Eating Disorder Talk

As a little girl, did you ever dream of modeling - being in the spotlight, photographed, oohed and awed over and having other people wish they could be your friend? A lot of girls do, or alternatively, a lot wish for something similar via pageants, acting and/or singing careers. I’ve written about what a random magazine will put in it, drawing a correlation between content and advertising, and women’s self-image issues, but imagine the pressure you’d feel when very much in the public eye, say, on a reality-based show wherein the winner is awarded a modelling contract?

America’s Next Top Model blew up overnight it seemed. Tyra’s bigger-than-life personality, the semi-mockery of mostly teenage girls, the flagrant alternation between maternal guiding and hissy fits.  It had something for everyone and the word fierce became an all-too-well-used one. Then was spawned Canada’s Next Top Model in May of 2006. Andrea Muizelaar was the premiere season’s winner, to the chagrin of many viewers.

Recently, Andrea was interviewed by a writer for Wikinews, which has initially hyped that CNTM is to blame, in part at least, for her eating disorder and her subsequent retirement from modeling.

In fact, she explains her background, intimating that somewhere around 14 is when she became anorexic - she had decided that she wanted to model after outgrowing her geeky, awkward stage, and lost 20 pounds in preparation. After winning the show, she says that she was ashamed of her appearance - that she couldn’t face the children she used to babysit. She also gives quite an embittered opinion of Tyra Bank’s decision to select plus-sized models, though none of them have ever won the show or come close to doing so.

I suggest checking it out. It confirmed my suspicions of the show(s), but also, well, it made me a little sad that she was putting so much apparent blame on the show. I mean, you entered a modeling contest, what did you think it would be like?

One of the most popular searches to bring readers to this site is Kate Moss. That’s if you detract from the amazing variations of thinspiration, pro-ana and eating disorder searches you’d find on my stats. Back to Kate.

She’s been our eye-candy, diet-lust and cocaine-scorn for nearing two decades. Ever since she was the hollow eyed little girl in the CK ads, North America and the UK have alternated between hating and loving her: for her body, cheekbones, relationship with Pete Doherty and drug habit. I still don’t understand everyone’s awe when she was photographed snorting coke in that nightclub, but if you all want to bury your heads in the sand and think that most major models have done or are currently doing some major drugs…that’s your perogative.

So, in honour of your quest for Kate:

• Born January 16, 1974
• Kate was discovered at JFK Airport when she was 14.
• Initially made famous to out-of-industry peoples as the face of Calvin Klein (1993), but actually shot her first magazine cover in 1990 and did printwork for YSL in 1992.
• Was known as the “anti-supermodel” in the 1990s, as she was shorter and waifish in comparison to other ubermodels like Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford. Unlike today’s unspoken standards, which are promoting more waifs than ever before.
• The image of “heroin chic” and major thinspiration personality.
• Gave birth to daughter, Lila Grace, in 2002.
• She’s a reputed size 4 (US), according to this site. But I find that to be a joke, since her and I have the same measurements and she’s got an inch on me, and I’m a 00.
• She’s been treated for exhaustion (1998) and drug addiction (2005).

Taken October 18, 2007 at that Swarovski Fashion Rocks Concert in London.

Advertising for her clothing line, Top Shop, in July 2007

Vacationing in Thailand with daughter, Lily Grace, in January

Calvin Klein Advertisement

One of the most often “used” photographs of Kate for thinspiration

Today I’d like to talk about something that a lot of women take issue with – perceptions of self image in relation to sexual attractiveness. There’s this whole spectrum of women, especially younger and younger girls, who seem to believe that self worth is largely or even solely based on how men (and/or women, in the case of lesbian and bisexual women) view their sexual attractiveness.

I’m guilty of this as well. Though guilt is not exactly the right word.

News hit the internet last month when Kate Moss was repeatedly heard using the self-invented word, ‘rexy’ to describe herself and friends – a combination of anorexic and sexy. Moss had apparently dropped some weight since her last breakup with Pete Doherty and went on a ‘detox’ of hot water and green tea. This is just another example of the media and it’s main characters’ endeavours to shake up the non-A-lister’s psyche.

A study was undergone at North Dakota State University in 2003. This study examined the perceptions of weight and it’s relative effect on self worth, as integrated with sexual attractiveness to the desired sex. More specifically, it looked at how women assumed men would want them to look to be considered sexually attractive and vice versa. The findings: men were fairly realistic about their expectations of women’s sexual ideals; women assumed men idealized a thinner sexual partner than men actually wanted. What’s more concerting is the correlation between disordered eating and women who assumed than their self worth was based upon their (inaccurate) sexual attractiveness to men.

So, in this North American society where sex sells, surrounds and starves, maybe we should consider a more normalized approach. Instead of banning models from catwalks so as to lower the risk of marketed anorexia, why don’t the men we want to attract stand up and tell us exactly how disinteresting 00 is?

Not that we women should care, right?

Montreal’s Fashion Week has followed in the footsteps of Spain, Italy and England by banning models under the age of sixteen, as well as those exhibiting signs of an eating disorder and with a Body Mass Index of lower than 18.5.

Body mass index is based on a height and weight, and honestly, not really representative of anything medically except for a low weight-height ratio (or vice versa). The United Nations suggest a body mass index of between 18.5 and 25 for adult women.

This means I won’t be walking the catwalks on Montreal, either, dammit.

The recent bans are because of the suddenly front-and-centre concerns that the industry has about models being too skinny and having eating disorders. So, go figure, some models die cuz they listened when they were told that “nothing tastes as good as thin pays,” size 00 is the new size 0 obsession and there’s public backlash.

So, instead of getting these models help, or you know, creating the same standard for all shows, print, etc – an industry wide standard, I mean – they’ve set some limits on three (sometimes less than) week-long shows in the past, what, year and a half?

The quote in this article stated that this will hopefully contribute to the success of the fashion industry. Sorry, what? Since when is the success of fashion based on the model’s weights? Oh wait. The fashion industry’s success has multiplied like a bad herpes outbreak since size 0 – well, let’s be honest, grunge and it’s heroine chic look – came out into the limelight.

Let’s not kid ourselves, we’d like to see healthier, stronger models because it makes us feel better about us, not about clothes.

Since you’re here for one of five reasons (according to last week’s poll), I must assume that you’ve stumbled onto or been referred to my new favourite blog, mamaVISION. You haven’t? Here’s your chance. Bookmark it and add it to your feed readers because this woman is informed, indignant, and supportive. She’s a pit bull wrapped in a cuddly infant snowsuit, licking your cheek.

Some of my favourite areas of her site include (in no specific order):

1. Her story. She was a model for six years and then quit and had to repair her disordered eating habits, self esteem and so on.
2. A recent email she received from Mike Smith. Who used stereotypical apples to oranges comparisons and was too scared to give his real name and a long-established email address!
3. A description of Social Anorexia and how it affects us.
4. Her audacity to tell parents to examine proana sites and proana videos on youtube. It’s wonderfully unabashed. Especially since it was following the outrage of…
5. Her posting on how to make your daughter anorexic - which basically lists the ways parents unknowingly instill disordered eating habits in their children, via rewarding, praise and modeling behaviours.

There’s lots more that I’d like to go into, but I won’t keep you when you could be over there!

Don’t forget to anonymously vote in this week’s poll!

Eating disorders are being blamed in part on the media and the perception of perfect that it’s giving us. Seldom talked about is the fact that not of the all celebrities that we look to for an ideal are actually ideal, themselves.

Enter Photoshop.

Gusgreeper passed on an item to me today, which lead to rapid-fire googling and the following:

• Pandagon linked to Jezebel about the Redbook Faith Hill cover work.
• Hemmy shows Christian, Penelope, Naomi, Brittney, Julia, Eva and more.
• Hollyscoop offers Kate and Jonathan to your naked eye.
• Kris Abel offers links to the following resources in the industries of photo enhancement and surgery:
  • Girlpower’s random magazine cover demo
  • Shanzcan’s gallery of retouches
  • Digital Pablo’s portfolio
  • Glenn Feron’s portfolio
  • Chris Tarantino’s work
  • Christiane Beaulieu’s gallery

I hope that you enjoy feeling ideal, or at least a little closer to it, after viewing some of those galleries.

So the British Fashion Council (BFC) was set up to orchestrate the Fall London Fashion Week. In March, the BFC set up the Model Health Inquiry (MHI) due to concerns about working and lifestyle problems within the fashion industry. More specifically, the health and working conditions of models within the London Fashion Week extravaganza. The MHI announced the scope, submission and reporting process of their study in May. Early July brought an interim report.

Early findings led to a opinionated statement by the panel’s chairhead, Baroness Kingsmill: it’s inappropriate for models under 16 to be portrayed as women and ultimately, it’s a possibility that the Council will rule against allowing models under 16 to appear in the six-day designer showcase. She even went so far as to say

“We have been given startling medical evidence about the prevalence and impact of eating disorders in certain high-risk industries.
“There was also strongly expressed concern that it is profoundly inappropriate that girls under 16 under the age of consent should be portrayed as adult women.
“The risk of sexualizing these children was high and designers could risk charges of sexual exploitation.” read the BBC article…

So basically, she’s saying that models are hired to promote a sexy, thin, womanly image (let’s not even get into what a paradox that is) and are being treated as though they are walking sexpots? So, what, sometimes drugged, drunk, undernourished girls in sometimes very little clothing are actually still children? Maybe we should stop giving them adult jobs then. Is fashion is the madame of image? Are we all helping promote pimping and starvation?

In a word, yes. Want to debate that? Leave your comment.

london fashion week, model health authority, models, modeling, teen models, sexy, pimps, british fashion council

In past years, Body Mass Index (BMI) has gained and lost favour multiple times. Since my last post mentioned BMI’s role in Madrid’s last Fashion Week, I thought I’d do a little calculating and see how the top models “measure up.” You can figure out your own BMI here. Using it, I found out that mine’s 17 - no catwalk strutting for me!

According to Forbes, the following supermodels were the top income earners in 2005.

1. Gisele Bundchen: (5′10″, 127 lbs., 34-24-34) BMI of 18.2.
2. Heidi Klum*: (5′9″, 119 lbs., 35-24-31) BMI of 17.6.
3. Tyra Banks**:(5′10″, 131 lbs., 36-34-36) BMI of 18.8.
4. Kate Moss: (5′7″, 105 lbs., 33-23-35) BMI of 16.4.
5. Adriana Lima: (5′10″, 112 lbs., 34-23-33) BMI of 16.1.

As you can see by plugging in the height and weight of nearly everyone you know (you know you’re curious), model sizes just aren’t realistic. I mean, look at me - I’m nearing Kate Moss’ stats, but my body looks nothing like hers. And it took 20 years of self-deprecating and destruction to do it - get as close, numerically, as I have. She probably couldn’t even maintain it, naturally, either.

* I’m assuming this was before getting pregnant and getting into television nearly full-time.

** It was truly hard to find mention of Tyra’s pre-retirement weight, so I resorted to this.

An article from The Independent, Fashion for size zero fuels rise in eating disorders among models, caused me to swear aloud last night. I mean, is this a surprise? Is it even news? Why is valuable press time being wasted on it when everyone could see that coming?!

The premise is that the drive for size 0 in the fashion world is making more models turn to eating disorders. Experts provided results of a study ultimately commissioned by the British Fashion Council, warning that there is truly little way to measure the prevalence of eating disorders amongst models because though anorexia is most prominent, there is a huge population with hidden disorders such as bulimia. One such expert estimates that nearly 40% of models are engaged in disordered eating habits.

This study came in part as a result of Madrid’s Fashion Week banning models with a BMI lower than 18 from working during the highly publicized event. The ban brought outrage from fashion pros, models and some media; women elsewhere rejoiced, especially given the then recent anorexia-related deaths of Eliana & Luisel Ramos.

In a proactive approach to both end confusion over dress sizes and avoid the “Size Zero” movement, the European Union is planning a continent-wide change in dress sizing - from a number such as 0-16 (which could really mean anything) to bust, waist and hip measurements. This, in my opinion, will clear up a bit of confusion since we’ve all gone into five different stores, only to be 3 different sizes - but I don’t see how this will have a major overall effect on the underlying competition women feel to wear a lower size than their peers. It’s really just changing the type of number, not the meaning of it.

Would you feel more confident wearing a 42″ hips pair of trousers, versus a size 14? Especially when your best friend wore a 36″ hip?

Diet Blog made me stop and say what? the other day. See, this Brazilian food manufacturer is marketing it’s new product - a no-fat, light yogurt. Seems pretty clear cut. We’re all used to the ads with women roller-blading through a greenery-laden pathway, obviously working their little butts and then rewarding themselves afterwards with a satisfying serving of insert-brand-of-yogurt-here.

The problem with these ads is their portrayal of famous Hollywood images. Not that the images themselves are offensive. The images’ taglines translates to “Forget about it. Men’s preference will never change. Fit Light Yogurt.”

This is abhorrent for so many reasons. It’s intimated that these large women shown are a) trying to land a man by posing as they have; b) don’t have a chance because men have one preference, apparently; and c) goes on the assumption that women, even when they are looking sexy for another person, are looking for men, exclusively.

Being a person with substantial body-image problems who, in general, bats for the hetero team, I can honestly say that I have never considered how my yogurt purchase may affect men. Never.

From the late 1800s to 1990, the definition of the ideal female form has changed drastically. Using this article, I’ve summed up the various epitomes:

From the late 1800s through the 1920s, corsets provided extreme hourglass shaping. Some women had ribs removed to further enhance the effect of their small waist in relation to bulging bust and hips. The perfect woman was frail, pale-skinned and came with a large bustle. By the end of the 1920s a movement had begun - women appeared free and sexy. Women wore bobbed haircuts, bound their breasts and burned their corsets!

During the 1940s, due to World War II, women took up working in factories, stereotypically becoming “tougher” and strong. In the 50s, the babyboomer age, women’s forms became more ample since there was a large focus on fertility and nurturing. The 60s and 70s would bring about a bigger change - the stick-thin model, Twiggy, who quickly became a mass celebrity - famous for being extremely thin and boyish.

Then the 80s came. Much as in today’s society, the ideal changed frequently and unpredictably from one extreme to the other. A general focus on more healthy, athletic and “fit” ideals preoccupied most of the decade, with thin and boyish models remaining popular and voluptuous sexpots garnering attention (occasionally only to be catered to via pornography). Large breasts when accompanied by a toned, slim body, in particular, were coveted by women and men, alike.

In my own opinion, the past 25 years of the female form have been drastically oppositional. One moment, we’re aching for androgyny, the next, the hourglass figure. Sometimes, we idealize both.

Today, one of my mommy-friends said that I have a body that 95% of women would kill for. While I’m aware that she hasn’t taken an official poll by any means, I wonder: if I have a near-perfect body, what kind of perfect is it in the vicinity of and why do I keep wanting to change it because it’s too far from perfect, to me?

What’s your version of a flawless female form?

scarlett johansson, keira knightley, perfect body, corsets, Twiggy

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) affects about 4 million people in the United States; men account for 1.6 million of sufferers according to reports of the McLean Hospital-conducted first national study of eating disorders. Characteristics of the disease include:

The disease can lead to obesity, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, multiple organ failures and/or diseases, further mental anguish in the form of depression or suicide and female reproductive complications. People suffering are urged to seek help as soon as possible as they may be in need of intensive therapy prior to losing any weight they may have picked up during binging periods.

One person who’s come forward in an effort to engage and educate is former model Ron Saxen. He’s recently released a book, The Good Eater, about his voyage from modelling to a 70 pound, six month weight gain. And back.

Saxen was recently interviewed by Joseph Planta, and - not to be feminist - he’s got perspective that I’ve rarely heard from a man regarding eating disorders. Chapter one of the book opens with his initial appointment and subsequent signing with his first modelling agency. You can find an excerp here. It strikes me as…odd, honestly, to read a man’s thoughts that have exactly matched mine in reference to whether he is too fat to be spoken to. And to see the mental tally of over-done and under nourished exercise.

I’ve never much used binging in my own history. It seemed too risky, when my goal was to become invisible. I suppose, mentally, suffering with BED would be just as effective at erasing yourself, as losing as much weight as is possible.