This may
sound preposterous, but long before I became an archaeologist and, before that,
a firefighter, I dreamt of being a model. Like many teens, I devoured the
fashion magazines – Vogue and Elle were my bibles. But for me, it wasn’t so
much the fashion, it was more the amazing photographs of those beautifully
svelte women.
Their body proportions were astounding: they were tall, lithe, and, most importantly, incredibly thin. Everything a young girl aspired to be. So as I prepared for high school, I dieted like a fiend, losing the subtle layer of baby fat I had been toting since childhood, transforming myself into a willowy wisp of an adolescent. I was ready.
Their body proportions were astounding: they were tall, lithe, and, most importantly, incredibly thin. Everything a young girl aspired to be. So as I prepared for high school, I dieted like a fiend, losing the subtle layer of baby fat I had been toting since childhood, transforming myself into a willowy wisp of an adolescent. I was ready.
The thin
frame I acquired for modeling was ill-equipped for the rigors of firefighting,
so I set to work, running, lifting, and pumping my way to a muscled physique.
And it’s a good thing I did. It turns out maintaining the body of a model, in
all its emaciated splendor, is anything but glamourous.
Let’s
start with what a healthy body looks like. The average woman should be composed
of about twenty-two percent body fat. That’s because fat plays a fundamental role in the
body’s metabolism. It provides a backup energy source when carbohydrates are
scarce, it absorbs vital nutrients, such as vitamins A, D, E, and K; and it
helps maintain proper body temperature. So you can imagine what happens to an
individual who lacks the necessary fat stores. And the situation is only
compounded by the extreme dieting most models undertake in order to maintain
their fat-free physiques.
The most
serious culprits are those strutting the catwalk. Let’s face it, clothes look
best on tall, thin frames. That’s why the average size on the runway runs
between 0 and 2 – hardly your typical body. So for a model to compete, she must
maintain a frame that fits the bill.
But this
industry not only harms the models, it wreaks havoc on the psyches of girls
everywhere. The result? An epidemic of eating disorders, driven by the
marketing of unrealistic body types.
Eating
disorders affect around seventy million people worldwide – twenty-four million of those in
the US, alone (and this statistic is from 2002!). Ninety percent of women with
eating disorders are between the ages of twelve and twenty-five and, in a ghoulish survey, half the women questioned said they would rather be hit by a truck than be fat. Come
on!!
Anorexia
is the third most common chronic illness among adolescents, which is
frightening, considering that same anorexic is about twelve times more likely to
die an early death. In fact, about twenty percent of people suffering from anorexia will
die prematurely due to complications that accompany this syndrome; typically, cardiac abnormalities or suicide. And the body issues that drive this disorder
are creeping into an ever-younger age group. According to a study in the Journal of the American
Dietetic Association, eighty-one percent of ten year olds claimed they were afraid of becoming
fat and over half the nine and ten year olds surveyed said they felt better about
themselves when they were dieting. Time Magazine reported that eighty percent of all
children have been on a diet by the time they reach the fourth grade!
Body image is a complicated issue, driven by many factors, most notably the media. Fortunately,
the fashion industry is taking note. The Council of Fashion Designers of
America has developed guidelines to address the issue of underweight (and underage)
models on the catwalk. So perhaps there’s hope.
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