The U.S. now has new guidelines for the appearance of fashion models. The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) has decided to get on board with the skinny model ban that is sweeping Europe. But the group has stopped far short of what its European counterparts are doing. It hasn't really banned anything, in particular.
Instead, the CFDA guidelines emphasize education — about the warning signs for eating disorders, and about healthy dietary and lifestyle issues.
The guidelines discourage models from working the runways if they're under 16. In addition, all models should work limited hours, take rest breaks and be supplied with nutritious snacks and nonalcoholic beverages behind the scenes.
They encourage models who do have eating disorders to seek treatment and also recommend that smoking and drinking be banned from backstage areas.
The group, which will host New York Fashion Week starting Feb. 2, says their position is "about awareness and education, not policing."
They add in a statement: "Other groups have set strict rules about how much (or little) models are allowed to weigh. However, the CFDA is not recommending that models get a doctor's physical examination to assess their health or body mass index to be permitted to work … Eating disorders are emotional disorders that have psychological, behavioral, social, and physical manifestations, of which body weight is only one."
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Whether the models will be able to adjust their behavior is another matter. Every day they are barraged by images of chic women who are ultrathin and Web sites that promote anorexia. The allure of the catwalk is sending dangerously underweight models straight into hospital beds.
On these Web sites model wannabes are taught how to stave off hunger pangs by punching their stomachs or drinking vinegar. The Eating Disorders Association warns that there are more than 500 pro-anorexia Web sites that promote the disease as a form of control over one's body.
Steve Bloomfield, press officer for the association, explains that these Web sites have a strong impact on sick people as they finally find someone who perfectly understands how they feel and supports them. "Only 1 percent of anorexics feel able to talk to their parents or teachers," says Bloomfield.
Because anorexics refuse to think they are ill, they never associate their health problems with starving themselves. Therefore, they refuse treatment, and as Bloomfield notes, "One in five people who don't get treatment die prematurely."
The Great Ana Competition is a Web site that awards a diploma to the girl who eats the fewest calories in a two-week period. The competition has even codified a scoring system: Eat less than 150 calories per day and you are awarded nine points, accomplish a 24-hour fast and you'll be awarded the grand prix.
What's the grand prize in the Great Ana Competition, anyway? A trip to the hospital and a visit with a cardiologist? It is absolutely apalling that this is something that young women are participating in.
