Free Essay

The Real Skinny

In: Miscellaneous

Submitted By nettieboo32
Words 709
Pages 3
The Real Skinny
In the article entitled The Real Skinny by the author Belinda Luscombe states that don’t blame models for being too thin. Look to the fat cats of fashion. After reading the article I believe the main idea the author is trying to make is that models are skinny not because they want to be, but because they have to be or they will not get any work. The people who make the big decisions in the fashion world wants all the models to be super skinny, but nobody will come forward and take responsibility for it. The author also states that consumers take a part in why models are too thin now days too. One of the first examples the author uses is when she talks about the modeling agencies, the motherly folks who inform the models that they can eat or work but not both, say it’s because photographers demand subjects with skin, bones and preferably nothing else. The photographers say it’s the designers who set the limits. The designers blamed the stylists, the people who put together the look for the photo shoots at the magazines. The magazines say its Hollywood or its advertisers. And the advertisers say people find their products better when on, next to, or usually just barely covering slender body types. By putting this information in the article the author shows the reader that everyone in the fashion world plays the balm game and nobody takes responsibility. The next example is when the author brings the consumer in by stating what do we the people say? Do we rise up and say, “I categorically refuse to buy any article of clothing unless the person promoting it weights more than she did when she wore knee socks? The author goes on to say mostly, our responses range from “I wonder if that would look good on me? To “I don’t know who that skinny-ass cow is, but I hate her already. I believe that the author puts this in the article to show consumers that they play a small part in why models are so thin now days. Consumers either ridicule models for being too skinny or they want to be just like them. Another example used is when the author assigns the blame on the designers. Stating designers design for the thin, that skinny pants, low-cut jeans, micro-minis and bubble skirts look fabulous if you’re built like a darning needle, but they’re just not going to work on us pincushions. By saying this it shows the author’s opinion on designers and her belief that designers are the first people to be blamed. Designers are the ones who are making the clothing and making them in size 0. Lastly the author uses an example of how folks go after the scrawniest links in the whole fashion chain first, the models. By stating this comment the author is saying that you cannot go after the models first because they are the lowest people on the fashion chain. Models make no decisions on how they look or what they wear, they just do as they are told.
As for my opinion I agree with some points of what the author is saying. I believe that everyone from the fashion world, to the consumers, to the models themselves take some part in why models are so damn skinny now days. Fashion fat cat may be the ones to blame first because they make all the decisions, but consumers are next in line to take some blame. Some consumers just add to the fire by eating up all the designs the designers make. Never thinking that maybe they should stop and take a really good look at how and where fashion is heading. Because if consumers don’t then the fat cat of fashion will just keep on making size 0 be the only size on the catwalk. I also believe that models need to take some responsibility too. They know what they are getting themselves into when they become models. They see what the fat cat of fashion want and know they have to be super skinny or find other career to do.

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Language In Fashion Advertising

...As an example we can explain the Of her experiences, Nightengale says: My eating disorder started my senior year of high school. I remember reading teen magazines as a young girl and wanting to look like those girls, but I had not a clue how to achieve that goal. At 17, what started out as a friendly competition with a friend turned into something else. At first she lost more weight than me, but after my first real heartbreak and [High School] graduation and starting college, I felt that controlling my eating was the only way I could have any control. What started out as exercise and a healthy diet turned into obsessive workout and calorie counting, until I lost control and became bulimic for about a year. I also had breast implants when I was 19. Mine were unusually small, so on top of feeling I lacked femininity, I also felt like a freak. My doctor gave me larger implants than I had asked for, which led to me being treated like a ditz for 10 years (Interview 2010). Year’s later, at 5‟7” and 130 pounds, Nightengale still finds herself struggling with her body image. “I think about my weight constantly. I always wish to be just a little bit smaller...

Words: 2667 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Social Media Influence

...of those skinny girls who could wear “brand named” clothes. I have been fighting my way through life, emotionally and physically. There were many times that I blame myself for the way I am. There was many times where I just wanted to give up and shut myself out and forget about the world. I felt like I didn’t have what it takes to fit in with society. I sometimes ask myself, “Why does society want us to look a specific way?” People of all different sex/age are influence by print ads, fashion, and the media. It gives people the need to be someone they aren’t. People have dramatically changed their bodies and the way they look due to the media. They go from a normal body to something that looks totally impossible. Some people over exercise and some starve themselves. This includes girls being overly obsessed with how their bodies look like; having the idea that the right body is supposed to be skinny, boys having the need to build muscles, and how others look down upon those who looks different. Today, girls have the urge to be skinny because of the models being used to sell specific items from brand name clothing companies, such as Victoria Secret, Hollister, Areopostale, and more. The only way to get customers is to use attractive girls with big breast and “sexy” bodies to sell their items. For example, Victoria’s Secret is a place where people can purchase bras, panties, sleepwear, and cosmetics. These VS models are known as “Angels”. It makes society view that real angels look...

Words: 1439 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Beauty Can't Be Measured in Pounds

...affect us negatively is how we view our body. You’re not good enough. That’s what people say, that’s what the media says, that's what almost everything around you implies. You're not good enough. You're never going to be good enough. But that’s the thing about humans. We’re never satisfied with what we have. In other words, we’re greedy, we want too much. If you're not like the girls on TV, they judge you. If you are like the girls on TV, they still judge you. There's always something they can say. Ugh, you’re too fat or, ugh, you're too skinny. Who here watches television? Yeah everyone, why? Because it’s entertaining. So imagine this, you’re sitting on your couch in the middle of your favorite show, when it cuts to a commercial. A Dunkin Donut advertisement pops up and you decide that you want to go there for something to eat. But then a few minutes later, a weight loss commercial blinks on the screen, you see a whole bunch skinny girls and muscular guys, your...

Words: 1117 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Advertuisement

...and that the average American is exposed to over 3000 ads a day. That can be on TV, billboards, magazines, and even clothes people wear. Jean next talks about the effect ads have on us and especially women. Advertisements are telling us how we should look, what we should wear, and what we should drink. Advertisements go deeper than just that. They make the most dangerous seem safe, most impossible easy, and they make everyday beauty in beings, ugly. For example, advertisements show us that if we're not stick skinny, we are not going to be accepted in the fashion world. They also make it seem like the real world isn't going to accept you because you don't look good if you're not really skinny. 2. Jean suggests that the typical images for male figures are having a much built body, the right hair, and covering nothing up but your crotch area. This interprets sexuality. The same goes for women. typical images for women are a big chest, a big behind, slim waist, long legs, skinny, oh and flawless. The stereotypes these advertisements perpetuate are that men are supposed to be taller, bigger, heartless, and tough. As for women, they have to be smaller, looked down upon, and even always being innocent. When it comes to race, a white boy has control over the white girl. But when it's a black boy and a white girl, the girl has the control. Go figure that race would have a part in advertisement. Another way race is involved in this is when it comes to colored women, they're seen as animals...

Words: 528 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Slim Wave in Singapore

...Motivation occurs when a need is aroused that the consumer wishes to satisfy. In this case, the motivation is to be skinny based on the need of social acceptance. Once that need has been activated, a state of tension exists that drives the consumer to attempt to eliminate or reduce the need. Diet pills are an easy way to satisfy the need of acceptance by helping make someone skinny. This reduces the tension without much effort. Needs may be Utilitarian or Hedonic. The need here is to fit in (social acceptance) and to feel good about oneself, which are sort of a blend of utilitarian and hedonic needs, but in the case of Singapore lean more towards hedonic, because it involves the emotions more than practicality. However, it could be utilitarian if someone were overweight but considering that Singapore has an obesity rate of only 4.2%, it is clear that there is no real need to lose weight artificially. The desired end state is the consumer's goal. The goal is to be thin like the models in the glossy magazines. Magnitude of tension a need creates (or degree of arousal) is called a drive. The tension is the feeling that one is not already skinny enough, so to resolve this tension, one is driven to find a solution (such as diet pills). Personal and cultural factors combine to create a want which is a manifestation of a need. Diet pills satisfy the want to be skinny without having to put in the hard effort such as eating healthy and exercising. Motivational Strength: I believe...

Words: 1016 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Analysis of Sweat

...Zora Neal Hurston wrote Sweat during an era when men dominated in the world, and often on the pages of literature. However, Zora is still able to create a heroine, for the time, which stands off the pages and speaks, I matter. Heroine Delia Jones, also caught up in a world controlled, and tempered by men, finds a way to hold onto her independence – and in the end gain her freedom. Hurston’s Sweat depicts beautifully the struggle between husband and wife for control, through her incorporation of symbols in the snake, and use of weight. From the beginning of the story the reader can see the struggle for power between Delia and her husband Sykes. Because, Sykes does not work, Delia is the head contributor to the household. Thus, she is the real controller of their house and property. Sykes does not actually own anything, yet he tries to uphold the illusion that he is in power. He tells Delia “Ah ain’t gointer have it in mah house. Don’t gimme no lip neither, else ah’ll throw ‘em out and put mah fist up side yo’ head to boot.” Once again, pushing his delusion of control. His terrorization of her through physical violence is all he truly has, because he is not actually running anything. I believe he brings in the snake into the house, because it is his final plot for ultimate control. The snake then becomes a symbol of his authoritarian masculine energy. I believe Hurston intended this as Delia's true fear. It also reflects the shifting women's issues at the time. At this time many...

Words: 768 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Marketing

...Tribune Business Build by Helping March 3, 2011 People who own businesses have to be resourceful to be successful. Some turn to helping non-profits to raise awareness of their products... ...Big Skinny, on the other hand, went at it in a BIG way, erecting a 21 foot by 10 foot wallet right in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA. Guinness World Records quickly crowned it the World's Largest Wallet. Several not-for-profits benefitted from this unique fund-raising vehicle to remind holiday shoppers to help the poor and others in need. Day after day, representatives of these groups told about their worthy causes and collected donations. Each group had its own pocket in the giant wallet. "Our hope is that the big crimson wallet urges folks to open their wallets to help address the needs of the underserved community," says Alexandrov, who also arranged for the Big Skinny website to stream live videos from historic Harvard Square of all those who participated. Those groups served include the Jose Mateo Dance Theatre, Salvation Army, Pediatric Aids Treatment Solutions, Harvard Square Homeless Shelter, Old Cambridge Baptist Church, Solutions at Work, Earthen Vessels, Molecular Frontiers, Cycle Kids, Cambridge Arts Council and Medulla Thyroid Cancer Research at John Hopkins. The Big Skinny Wallet, conceived by Alexandrov, solves the top five wallet problems. It is made of ultra-thin nylon micro-fiber and its unique design results in a 50 percent reduction in size. www.macedonian.org ...

Words: 8601 - Pages: 35

Free Essay

Social Images

...cultural change that would be benifical to the mental health of Americans would be the image that society portrays as the "perfect female". i think that we as a society stress that attractive women need to be skinny and clear skin that it puts a lot of pressure on younger/ teenage girls to try to look like that. willing to do anything to be considered attractive or perfect young girls put their body through some situations that their bodies are not meant to handle such as anorexia, bulemia, and binge eating. In recent studies (Smolak, 2011) 40-60 percent of girls starting at the age of are worried about becoming overweight and continue to worry about it for the span of their life. The detrimental part about this is the fact that it is causing health problems to young innocent boys and girls that are under what they think is a microscope of their peers. There is so much pressure on the people that are worried about what they look like and worried about what others think about them that they turn to a horrible option in eating disorders. Not only do eating disorders cause muscle loss, reduction of bone density, lack of nutrients, and fainting but it also can result in death. A change in this i think would be more advertisments showing that you do not have to be super skinny to be considered attractive or to be a super model. commercials and magzines could put girls that are bigger than the normal cover girl or bigger than the thin super model that everyone is used to seeing on...

Words: 503 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

The Truth About Disney

...walk down the street or look in the mirror and it becomes a case of welcome to the "real" world, us. Where everyone is in all shapes and sizes, colors and ages. Like in the book The Mouse that Roared, the authors shows how Disney attempts to hide behind a cloak of innocence and entertainment, while simultaneously exercising its influence as a major force on both global economics and cultural learning. In the fashion industry I feel that it is the same way, while forty percent of the United States is obese, Vogues magazines and many others show those unreal skinny bodies that everybody is dying to have. The fashion industry has shaped women’s ideals of what to wear and what to look, and until the industry can shift from encouraging people to be a shape which nature never intended them to be, however, the media will continue to form young people’s view of the world, a world that is apparently populated by only thin girls. The words "eat" and "boring" are usually never found in the same sentence, but leave it to a supermodel to accomplish this task. Bodies in a bathing suit, underwear, or a skimpy tank top flood magazines magazines today. How many times have you flipped through the pages of a Vogue magazine and spotted an article about how women should have a good perception of themselves and "celebrate those curves?" However you then turn the pages the only thing you see is skinny no curves at all. The Mass media influences lot teenagers. Therefore, it is much more...

Words: 1233 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Body

...Shaming In the Media Recent research on discrepancies related to distorting body image demonstrates how the media is a key variable in the recent increase of eating disorders. Up to 24 million people suffer from an eating disorder in the U.S. The constant exposure to these ideals in the media is closely related to increased body dissatisfaction and self-objectification, according to Kimberly Bissell of the Journal of Mass Media Ethics. Numerous research studies concur there is a lack of body-type diversity in most media forms. “Real Women Have Curves” and “Real Beauty” campaigns have been overwhelming the media, pushing for women to embrace their curvy figure. Does this send the message that women who are not curvy are not real women or do not have true beauty? In our culture, certain appearances are predisposed to certain stereotypes and health assumptions. Fat is automatically lazy, unhealthy, bad and out of control, while skinny is automatically productive, confident and healthy. Being thin comes with the positive connotation and association of success. Society often links success to being thin, further enforcing its social desirability, according to Kristen E. Van Vonderen and William Kinnally of the Journal of Mass Media Ethics. “It might be surprising to know that weight stigma hurts both thin and fat people,” stated Deb Burgard on the National Eating Disorder Association Website. “In my work with people of all sizes who are struggling with disordered eating...

Words: 846 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Njkndf

...MEDIA INFLUENCES ON EATING DISORDER ABSTRACT: The media as well as the eating disorders are commonly at odds because much frequently than never, we view various photographs of anorexic masses that are somehow galmourised as well as depicted the ideal beauty. The question now arises that whether does the media have an influence over eating disorders? What is it the most about the media is that it makes female fatally overwhelmed to the unrealistic and serious pressure towards slenderness? The affect of the media on the development of the eating disorders like Anorexia, Bulimia or Compulsive Overeating can’t be disproved.Since from the very early age the people are pelted with the images along with the messages that reinforce the idea to be pleased and successful that the individual must be lean. Now, as seen in daily day to day life that it is notified as a message that fat is bad, whether it is a television, a magazine, or a newspaper, or listening to the radio, or whether shopping in the mall. The most fearsome part is that the destructive message it conveys is somehow reaching towards children. Adolescents sometimes really feel like fatally blemished if their hips, weight etc. doesn’t match up I comparison to those of famous models and actors. Today even the children of the elementary school aged are also obsessed in respect to their weight. Even if the contention is also made that the media’s depiction of women is just only a mirror of the society and not as an...

Words: 2147 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Our Food Is Harming Us

...products. What are the people really eating? Once in my human biology class Dr. Walter Hoeh said: “The food that you eat every day will not kill you now but it will kill you after twenty to thirty years from eating the food, however, eventually you will die from the food.” He explained how food affect us, when we heard the explanation we were shocked because we buy food without reading the ingredient. When you eat processed food it tastes delicious and you crave for more, but you are only eating sugar and harmful fats and that type of sugar and fats are harming the human body. According to Ms. Epel in the skinny of obesity episode 2, she said:” I'm suspicious a anything that says low-fat diet because you know that that means that they had to compensate with a lot these added sugars there's more than five ingredients its probably a processed food and there's probably not much real food in their it is almost impossible to buy those...

Words: 1744 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Simon Lord Of The Flies Analysis

...Many of the boys enjoy swimming or playing on the beach, but Simon spends his time helping Ralph or in the jungle. Ralph complains to Jack, “All day I've been working with Simon. No one else. They're off bathing, or eating, or playing” (Golding 50). Ralph is conveying that Simon is helpful whereas the other boys are not. This displays Simons’ difference from the other boys because he is willing to help Ralph rather than playing like the other boys. Another way Simon is different from the others is by his time spent alone in the jungle. After feeding the younger boys, Simon moves deeper into the jungle. To ensure his secrecy he “glanced swiftly round to confirm that he was utterly alone” (Golding 56). Rather than spend time with the other boys,...

Words: 349 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Culture Myths

...seem like anything but perfect skin is not acceptable. They made a formula that bends and reflects light to help diffuse flaws. This helps spread out the imperfections and flaws but do not make the flaws go away. Many products look better in a commercial or in a picture. After receiving the product it does not look or work like what the commercial has stated. Even by adding make up imperfections and flaws can still be noticeable. The people acting in the commercial usually already have clear skin, or they shoot the commercial and Photoshop their skin to make their product more believable. In that same commercial they say that the make-up will make you look better in any kind of light. They also use different lightings to make it seem more real. While they are using different lightings they capture different angles to make her skin look better in the lights, even with “harsh unflattering lights”. The ad uses an uplifting kind of song that would make you feel good about yourself while listening to it. They make it seem like it would help you be more photogenic and make you be picture ready at anytime. This commercial makes the woman seem like she is more social...

Words: 878 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Drivin to Be Thin

...Drivin to be Thin Throughout the years, eating disorders have been on the rise. In a society that prizes thinness, anorexics and bulimics are often just one who looks good in clothes, hiding themselves from their real problem. Before 1995, bigger was better, and if you were trying to lose weight, people worried. “Back then big was beautiful and bigger was more beautiful...Everyone worried about losing weight but not the way they are now” (Goodman 79). Young girls and women strive to look like the models they see in magazines, and unrealistic body images promote dangerous eating disorders; therefore, photographers and magazine editors should not be able to photoshop pictures of women. To start out, anorexia nervosa is one of the two most common eating disorders. Anorexia is a disorder that makes one scared to gain weight, therefore, they starve themselves and go to an extreme with dieting and exercising. In fact, they are almost always hungry and thinking about food, even as the disorder impels them to deny their bodies the fuel needed to function properly. (Walsh, Cameron 62,63) It starts out as a diet, but because they have a fear of gaining weight the diet can spiral out of control. They may be bone thin but they can continue to eliminate more and more food, over time or they will eat very little or nothing at all. (Fanning n. pag.) In addition, bulimia is the second most common. Bulimia is a disorder in which one will eat an excessive amount of food, and then to get...

Words: 1367 - Pages: 6