By Michelle McCracken and Alexia Orosco
A day in the life of a model begins with eating a quick breakfast, followed by running off to numerous shows and fittings. Models love the busy life they have, but with influences from agencies to be skinny, they feel pressure.
“People would tell them that they aren’t skinny enough. They would try to be one size smaller,” sophomore model Elise Fichtel said. “The influence is there. Overtime, it would wear them down and they would start dieting, and it just gets worse.”
Often times young models develop eating disorders because of their predecessors.
““People would beat me down, but I didn’t let it affect me,” Fichtel said. “I see it, I just don’t let it phase me.”
According to the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA), eating disorders have increased sharply in the past decade. Since 1999, eating-disorder related hospitalizations have increased 18 percent overall, 37 percent among men, and a whopping 119 percent among children under 12.
Flipping through a fashion magazine, one might find the pictures of the latest fall trends on the runways, and wearing these fashions are models who all share an extremely skinny look.
This skinny look was popularized by Twiggy, an English supermodel who gained popularity in 1965. With her underdeveloped figure, she became a style and body icon to adolescents everywhere. Twiggy later claimed that her thin figure was because of her heredity. Unfortunately, not all the teenagers who idolized her were given the same genes.
“All photos, tech and media have a huge impact on how our kids eat and causes many problems in our obese society for all. The emotional aspect of an eating disorder is just as dangerous as the physical problem. You can talk yourself into “thinking” you are fat,” health teacher, Cindy Miller said.
A survey from Levine MP & Smolak L. Media suggests that about 83 percent of adolescent girls read fashion magazines, in which thin bodies are showcased and praised. Seeing these sometimes painfully skinny and airbrushed bodies leave the readers occasionally comparing themselves to what appears to be physical perfection.
“I know people who compare themselves to media figures. They don’t think about the fact that they have no idea how the celebrities are so skinny or how they lost the weight. It could be an unhealthy way,” sophomore Riley Hannula said.
It may seem as though eating disorders are only an issue females need to worry about, but according to the NEDA, there are as many as one million males who battle bulimia or anorexia as well.
“Boys are not less likely, we just don’t hear about them as much. It is a problem with both sexes.” Miller said.
As many as thirteen million females struggle with eating disorders, and nearly half of all American women are dieting on any given day, according to the NEDA.
Women’s magazines contain ten percent more dieting food and product advertisements than men’s magazines, a study by Anderson AE suggests.
“I think that [girls] try to be like celebrities they see in magazines because society set an image that being as skinny as some supermodel makes you beautiful. That’s not the case at all but many teens think that way,” Hannula said.
The peak of eating disorders happens during puberty and in the late teen years and early adult years, according to the NEDA. Also at risk are athletes. Particularly, athletes have heightened body awareness. Certain sports, such as wrestling, can lead to a dangerous cycle where body weight is both gained and shed rapidly.
“Cutting weight always puts me in a grumpy mood and it is one of the hardest things to do when you’re a wrestler, but you can just look forward to pigging out on Sunday,” senior wrestler Sonny Horn said. “When I cut a lot of weight within two days, I feel more weak and unhealthy.”
With photo sharing websites gaining momentum and popularity, certain sites, such as Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr, are taking steps towards stopping the pro-anorexia content.
In February, Tumblr announced their new policy which prohibits any self-harm blogs, including pro-anorexia and “thinspiration” content. When tags such as “bulimia”, “pro-ana”, and “thinspiration” are searched, a public service announcement is pulled up that states that eating disorders are mental disorders that, if left untreated, could lead to life-threatening health problems. The announcement also includes contact information for the National Eating Disorder Association, who is partnering with Tumblr in the process of banning self-harm blogs.
Pinterest and Instagram, popular photo websites, introduced policies similar to Tumblr’s. Both of the websites banned photos that promote self harm, and when “thinspo” and “thinspiration” are searched, a similar announcement to the one on Tumblr is pulled up.
“Nowadays people go online in their free time. The images they see are being burnt into their brains unintentionally. The ban will be helpful,” Hannula said.
Websites are not the only media source that is taking a stance on pro-anorexia content. Seventeen magazine began a “Body Peace Treaty” in which the magazine promises to only use healthy models and no longer digitally alter images to make the models look perfect. Vogue implemented a similar policy, in which the editors made a pact to no longer knowingly work with models who are under 16 or who appear to have an eating disorder.
“I think any media that stops posting photos and blogs of this kind of problem gets and A in my gradebook,” Miller said.