extremely rare in the USA. So rare that in my 50 years, I have met over 50,000 women in person, but I have NEVER seen an anorexic woman in person, only in documentaries.
However, obesity is at epidemic proportions! Some studies have shown that for every anorexic woman in USA there are 10,000 overweight women.
So why in hell are you focusing on the incredibly rare problem rather than the extremely common problem?
It is asinine articles like this that help cause women to be at an unhealthy weights and have much higher rates of obesity, and the related heart disease, diabetes, and cancer than 20 years ago.
I think some heavy women designed this blog entry. Shame on you!
My friend, Copernicus did not show that the Earth revolves around America. If something is unacceptable to you it does not mean that the whole world should stop talking about it. On my other site I’ve made an article about obesity, and this of course is supposed to be its opposite.
I know that obesity is a much bigger problem, but it doesn’t mean that this other is not existing!
This is an article about anorexic models, don’t forget that! If you have seen any overweight model, please inform us!
I wish you all the best! And yes, I’m not ”some heavy women”!
Extreme anorexia is rare, and of course most people have never met anybody with a disorder so severe! But that doesnt mean you’ve never met or seen anybody with an eating disorder. Its not always apparent, and its not usually broadcasted.
Seeing the impossibly (99% of what you see in magazines is edited and photoshopped) skinny and beautiful models creates a whole myriad of problems. Not JUST anorexia/bulimia, but also depression, compulsive overeating, low self-esteem, body dysmorphic disorder, bad eating habits and obesity.
To say what you’ve said proves you know very little about the psychology behind eating disorders and obesity, and young women in general.
This is the type of article we need MORE of in America.
So, why only the skinny people are creating problems? In reality, the opposite is true, otherwise there won’t be so many fat people.
Because fat people are everywhere portrayed without negative comments and no one object to that, they are sending message to the others that being fat is acceptable.
I would like to simply say that the girls who I know who have low self image, the ones who binge, purge, and starve themselves, surviving on handfuls of food a day…. they’re all overweight.
So, does this mean that their behavior is okay? No. Not eating enough causes your metabolism to slow down, helping you keep that wonderfully high weight you’re so disgusted with… but our bodies don’t like that, so we end up binge-ing. However, the food we eat with such a slow metabolism actually causes weight gain… fluctuating weight, horrible self image…. Yes, the solution is to not point out that the people who fantasize ourselves as are simply illusions. Yes, the solution is to berate anyone who is overweight and continue to praise the skinny simply because they are not perceived as unhealthy?
Health is more important than anything else. Eating right, exercising, running, enjoying activity, enjoying a variety of amazing and healthy food… THAT should be emphasized and admired more than any ‘appearance.’ The appearance comes after the lifestyle change. Not the other way around.
Well, Anorexia is more avoidable than obesity [I assume]. Lots of Americans are struggling financially and live in areas where the closest and cheapest food are junk foods and fast foods. Low income areas have fewer supermarkets than higher income areas. When a person needs to eat three times a day, and it’s some high calorie crap with little nutrients, obesity happens. Obesity in America is the fault of the way food produced. Not saying the people have no choice in the matter, but I am saying making the right choices is tough when you are strapped for cash.
Anorexia could be avoided in so many cases if fashion magazines, television and movies would stop ONLY promoting perfect women as attractive. The only time you ever see a girl with even a little extra weight on her is in alternative modeling (gothic/ tattoo girls). It seems like everywhere else, even an extra 4 pounds of fat instantly makes a girl an ugly fatty, which is absolute nonsense! It’s fine to have fat on you as long as you are in the healthy range.
Ever think that so many people are obese because they can’t meet anorexic standards, so they just don’t bother at all?
Good article, but notice the ads on the side of the page are mostly half naked women posing provocatively.
The title should be: “Anorexia: Please, Do(n’t) break the Models”
[...] Anorexia: Please, Do(n’t) Feed the Models – Fun Stuff CafeIf you take a look at the front covers of the most of the fashion magazines, you wouldn’t be surprised to find an array of super-thin models staring out from the glossy page with emaciated, sunken faces and protruding, skeletal hipbones. [...]
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