Posted on 03/25/2012 11:16:13 AM PDT by nickcarraway
From super-skinny celebrities to models with low BMI, people are speaking out about women they perceive to be too thin. But some experts worry this behaviour makes things worse.
This week, Israel passed a law banning models from advertisements or fashion shows if they measure less than 18.5 on the body mass index (BMI). It's part of an effort to promote health for women of all sizes, and to stop glorifying the ultra-thin.
"Beautiful is not underweight," says Rachel Adato, one of the creators of the bill.
In recent years, much attention has been paid to how women are portrayed in the media, whether it's an overly airbrushed magazine model with an impossibly slim waist, or a TV starlet with protruding collar bones.
In an era when pro-anorexia communities congregate on social media sites like Pinterest, it's no wonder that lawmakers are concerned with women's body image.
For sure, reducing the number of images that portray women as very thin is beneficial, says Claire Mysko, director of Proud2BeMe, a website created with the National Eating Disorders Association (Neda) to promote healthy body image.
"There is a danger in being constantly exposed to one image of beauty," she says. "There is a serious lack of body diversity in the media. People are not seeing themselves and their bodies reflected."
Israel's law may be the catalyst needed to help make change. But others say it could make things worse.
'Arbitrary' system Many magazine editors, modelling agents and casting directors say they want to use more diverse models, but can't because of industry expectations - with each blaming the other group for setting the tone.
"They all feel trapped into producing what nobody individually espouses," says Amanda Mears, author of Pricing Beauty: The Making of a Fashion Model. "Everyone felt individually powerless."
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Media Regulation, yep!
Next Chapter: Saying SLUT lands you in prison.
Did u buy your brocolli yet, crypto FOOD TERRORIST?
Soon it will be required.
This is clearly a job for the government. Maybe they should regulate how much make up a woman can wear too.
Um....that didn't come out right.
I knew a woman had to write this piece.
Yup. A woman’s figure.
Mmmm....ana posmotritiyet russkaya. Ochen krasivaya!
:^)
Why people along the lines of Calvin Klein and Yves St Laurent chose that standard utterly escapes me.
Thin women are not the enemy, just misguided victims. The root problem are the homosexual men allowed to dictate women’s fashion, choosing starved women to represent beauty because they look like prepubescent boys.
I once told a woman, chasing my pay check, that I preferred my women tall and slim with the a$$ of a young boy. She moved on, I like the Classic American look, see photo above.
I once told a woman, chasing my pay check, that I preferred my women tall and slim with the a$$ of a young boy. She moved on, I like the Classic American look, see photo above.
My current gf is 5’-2” and about 98 lbs. I don’t know what that is for a BMI but she is not anorexic. Not even close. It all depends on the type of frame the person has. My girl has a very tiny skeleton and very little muscle, but a nice amount of soft curves. Her hands and feet are the size of a ten year old child. My pinky finger is literally bigger around than her thumb and that is not an exaggeration. I marvel at how little everything about her is. Even her teeth are tiny. I think my baby teeth were were bigger than her permanent teeth.
Um, maybe because fashion moguls are, what’s the word, it starts with “f” and rhymes with rags?
Women ought to look like women, period.
She the best thing to happen to fashion since Marilyn Monroe.
Lucy is a full size-12 and is still hothothot... 
Very warm indeed....
What nonsense. Fashion reflects acceptable body image — it doesn’t establish it.
In America, skinny women, not just fashion models, are rewarded at every level.
They make more money. They anchor news and political shows. They get elected to public office. They star in movies and TV, and not just professional actresses. You have to be painfully thin to get a slot on a cheesy reality show — witness all the “Housewives” shows.
If fat women got more social and male approval, the skinnies would fatten up before you could say “Lemme have an In ‘N Out Four-by, animal style!”
Count on it.
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