Thirty-two kilos

I don’t even remember how I ran across this article today: Pro-anorexia websites inspire controversial photo exhibit

A controversial new photo exhibits opens tonight in Washington D.C. that has many people grimacing in disgust. The exhibit features a collection of work by German photographer Ivonne Thein and is titled ‘Thirty-Two Kilos.’ If your math is rusty, thirty-two kilos is roughly seventy pounds. Why is that important? The collection of photographs features extremely emaciated models.

I really think the only unique part about this exhibit is the title (while very sick, it is at least creative).  But as for the rest of it?  I don’t see what’s so special….

1. It’s a “collection of photographs [that] features extremely emaciated models.”  …and that’s new how?  I walked by Victoria Secrets this evening and found the same.
2. “None of the models are truly that thin.  They were digitally manipulated to look anorexic.”  Right, I bet 95% of all magazine photos out there are Photoshopped.  Heck, I know how to Photoshop photos!
3. “…a few pro-anorexia sites are rather fond of Thein’s latest work.”  Well yeah, these are photos of emaciated women!  I swear, you could put up pictures of underweight animals and they would reappear on some pro-ana site.

I guess what irks me a little bit about this exhibit is Thein’s intention to raise awareness about eating disorders and alarm about pro-ana websites.  I feel like putting out another exhibit of sick girls just feeds the disorder and the obsession with thinness.  While maybe she meant for the models to look so ridiculously thin that no one would want to look like that… to someone with a serious eating disorder, he/she is going to look at those photos and find something attractive about them.  I’m sure that she doesn’t think she is glamorizing anorexia… but the only people she is scaring are those who do not have eating disorders.  Plus, she’s perpetuating the stereotype that someone with an eating disorder weighs thirty-two kilos (when most fall into the EDNOS category).

I just hate to see media like this in the name of “eating disorder awareness.”  That might be true… but it’s the wrong kind of awareness.

Save the models!

Okay, so the title is a lot of sarcasm, but I think it’s a great fit for this article:French Lawmakers Target Promotion of Extreme Thinness
While I am definitely all-for this law… this one part pissed me off:

Marleen S. Williams, a psychology professor at Brigham Young University in Utah who researches the media’s effect on anorexic women, said it was nearly impossible to prove that the media causes eating disorders.

Okay, I think that only a minority of individuals would claim that the media causes eating disorders. The biopsychosocial model has been around for quite awhile now.

I think that many people will agree that the media does influence eating disorders. Personally, I think that emaciated models / actresses are the problem… I don’t think that even eating disorder education is helpful. Not many people out there are pro-ignorance (it just sounds bad), but from my perspective, attention is attention. Positive or negative, you’re still giving people ideas. You’re making it more familiar, more acceptable. I’m all for mental-health parity and de-stigmatization… but not for making the disorder more casual.

Anyway, beyond the “media doesn’t cause eating disorders” bit, this quote still pisses me off because the law servers another purpose — saving models! By passing this law, you could potentially be putting a lot of girls’ careers in jeopardy. Get some help and gain a little weight, and you can keep modeling!

I do think that there should be set-in-stone criteria… not just some “you look to thin, you’re out” ruling from a judge. People with eating disorders need boundaries. REAL boundaries… otherwise there’s going to be a lot of “well she’s ALMOST healthy enough” and “well all of her labs are normal, her weight is not indicative of her health.” All of which is bullshit. In the models’ defense… I think that the BMI cutoff should be a little more lenient. Maybe they can be allowed to be a little underweight. I don’t think that’s unreasonable, because some people do just fall below the normal chart…

But I will be VERY excited to see semi-healthy models. I just think it’ll be interesting. And I actually think that it will bring MORE business to the modeling industry, because other people will be curious, too. (And people may actually look at the clothing — not just gawk at how thin the models are).

models, anorexia, bulimia, french model law, emaciated models, anorexic models