Body images

Body images
Af
Maila
Walmod
Ann‐Sofie
N.
Schou
Patrick
K.
Petersen
Indholdsfortegnelse
Introduction ...............................................................................................................................................................................3
The female body tough time....................................................................................................................................................4
Twiggy .........................................................................................................................................................................................5
Skinny models banned from catwalk .....................................................................................................................................6
The different between men and women’s opinions ............................................................................................................8
Literature list ..............................................................................................................................................................................9
Introduction
If we take a look back in time, many will say that women at that time were fat. But it was the old ideals
and a lot has happened since then. Before the first super thin model walked down the runway, women
should have round curves – it wasn’t attractive when you could see the bones on the shoulders and on
the hips. Then, in 1930, the fashion world had like a revolution and Twiggy became supermodel. She
created the new ideals and the waiflike look took over on the catwalk and it has become more and
more extreme. Models are seen so thin today that it is on the boundary of madness. Their Body Mass
Index are often far below what experts call a starving state and some have already died in their trying to
meet the requirements of the fashion world. Many of them use size zero and that is the absolutely
smallest size we have, and to be so skinny is sick and dangerous. Why has it come so far? Is anything
done to stop it? How has it changed so much and will it change again?
Reason for choosing this topic
We were supposed to ride something about “body and health”, and “body images” sounded like an interesting
subject to choose, because of the after all the talk about to skinny models, and the big thing with expelling
models with a BMI less than 18. Another reason why we chose this topic was that we got a task, with finding
some pictures of role-models, so we though that we would get a better start chosen this subject.
1. How was the picture before?
2. What did people do to meet the requirements at that time?
3. Was there any risk in doing that?
4. Who started the trend?
5. How does the fashion affect the image of "the perfect body"
6. The difference between the opinions of men and women.
The female body through time
The ideals of the perfect female body have changed a lot through the times. Often you find an underlying reason
for the idealized female body image, which are stemming from political and economic sources.
Back in the 18th century the “idealized” colonial women were tough, big, muscular, strong and fertile. In this
period of time in the history size and strength were important assets for a woman to possess. It was both for her
own survival as well as her desirability as a wife, mother and worker of the land. Her fertility was important,
because the more children she could produce, the more helpers the family would get. And then the next
generation would take over the properties and take care of the parents when they got old.
When we move into the next century the female body image had changed drastically. This time it was more
political reasons that created these new ideals. Women had to be frail and were almost expected to faint all the
time. They were expected to be weak and delicate, and it was also in the early 1800’s the corset came into
fashion. It was the rich part of the population, who had the money to think of fashion and not only survival for
the family and its properties. The weak woman had to have help and that showed money. Instead of a woman,
who could work hard, the new picture of her was sophisticated and very fashion minded. The image meant a lot.
The corset stayed in the fashion picture until the 1920’s, but wasn’t as popular in the last part of the period as in
the first. In the middle of 19th century, the idealized hourglass figure became more and more extreme and the
corset got designed and constructed more and more narrowly around the waist. When the fashion dictated a
thing so unnatural, some new methods to meet the requirements were used. Women of that time had even ribs
surgically removed, so they could fit the small enough waist size when they corseted themselves. The strong
competition for men and marriage, because women generally didn’t have means of supporting themselves, made
women go into the extreme to fulfil what was expected of them and their appearance.
Femininity was synonymous with weakness, frailty, grace and romanticism. Beauty was defined as pallor of skin,
tiny waist and a large bustle. The women was dependent on their husband to be provided for and the men got
some status by having a wife, who fit the ideals of that time – admiring glances that fell upon the fragile waist
gave some respect. But for the women, who resorted to choose those physical measures n order to effectively
compete for prized men, the removal of their lower ribs, ended up dislocating their kidneys, liver and other
organs, as well as causing other medical problems.
The beginning of the women’s movement in the mid 1880’s had a major effect on the body image, and especially
the corset was attacked, because of its restrictiveness both in breathing and in movement. Women began to
band together during this period and converted to the corset-free figure. It took some time but at last the corsets
got out of the fashion world.
Twiggy
In 1949 a there was given birth to a little girl called les Hornby in London. She lived just like a normal girl, and
studied at Kilburn high school in Salusbury Road, Kilburn.
In the year 1966 the modeling agent Nigel Daves noticed Les Hornby,
and he offered her quickly a modeling contract. A short time after the
contract was written, he decided that Les should chance her name to
something fancier and something easy to remember. So little Les, who
only weighed 41 kg, changed her name to Twiggy, which had been
nickname from her childhood. When Les had changed her name, Nigel
though he would do the same; he changed his name to Justin de
Villeneuve.
Nigel, now known as Justin de Villeneuve, still believed in Twiggy,
even though she was almost opposite everything within the female
ideal body. In 1967 Twiggy and Justin arrived at the New York airport,
the city of fashion. When Twiggy came, she was very different from
the other models, and all the others said that the “twiggy-stile” would
die within a month. There, the other models still had the very feminine
body shape with round curves, where the female shape with long hair
and so was worshipped. But Twiggy’s had short spiky hair, did only
weighed 41 kg and had almost more a “boy-shape” with her short hair
and missing curves.
Nearly nobody thought Twiggy could get the break-through she actually got. All the fashion people from the big
fashion houses with the famous designer labels loved Twiggy’s new way of challenging the runway. They dictated
the fashion and soon a new style was getting into the fashion world. Fashion is often about the new and unseen
before, and that was exactly what Twiggy brought with her – a new female body image. Twiggy became a
supermodel, and she became the new role-model for all new models. After Twiggy’s becoming a celebrity all girls
in the fashion area needed to be thin, to fit in the campaigns from the fashion world.
In many years Twiggy was the front model of everything, she was the most famous pop idol at that time, she
became millionaire in no time and she ruled the runway for 40 years. One of the most famous things Twiggy was
known for was her fake eyelashes, and they also got her name: “Twiggy’s”.
In 1971 Twiggy retired from the modeling business, with the words “you can’t be a hanger for your entire life”,
and with that sentence her modeling career ended from that day. After the break she was actor and singer in
some musicals, and then in 1977 she married the actor Michael Witney.
Not long after the wedding, Twiggy became pregnant, and 9 month later she gave birth to their little daughter
named Carly. So now Twiggy had a family, but unlucky Michael died in 1983 from a hearth attack. Twiggy was of
course broken-hearted, but in 1988 she got married again with a new man named Leigh Lawson, she met him in
the movie “Madame Sousatzka”. About Twiggy’s Sing star career, she made a contract with Mercury Records in
1976, and her first albums “Twiggy” and “Please get my name right”, was a mix of both pop and Country
rhythms. These albums got to no. 33 on the UK charts and for that Twiggy given a silver record for the great
sale of her albums. In 2003 she released another album called “Midnight Blue”, and the latest view of Twiggy
was in “American next top model 2005”, she was invited to be a guest judge. Today Twiggy is 58 years old.
Skinny models banned from catwalk
The world’s first countries to ban overly thin models from the catwalk were Spain and Italy. When the Madrid’s
Fashion week took place, the organizers wanted to project an image of beauty and health, rather than the
anorexia- and “heroin chic”-look, and now they use the Body Mass Index as a scale to check the models. They’ve
banned size zero models and the stylist have signed a joint declaration with the government, where they agree
that in future shows all models will have a BMI of at least 18. All the models will be checked before they are
allowed to work, and if their index is less than 18 they will be sent home, and so will models under 16. The
stylists have also said that they won’t use make-up, which achieves an “anorexic look” with dark shadows under
the eyes for example.
The organizers, which made these guidelines, meant that the unnaturally
thin look was a reason for the increasing amount of eating disorders
among girls and young women. The regional government in Madrid said
about the ban, that they did not blame the designers and models for
anorexia, but the fashion industry had a responsibility to portray healthy
body images, because fashion works as a mirror for many teenagers and
they imitate what they see on the catwalk.
The decision was also taken because of the death of the Brazilian model,
Ana Carolina Reston. She died of anorexia, because she two years earlier
was criticised for being “too fat”. From there she developed anorexia and
bulimia and at the time she died, she weighed 40 kilogram and measured
172 cm. That gives her far too low BMI –13.4. The index value of 16 is
what the World Health Organization considers to be starvation. Ana
Carolina was hospitalized since October the 25th 2006, because of the
eating disorders, and November the 15th 2006 she died at the age of 21.
Many thought: “will this change anything after her death?” But it seems
like it has.
The discussion has started and brought many opinions into the light. Psychologists and eating disorders experts
are worried about the same thing. They say the fashion industry has gone too far in pushing a dangerously thin
image, which young women and even girls try to emulate. Nada Stotland, professor of psychiatry at Rush
Medical College in Chicago and vice president of the American Psychiatric Association, says that they know,
seeing super-thin models and actresses can play a role in causing anorexia, and then anorexics think their
emaciated bodies are normal – which they are not! The unnatural thinness is a terrible message to send out,
because it is the young, impressionable women who are watching.
Many means it is the best Spain and Italy have done and they should be frontrunners for other countries. Brazil
has also banned too skinny models after the death of the Brazilian model, and the organizers of London Fashion
Week thought about doing the same, but ended up saying they wouldn’t ban waiflike models. Instead they asked
designers to use only “healthy model” in their shows.
But the director of New York’s Elite modelling agency, Cathy Gould, says that the
fashion industry is being used as a scapegoat for illnesses like anorexia and bulimia.
She means it is discrimination against the models and the freedom of the designers.
It could harm careers of naturally “gazelle-like” models.
And who can judge when someone is healthy or not? While some supports the new
and healthier image, other feels as though there is nothing wrong with using the
small models on the catwalk. The question is maybe just were do we draw a line?
Some will come with the argument that you can’t keep people away from doing their
job because of their weight.
Of course there is protest against such a decision as the one Spain, Italy and Brazil
have taken, because it of course will have a negative effect on somebody’s job. But
when so many experts are worried about the effect of so unhealthy body ideals, it is a
problem.
Anorexia and bulimia are difficult to get clear facts about because there still is a lot of
secretiveness compared to the disorders. But in many countries, scientist and experts
have made researches and it gives a picture of how it looks all in all.
An American research suggests that about one percent of female adolescents have
anorexia and about four percent bulimia. About 50 percent of people, who have
anorexia, develop bulimia or bulimic patterns. It is mostly teenagers and young
women in the twenties that develop these eating disorders. Of course you can also find them in other age groups,
as young as six and individuals as old as 76, but it are not common. As the generation called Baby Boomers in
America grew older, there has been an increase of middle-aged women with anorexia or bulimia. The experts
think that it is possibly because this group consistently has seen the image as a major important thing.
According studies into diets, weight loss and body shape, many individuals feel dissatisfied with their body and
then there is provided a basis for developing eating disorder attitude or behaviour. The thin idols everybody look
up to on the telly, in movies, magazines and commercials distort the body images. That can lead to anorexia and
bulimia. Even when an anorexic is dangerously skinny, the person will still perceive herself to be overweight,
because she has a distorted view of his or her own appearance. As many as about 10 million females struggle
with anorexia and bulimia in USA and it has been shown that 80 percent of American women are dissatisfied
with their appearance. But the secretiveness and shame associated within these problems many cases are
probably not reported.
The different between men and women’s opinions
Today many people look at themselves in the mirror every day,
and tell themselves that they are too fat. That’s why many women
lose weight, they don’t feel attractive, and then they decide to try
out with a diet or even worse eating disorders. When people
decide to lose weight, is it normally because they don’t feel
satisfied with their body or they don’t feel that their boyfriend is
satisfied with there body.
The
f em ale
dr ea m
bo dy
The most of these often young people just go on a diet, but there is a part of these women that decide to pay a
lot of money to get a fat transplant. This action can be very dangerous, and can create critical pain for the rest of
the life, if the operation goes wrong, but there are always people who want to get an operation, just because they
don’t have enough self-discipline to start and finish a diet. This problem with no self-discipline, is the reason why
there are so many companies that make a hell lot of money, and the high prices on there operations, can they
decide themselves, because nobody else can make a weight lose that fast, and easy.
All after this speak about thin women, and that kind of stuff, the women
steal don’t get it, a really man wants a woman with some body fat,
something to hold the man warm at night, something to grab when having
sex, or just flirting in the kitchen.
Men has always told the women that they look nice, but if they just have a
bit of fat on them, they think men say it just to be nice, but it is not, all
males really like just a bit fat, it is biologic prove that men like it, our
nature has something to do with it, men automatically likes it, because if
our brain registers a women with fat on, it thinks that the women can
make food, and be loving and caring.
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Conclusion
The body image is very important and involves perception, imagination, emotions and physical sensations of and
about bodies. It is changing as a result of change in mood, environment and physical experience. It is not inborn,
but learned and it is here the enormous effect of the media plays a role. Even though the difference between the
two sexes is very reduced, but in some few ways, nothing has changed. Women are in some way enslaved to a
beauty myth, chained to the false belief that our value is based on our appearance alone. The media acts as a
propaganda machine determined to shake our confidence and a recent poll by People Magazine in USA shows
that 80 percent of the women reported that the image of women of television and in movies, fashion magazines
and advertising make them feel insecure about their looks.
The poll indicated that women are made so insecure that they are willing to try diets that even pose health risks
(34 percent), go “under the knife” (34 percent) and 93 percent indicated they had made various and repeated
attempts to lose weight to measure up to the images. We lose our sense of self, individuality and get manipulated
by the Internet. But maybe – and hopefully – it will change. As it is now, people die of dieting to fit in the
unhealthy female ideals.
The fashion industry always goes to the extreme and maybe they have been there now and are on their way back
to something more normal. Maybe another unhealthy body ideal in time will show, but we cannot say anything
about that yet.
The waiflike picture girls and young women see on the runway today aren’t how the female body is born to look
like. It is a distorted image, and it makes many think their body isn’t good enough. The ban of too skinny models
is hopefully a step in the right direction, where women will be able to accept themselves as they are.
Literature list
www.wikipedia.com
www.wikipedia.dk
www.google.dk
www.jubii.dk
www.msn.dk
www.wikipedia.org
www.edreferral.com/body_image.htm
www.theradreport.com/2006/12/19/milan-model-ban-sixteen-year-olds-stay-home/
www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/09/13/spain.models/index.html
www.thinkfashion.com/blogs/stylosity_hollywood_hookup/archive/2006/12/19/100968.aspx
observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1962640,00.html
www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-09-25-thin-models_x.htm
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article633568.ece