Fashionably Ill People often look to the world of fashion for what the next trend in beauty will be, for many decades it has been an unattainable goal. It has been an epidemic for numerous years of young girls going to extreme lengths to achieve this goal. Copious amounts of models develop eating disorders to stay thin, and the girls who look up to them develop their own, through Cheryl Diamond’s Model : a memoir we can see the hardships models face, the cultural impact of them, and through book reviews we can see what outsiders to the fashion world think of the thin beauties. There is a very long history of the fashion industry and the models who first made it popular. The glamour of fashion shows wasn't always present.
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"In other words, if a woman has a predisposition for an eating disorder and spends a lot of time looking at fashion magazines, this can be one of the factors that triggers feeling bad about her body, which she then turns into eating disorder behavior, like excessive dieting" (Pearson 2). Young girls start feeling self-conscious about themselves and compare themselves to other females during adolescence. Some of the women they will compare themselves to are fashion models. These exceedingly thin figures are unattainable goals for young girls to strive for. This is a large part of the increase in eating disorders amongst young American girls. Anorexia is a common disease amongst models. Self inflicted starvation is a disease that has claimed multiple lives and caused permanent damage (Pearson 2). Shows like America’s Next Top Model further this, however they are not all bad. "The franchise, which has taught generations of women (and, in its latest seasons, men) to tromp fiercely down runways and “smize,” has been floundering for years, but it deserves to be remembered as it was in its earliest years: groundbreaking, fascinating and informative" (Brown 2). It gave normal people a look inside an exclusive industry. No one knew what went on at the heart of the glamour. Tyra Banks gave us all a look into the elusive world of the model. When America’s Next Top Model first aired it was innovative and educational. It showed the American people what really went on in the modeling world (Brown 2). Feminists have been fighting the battle against eating disorders and the models who sponsor them for years. Unfortunately mainstream media supports the poisonous cycle and makes money off of it. "No matter how many 'feminist' features magazines may run, body fascism is
"In other words, if a woman has a predisposition for an eating disorder and spends a lot of time looking at fashion magazines, this can be one of the factors that triggers feeling bad about her body, which she then turns into eating disorder behavior, like excessive dieting" (Pearson 2). Young girls start feeling self-conscious about themselves and compare themselves to other females during adolescence. Some of the women they will compare themselves to are fashion models. These exceedingly thin figures are unattainable goals for young girls to strive for. This is a large part of the increase in eating disorders amongst young American girls. Anorexia is a common disease amongst models. Self inflicted starvation is a disease that has claimed multiple lives and caused permanent damage (Pearson 2). Shows like America’s Next Top Model further this, however they are not all bad. "The franchise, which has taught generations of women (and, in its latest seasons, men) to tromp fiercely down runways and “smize,” has been floundering for years, but it deserves to be remembered as it was in its earliest years: groundbreaking, fascinating and informative" (Brown 2). It gave normal people a look inside an exclusive industry. No one knew what went on at the heart of the glamour. Tyra Banks gave us all a look into the elusive world of the model. When America’s Next Top Model first aired it was innovative and educational. It showed the American people what really went on in the modeling world (Brown 2). Feminists have been fighting the battle against eating disorders and the models who sponsor them for years. Unfortunately mainstream media supports the poisonous cycle and makes money off of it. "No matter how many 'feminist' features magazines may run, body fascism is