[carrina]

Ran across this article today. I think there is a fine line between looking thin and muscular and looking like you are starved. I have a girlfriend who's 5'9 and weighs 125 pounds and she doesn't look skinny at all. She looks perfect to me. I am several inches shorter than that and my goal weight is 135 lbs. That puts things into perspective.

Here's the article:


Add France on to the distinguished list of countries joining the worldwide drive to fight anorexia. Other countries, including Italy and Great Britain, have already taken measures to fight the promotion of excessively skinny top models. But Spain remains the country that has put the most money where their mouth is by banning models from their fashion shows whose bodies were under the BMI of 18.

Music to my ears...hearing the new report that some organizations representing fashion houses and advertising firms in Paris signed a charter of good conduct about using images that contribute to or promote extreme thinness. Those who sign the charter commit to "heighten public awareness about the acceptance of physical diversity."

What? Did they say "physical diversity"? Wow! Body diversity...what a concept (a way of thinking that I have promoted and written about for decades). Anyone who works out in the back of an aerobics or palates class (that would be me) can clearly see that body diversity is alive and well in America anyway. Even in a class of "fit" women, 50 women working out means 50 different and beautiful types of bodies. I've always said, "viva la difference!"

Anyway, now some French companies and organizations are seemingly singing a new tune. On a volunteer basis, however, people signing on are pledging to promote diversity in the representation of the body, avoiding all forms of stereotyping that can favor the creation of an aesthetic archetype that is potentially dangerous to youth.

But I always say, "actions speak louder than words." And according to one American teen model's account in June/July Teen Vogue, scary skinny is definitely NOT out of fashion, literally. Ali Michael recalls during her past trip to Paris that in fact she was told by runway decision-makers that she had "fat legs" and "huge ankles." Simply put, designers in Paris didn't want to work with Ali now that she was healthy.

What kind of precedent are we setting with this super skinny model standard? Two words - eating disorders. Ali admits in her Teen Vogue interview that most of the models she knows that are very thin have some kind of issue with food. Ali believes that if healthy sized models dominated the runways, the public would be much more accepting of and interested in the fashion world. I couldn't agree more Ali!

All the charter signing and mention of "physical diversity" is a step in the right direction. But changing the way the fashion world and specific designers think is altogether another matter.

Now, if we can only have a more realistically sized winner on America's Next Top Model. Now that I think about it, that is exactly what happened on the just-completed season of America's Next Top Model. The winner was Whitney, considered a "plus size" model on the show. I still can't figure out how she qualifies as a "plus size" when I believe she was wearing a regular size 10 on the show. Hey, Tyra, how about a show called America's Next Top Normal-Size Model?

The dialogue continues!


-Carrina

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[java1]

I agree, it's disgusting the way they look out there and the image that it's sending to the younger generation.

Take Barbie dolls for example, their the forerunners of this whole mess...

[isagenix121]

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