madrid bans too-thin fashion models...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060908/lf_afp/afplifestylefashion;_ylt=Al..6iK4PHwS5IF9IH9cJsas0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3ODdxdHBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-

i think it's really interesting, and mostly a step in a good direction. though it may be insulting to those rare women who really are naturally very thin and very healthy. but for the greater good, i like this move.

 

I haven't read it yet, I think it's probably good, because these women feel like they need to do so much to be so thin, but I have always been naturally thin, and I just wonder what they say is too thin... I'm gonna read it and get back at it.

 

it would be a bmi of under 18.

http://www.halls.md/body-mass-index/bmi.htm

 

that's interesting... i saw that they barred models under size 8 US at a barcelona wedding show.... size 8 normally isn't too small, but i guess for women who are 5'9" and above it is actually pretty small still. I dunno, I guess it's a different kind of discrimination like dangermoose says, but I think it's a good thing to promote a more healthy thin than a scary thin, if you're goign to promote a certain body type at all.

 

Alright that sounds right to me. Sounds like they've got a good system going, I gotta say I'm surprised that they regulated this in high fashion industry, but I think it's great.

 

Yeah, I mean I get offended often because I know there is discrimination against thin people too, but when it comes to an industry like that, and a beauty obsessed society I don't think it's bad to restrict underweight models in order to change the overall body obsessive diseases that young people go through, when they flip through magazines or watch television and feel like these women are the ultimate in what a woman should be, and then compare themselves to that.

 

i guess as a fat woman, i have a hard time really, truly, deep down being sympathetic to women who get shit for being too thin. because in the end, the thin ones are still the ones getting the dates, or the jobs, or the courtesy.

 

I think the modeling industry is far too well known for encouraging anorexia/bulemia and drug use (those which keep you thin, not give you the munchies!) among models for anyone to have any real standing in complaining that this is just a matter of discriminating against thin women.

I think most people will see this for what it is -- an interest in public health, and hopefully the beginning of a move to allow models to become healthy as well... Note the comment in the story of how models claimed that gaining any weight would ruin their careers...

 

It depends on you body frame. I'm an 8 and a bit chubby in some areas and am 5'10. Most of my friends are 4's and as tall as me and they do not look too thin at all and if they ever do it's because of stress not an eating disorder.
I agree and think it's great to ban models who appear to have eating disorders, thus discouraging girls who do not have that body type to attain it... but to ban anyone below an 8 for a bridal show is way harsh!!! and not to mention discriminatory!

 

mmmm that's not true imo. I've been both fat and thin and noticed no difference in life besides my health. For the most part I had the same number of dates, attracted the same kinds of men and hte only decrease in quality of life I had were my own insecurities and the way I carried myself. I still think I am somewhat overweight and it affects my self-esteem. I am really only happy in life when I am a 6 and feel that I look as good as I can. But these are all things I put on me, none of them are placed onto me by society or men. I know there are some men who are critical of weight but those aren't the types of men I am attracted to or vice-versa anyway so maybe that's why I generally don't notice a difference.
I just wish that self-acceptance was as easy as societal acceptance, that I can see what other people tell me they see and not think they're full of shit to like me when I first wake up in the morning.
i think it's more the fucked upness of an individual rather than a society in my case.
Maybe you and I both feel this way because we have had similar backgrounds and grew up in similar areas?

 

size 8 and 5'10" is very thin...i used to wear an 8 and am 5'7" and was quite slim

 

it's really not with the way I am built I could stand to lose a few more pounds. Everyone's bone structure is different

 

It's a good thing nobody did. And at any rate, the fashion model industry is based on discrimination. It's the nature of the trade.

 

I wonder what Janice Dickenson's reaction was when she first heard this news.

Size 8 is fat in the fashion industry. The average model stands 5'9" and wears a size 4. However, the average Victoria's Secret model wears a size 6 because they are supposed to look curvier then most models. It used to be that the sample size was a size 6 but they lowered it over the past 10 or 15 years.

With that said, apparently none of the world's top models like Giselle Bunchen will be getting work in Spain anytime soon which sucks for the industry. Spain is a growing fashion capital.

 

well, that's not necessarily so, lyns. i doubt you've ever been in a 16 or 18. that's far beyond the "having to lose a few pounds" breaking point. there is a difference in how your treated. he'll various places have done studies on it. fat people are treated rudely. thin people are usually treated with concern, though here recently it has begun to sway towards the nasty end.

what i though was interesting in that article, too, was that women below a 18 bmi would receive medical treatment for being below a healthy weight. i think they only way they could REALLY tell if these women were harming themselves is through a detailed body fat examination. seriously, someone women are just plain tiny for no reason whatsoever. some might have an overactive thyroid. but i have to say, i've never seen an attractive 5'9" size 4. but it's an industry driven by men who don't like women and women who hate women even more. most of the models resemble adolescent boys in a growth spurt to me: ribs poking out, knobby knees, bone cleavage, elbows bigger than their upper arms. i'm not into it. seems like taking advantage of the ill. but this is where these women are making their living. they don't have much impact on me, personally. i think i'm freaking drop dead gorgeous in an 8 or 10 and most people agree. i'll get myself down to 130 and be glorious. meanwhile, women with the exact same measurements plus several inches of height, will claim to weigh 15 pounds less than i. i learned that long long ago.

 

I've been a 16 before ,after I got the depo shot and I noticed no difference besides my boyfriend at the time and I fighting over why there was no more brownies left when he got home hah...I'm a good 60 pounds less now. I was a 14 last year too, before I got mono and lost it all and I noticed no difference in the way I was treated...I am even dating the same guy I did when I was a 14 and he hasn't said a thing either way.

Maybe I'm oblivious to it, I tend to be really unobservant and not caring of guys and their opinions sometimes...because they're just men, thus do their opinions really matter? d:

 

yes i know there's a big difference in body frame size... i'm built large so i will probably never ever fit into a 4 or lower, ever, because my hipbones will be sticking way out and well... it would take a LOT for me to lose my butt, and i'm only 5'4". makes me feel short and fat sometimes but when i'm in good shape i look really good even if i'm wearing three sizes bigger than girls 5 inches taller.... so yeah, i understand different body frames, but sizes do vary in different brands and an 8 in juniors is a lot different than an 8 in womens.... i imagine the 8s they were using were probably small...

 

I never get juniors because I always wear a larger size! it's evil!

 

Hmm, I have very mixed thoughts and feelings about this.
I'm not really sure if it's "right", but it makes more sense to a consumer... I mean, when I look at some of those stickly thin women in those clothes, I can't even bother to think of what I would look like in the same outfit because my body is so different from theirs.

It's like, when I look through catalogues or even at products on the internet, I have to envision what it would look like on my shape, because to look at someone who is 5'9" with a 23 inch waist in the clothes makes it a bit difficult to know.

The thing is, MOST young girls probably aren't even subjected to things like runway shows...I never once recall seeing a runway show growing up.

Most of the people I know, including myself, who actually have struggled with eating disorders, claim to have not been influenced as much by the media as they have been influenced by their peers and family members.

I think it's great that things in relation to the media are trying to tone it down to set a good example, but the truth is, family and friends are a much bigger influence.

I like the concern they have, I think it's great that they are trying to find ways to expel that sort of message from the shows... but I think that should be the least of this world's worries about women's body image.

I don't know if it's right for them to just throw away the skinny models like that though... I think it would be a much better message to young girls, and all of society if we could see women of all different shapes and sizes on the catwalk and in fashion magazines.

 

I don't get courtesy, whatsoever. I get people coming up to me telling me I need to eat, and that I look like a crackhead, and coke head, I need to stop doing drugs, I need to eat a sandwich.... etc. I get people putting their hands on me and pinching my skin and trying to see just how thin I am, I'm sorry but that's not courtesy, it's rude and annoying.

Truly it's people make a joke out of you while pretending to care. People are just way too concerned with how other people look. This is where eating disorders come from, I think it's less about models and more about people in your daily life, telling you how important it is to be thin, but not too thin, and you have to this amount of curves and weigh this much, and if you weigh more or less than that, everyone has the right to come up to you and tell you about it.