Size Zero
The size zero phenomenon is horrific. It isn't a particularly new topic, but it was brought to my attention relatively recently, by the unlikely but magnificent source, Mitch Benn. He has a song about a size zero model:
'Well she's up on the catwalk twice nightly
Wouldn't say she's as skinny as hell
But it's true that she makes Keira Knightley
Look a bit like the late Orson Wells.
And the press wonder if she's bulimic
And if she's ever eaten or supped
But you know what they say in this business:
Whatever goes down must come up.
She's a size zero
With a midriff the size of her wrist
She's a size zero
If she gets any thinner she'll technically cease to exist.
Well they call her a dreadful role model
In the papers but also we find
They complain that the kids are all too fat these days
How I wish they would make up their minds.
Fashion writers blame fear and anxiety
And call her condition obscene
But they won't be caught dead with a fat bird
On the cover of their magazines.
So she's still a size zero
'Cause this year it's hip to look dead
She's a size zero
Or she could be a normal sized girl with a really big head.
She's a size zero
She's almost translucent it's true
She's a size zero
And if beauty's skin deep, she's beautiful all the way through.'
Wouldn't say she's as skinny as hell
But it's true that she makes Keira Knightley
Look a bit like the late Orson Wells.
And the press wonder if she's bulimic
And if she's ever eaten or supped
But you know what they say in this business:
Whatever goes down must come up.
She's a size zero
With a midriff the size of her wrist
She's a size zero
If she gets any thinner she'll technically cease to exist.
Well they call her a dreadful role model
In the papers but also we find
They complain that the kids are all too fat these days
How I wish they would make up their minds.
Fashion writers blame fear and anxiety
And call her condition obscene
But they won't be caught dead with a fat bird
On the cover of their magazines.
So she's still a size zero
'Cause this year it's hip to look dead
She's a size zero
Or she could be a normal sized girl with a really big head.
She's a size zero
She's almost translucent it's true
She's a size zero
And if beauty's skin deep, she's beautiful all the way through.'
It's a good song. I recommend it, and many others of Mitch Benn's creating. But what he says is true. These girls, size zeros, do in fact look skeletal. That's not attractive, right? Please, all sane men and women out there, tell me that that is not attractive. But you know, if we think that's going just a little far, we could go for the slightly fleshier look. You know, ribs always were my favourite feature in a woman. They really bring out your cheekbones. According to Wikipedia, an American size 0, or English size 4, is a woman with a bust of 31 inches and a waist of 23 inches. The waist measurement was actually slightly larger than I was expecting. My waist is about 25 inches. Then, however, it occurred to me that when you take 2 inches off a circumference it's actually quite significant, and that most of these women, being models, will be about a foot taller than me, and should therefore be proportionally wider. But no. Because apparently looking as though a child could snap you in two is beautiful. Showing off the delicate nature of your bones through your skin is attractive. Having knobs instead of curves is intensely sexy. I just don't get it. I thought breasts were supposed to be sexy? I think they are anyway. And none of these women HAVE breasts any more. Because if they did, they wouldn't fit into size zero clothes any more.
And this terrible trend in society, I just realised, is even affecting me, albeit in a very minor way. I weigh myself pretty frequently, and get quite distressed if I go over 9 stone. That is a bad thing. I also, above, was going to write that my waist was 25/26 inches, but I stuck with 25 because goodness, 26 doesn't sound quite as skinny as I would like to be. This is also a bad thing. I know perfectly well that I am slim, and reasonably attractively so. I do not need to be any slimmer than I am. In actual fact, I'm pretty happy with what I look like, which makes me unlike a lot of girls I know. And yet, even so, despite the fact that I have rapidly grown in confidence over the past couple of years, there is still that gnawing little feeling in the back of my head that I really ought to try a little harder. Luckily I like chocolate and cheese far too much to ever let that little voice get its way. But really, it shouldn't be there at all.
I was pleased to see that the Madrid Fashion Week 2006 refused to let any model with a BMI of under 18 participate. 18 is damn skinny. But it's a start. A start that was triggered by two deaths (Luisel Ramos, 22, died of a heart attack after trying to survive on a diet of Diet Coke and lettuce leaves, and Ana Carolina Reston who died of renal failure after attempting to live on only tomatoes and apples), but at least a start.
And this terrible trend in society, I just realised, is even affecting me, albeit in a very minor way. I weigh myself pretty frequently, and get quite distressed if I go over 9 stone. That is a bad thing. I also, above, was going to write that my waist was 25/26 inches, but I stuck with 25 because goodness, 26 doesn't sound quite as skinny as I would like to be. This is also a bad thing. I know perfectly well that I am slim, and reasonably attractively so. I do not need to be any slimmer than I am. In actual fact, I'm pretty happy with what I look like, which makes me unlike a lot of girls I know. And yet, even so, despite the fact that I have rapidly grown in confidence over the past couple of years, there is still that gnawing little feeling in the back of my head that I really ought to try a little harder. Luckily I like chocolate and cheese far too much to ever let that little voice get its way. But really, it shouldn't be there at all.
I was pleased to see that the Madrid Fashion Week 2006 refused to let any model with a BMI of under 18 participate. 18 is damn skinny. But it's a start. A start that was triggered by two deaths (Luisel Ramos, 22, died of a heart attack after trying to survive on a diet of Diet Coke and lettuce leaves, and Ana Carolina Reston who died of renal failure after attempting to live on only tomatoes and apples), but at least a start.
1 Comments:
It is widely known that certain eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, are culture-specific, being predominantly prevalent in Western countries, while being virtually unknown in other countries. My impression is that although differences in cultural æsthetics regarding anatomical proportions influence this epidemiology, the moral attitudes towards nutrition in Western culture also play a rôle. In our culture, the ideals and attitudes regarding nutrition are often fluid and inconsistent. A child may be scolded if he or she does not finish their dinner, and later be criticised if he or she eats indulgently. People are continually warned about the dangers of obesity, while at the same time being taught about the importance of adequate nutritional intake. Every so often, popular media advertise a new diet that undermines the previous diet, and exposes new statistics that suggest that another food item has adverse effects on health. Standards regarding nutrition in Western culture are incredibly unstable. Furthermore, these standards have adopted a moral and prohibitive slant to them, with foods and nutritional states continually being considered as being "bad". As a result, children and adolescents develop an unstable and maladaptive relationship with nutrition, coloured by feelings of confusion and guilt. Of course, anorexia nervosa is a complex condition, and many factors play a rôle in its psychopathology. However, I do believe that these unstable standards and prohibitive attitude towards nutrition in Western culture has a significant influence. Indeed, it is well known that extremes in nutritional state, that is obesity and malnutrition, are associated with significant health risks. However, instead of gently encouraging healthy moderation, our culture has a tendency towards whimsical prohibition.
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