Saturday, 17 December 2011

The model controversy: what do I mean?


Research suggests that 1% of all teenage US girls are anorexic. Now for a start, I am not from the US. I am from Europe, from a tiny country called the Netherlands (you might have heard of it. Cheese, tulips, mills... we have 'em. We just don't wear clogs 24/7). Secondly, these figures (1% of all girls) might only be girls who have been recorded as being anorexic. There are loads of other girls out there who have kept it secret and have thus not been recorded; the actual number of anorexic girls might be way bigger. 

Let me just say that I know what it's like to feel fat. Or actually... to think you feel fat. Because I am not fat. I am skinny, and I know it. Although at times, I do fall back into the same old pattern of not eating for days, while feeling the 'flabs' of my stomach. 
Yes, everyone knows them; the infamous flabs. Curse them. But to be honest, to all girls out there, you are not fat. You have no flabs. Go look in the mirror, look at your stomach, and be honest with yourselves: you are NOT fat. 

Nowadays, models are supposed to represent the 'perfect female'. They've got the legs, they've got the abs, the boobs, the hair, the eyes, the skin, the bone structure... they have it all. Or do they? 
Because seriously, how much of it is photoshopped? There is not a single photograph that enters a magazine without being photoshopped, research shows. So to all you girls out there, old or young, short or tall, you are all beautiful. Who knows what these models look like in real life?! 

What I'm trying to say is, leave these models alone. Please do not attack them because of their weight. There are a couple of reasons for that; I'll discuss them some other time. 
Before I go and sleep, please also do not think I am all pro-ana right now. Because that's debatable. 

Goodnight <3 

What's the big idea?

This is not some kind of hating blog, if that's what you think.
I wrote this blog because I want to share my thoughts with everyone out there, and to be honest, there are quite a lot of them in my head.


This blog is about models. You might think, "Oh, another one of those people who go and hate on the bodies of models". Or just the opposite: "Oh, another one of those people who just go describe what models look like, what they wear". In other words, just another fashion blog.
But that's not what I want to write about. I'm going to write about "The Model Controversy", as I like to call it.


You've heard it millions of times, and have maybe even been confronted with it yourself: too fat, too skinny, too flabby, too bony... Our weight is something permanent, something that plays quite a big role in our lives. A bigger role in some lives than in others.


Especially in the world of models and fashion weight plays a big role. Do you want to walk that dress down the catwalk? Lose a few pounds first. You want to win the model competition from your even skinner opponent? LOSE WEIGHT!


Really? What's the big deal? Leave them be. If they want to be skinny, leave them be.
Alright, you've got a point, the fashion world, and the rest of the world, are putting a lot of pressure on these models... and so also on regular teenage girls. Do you think it is a very nice feeling, looking at a beautiful photograph of some model, and then looking at yourself?


The model controversy: what about it?