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According to PLUS Model Magazine, most runway models are considered anorexic judging by their body mass index (BMI). That’s just one of the shocking statistics accompanying their controversial shoot, titled “Plus Size Bodies, What Is Wrong With Them Anyway?” meant to provoke discussion of the damaging body standards set by the fashion industry. The shoot features size 12 model Katya Zharkova, and in some photos, an anonymous “straight”-sized model. In an accompanying editorial, editor Madeline Figueroa-Jones also makes some good points about how the debate over beauty and fashion should be separated from health. The editorial makes some great points, but to be honest I’m not sure the photos themselves really do all women justice.
In the accompanying article, Figueroa-Jones says the answer to problems with body image is to stop believing that there’s something wrong with our bodies:
We are bombarded with weight-loss ads every single day, multiple times a day because it’s a multi-billion dollar industry that preys on the fear of being fat. Not everyone is meant to be skinny, our bodies are beautiful and we are not talking about health here because not every skinny person is healthy.
But I’m skeptical that photos of plus-sized models like Zharkova are necessarily going to heal us all from a size zero-centric ideal. Plus-sized models are also a fairly unrealistic standard to go by: Not only are they perfectly proportioned in a way that most women (big or little) aren’t; they’re also airbrushed and styled to a point that makes their bodies just as removed from reality as thinner models in Vogue.
The photos of Zharkova cradling a stick-thin model are condescending to anyone who’s naturally thin: It’s implied that because she’s thin, she’s anorexic, helpless and infantile, even though we don’t know anything about her diet or health. Figueroa-Jones is right: Not all skinny people are healthy. But they’re not all unhealthy or starving themselves to look that way, either.
Instead of creating a battle between size 12 and size zero, or judging someone’s health by their BMI (a measure that more and more doctors agree is rudimentary and outdated), I wish we could just see a greater diversity of body shapes and sizes across the board. (And find ways to make them look good that don’t involve airbrushing out their waists or unsightly dimples.)
These are some of the statistics that accompany the photo shoot; if they’re not a good argument for better diversity in models, I don’t know what is:
- Twenty years ago the average fashion model weighed 8% less than the average woman. Today, she weighs 23% less.
- Ten years ago plus-size models averaged between size 12 and 18. Today the need for size diversity within the plus-size modeling industry continues to be questioned. The majority of plus-size models on agency boards are between a size 6 and 14, while the customers continue to express their dissatisfaction.
- Most runway models meet the Body Mass Index physical criteria for Anorexia.
- 50% of women wear a size 14 or larger, but most standard clothing outlets cater to sizes 14 or smaller.
Photos: PLUS Model Magazine
Parkfuu
I agree with a lot of the comments made on this article. As well as the message in the article. I have always been a smaller person. My 16 year old daughter has already outgrown me! But I have battled against people harassing me about my thinness my whole life. I wish people understood that it is just as bad as judging people for being overweight. Everyone is different. THE END. Time to accept that and yourselves and just be happy.
Forget the body size acceptance question…these photos are just plain weird. As a lesbian myself, Im obviously not offended by the homoerotic nature of these images per se…but what I am offended by is our cultures continual obsession/fetish with girl-on-girl action. Please! It’s okay for lesbians to be sex objects but they can’t marry? And yes–these images are sexual. My gf would flip should I cradle someone else while naked.
We’re either too skinny or too fat. The world will never be happy with the size of a woman. When I was a size 2 I got called anorexic, now that I’m a size 6 (after two kids) I get told I need to lose weight. Eff that. I’m happy with my body. If people would stop pressing issues about our bodies we would all be more comfortable with who we are.
I love what is being said but in a way I see what you are saying.and.of course ever one thanks what they want.
We are all unhealthy….period! We breathe in air pollution, drink polluted water, eat veggies covered in pesticides, and animals injected with everything and we want to worry about what we look like on the outside! Ha! Put up the pics and let’s worry about more important stuff like poverty, jobs, and education!Goodness!
I have to agree with you… we are all unhealthy. But it is nice to see a woman that size get some attention. I am fat because I like to eat. I am not obese, but I like food and beer. So I eat and drink. I could get hit by a car tomorrow, regardless of how healthy I am!
I agree with the statement made in this post and what another poster said; just because someone is naturally thin doesn’t mean they’re unhealthy or starving themselves. I can honestly say that you’re doomed either way to someone’s negativity. There’s more of a problem with people saying ‘being bigger’ is healthier when honestly it’s usually NOT since there are probably more overweight or ‘healthy’ people than there are naturally thin people who are just that: NATURALLY thin. Is anyone considering that height plays a big role in the appearance of BMI too?
I felt extremely offended with these pictures when I saw on another website and I agree that a battle between size0 x plussize is not the right way to promote better body acceptance. Just because I’m a size zero it doesn’t mean I’m a frail helpless child who must hide my face and would need a plussize woman to hug and comfort me like a mom and show how much worthless I look like and how superior her body is, in a way that she can be proud to show her face to the world while skinny girls should be locked up and hide with shame for their size.
How would overweight girls feel if a runway model portrayed a photoshoot where she would be standing straight up with her feet upon a plus size model hidden face, helpless and in fetal position on the floor, showing to the world that skinny conquered her and is superior than plus size women? this is exactly how I felt when I saw these
pictures!
I totally agree with yout article, loved the phrase ““Not all skinny people are healthy. But they’re not all unhealthy or starving
themselves to look that way, either.””. Bravo!
I would love to see too a variety of sizes, age and ethnicities in fashion, I’m sick of the way every magazine exclude asian, black, latinos, size4, 6, 12, plus size, older models, I’m sick of photoshop, so I want change like everyone else.
But this bullying against size 0 is not the right way to promote well being either. Honestly!
thank you for your article and keep up!
There’s definitely an implicit message in the hugs of the photos. But isn’t it also striking how much the smaller model makes the plus size model look healthier? When a woman with rolls is photographed by herself, you focus on the rolls. But when she’s next to a really mini person, she looks so much healthier!
Tho I agree with Denise that the homo-erotic message in the pics is super confusing.
Wow – thanks for the positive comments on the post, guys. These types of ad campaigns can be so inflammatory; I usually expect a lot of angry comments. If nothing else, the photo shoot at least reminds us all to think about these issues, which is great, but yeah… I just wish they didn’t pose things as a battle between size 0 and size 12.
I love the message and I find most of the photos to gorgeous. Where I’m lost is the homo-erotic nature of some of them. What is the point? I personally don’t have a problem with them but in looking at them I can see where a fabulous message may be lost in the nature of some of those photos.
I’m skinny, always have been size 0, the way I see these pics is the plus size model being the supposedly warm person hugs and confort the regular runway model, but in fact the hidden message is a judas kiss, the plus size is trying to anihilate us skinny girls because she think she is better/superior than us. Get a grip. You are not better and skinny are not superior either.
No one should feel better or more real woman just because of more adipose tissue or fat. Fashion always had thin models, I don’t know why the heck people are so obssessed about how small models are. I’m runway size but I don’t compare myself to any of those models when I browse any fashion magazine, they are freaking models with beautiful faces and are supposed to be out of this world… why the heck average people keep annoyed about them? you can lose all the weight you want but if you aint got the face and age you will never be a model. LEts get real. Plus size models or size0 models are out of the ordinary females with perfect faces/features etc, they are still MODELS no matter the size. This is why people seriously should stop with being delusional about harassing size 0 models. Instead they should mail magazines asking for VARIETY, models size 0, 2, 4, 6, 12 plus size. Also models of different ethnicities, asian, black, latinos. I’m sick of only blonde caucasian skinny models. You should be too!
Fashion is fashion, average women should just get clothes available in their size be small or extra large, we can’t go around naked. And no real woman talk, I began to hate plus size preaching calling skinny women 13years old boys, sticks, anorexics etc. THIS IS BULLYING. I don’t harass average or obese people, why must you bash skinny women? we are still a woman no matter how huge or small are your boobs or thighs, as long as you have a vag1na you’re still a REAL WOMAN and no figure is better than the other. Let’s plai fair, put all sizes, less photoshop and all races, instead of complain about skinny girls.
i don’t get that they are promoting a positive body image. it looks a bit pornographic to me. especially the one where she is holding “groping” her.
“Not all skinny people are healthy. But they’re not all unhealthy or starving themselves to look that way, either.”
THANK YOU! Thank you for finally saying this! As a naturally really slim (HATE the word skinny, its insulting) 21 year old, I’m frequently being told ‘you should eat more cake!’ and other things like that by my friends and even family. Would you tell and overweight person you know to ‘you should just stop eating!’ Not likely. Why’s it ok to tell people like me to eat more?
Both my parents were thin when they were my age, it’s called genetics, people!
I’ve tried to gain weight, I really have. It goes straight onto my stomach and back which is the last place I want it to go, so now I just stick to maintaining the weight I am now which is technically underweight, but I’m fairly happy about it.
Everyone seems to be so obsessed nowadays with making overweight people feel OK about their bodies, there’s so much hatred for people my size emerging and it’s doing nothing for my self esteem at least. I don’t like that people think I have an eating disorder before even knowing my name, or that because I’m this weight I’m not a ‘real woman’. So I thank you for FINALLY saying that it’s OK to be thin, I’m not automatically assumed to have a mental desease, and that at least the people who make this blog realise that I can be this size and be healthy too!
I agree! I’d like to thank the article author as well, for being respectful and neutral, I really appreciate! I found this article through google after I searched for these photos because I saw it on a fashion blog.