217;t very often that woman and teen magazines have articles that are actually meaningful for today’s body image conflicted women and girls.In the 1960s the only model that didn’t have to diet and exercise constantly to keep her thin figure was Twiggy. She set a standard that most models found impossible to reach, and started a trend that made models start killing themselves with eating disorders so they could be as skinny as she was. Even though the 1970s brought us larger, somewhat healthier looking models, they were still thinner than the average woman. Brooke Shields, a model in the 1980s, admitted that she had dieted since she was eight years old, and was scared to death of gaining weight. Another model in the 1980s, Kim Alexis, revives some painful memories when she looks back on her successful modeling career; she has suffered many long- term health effects from the unhealthy life she lived. (“An Image”, par.13) The standards by which agents and clients judge supermodels has escalated in the 1900s and the year 2000, and most models must jump to the standards or risk losing their jobs. Today the average American model is 5’11” tall and weighs 117 pounds, and the average American woman is 5’4” and weighs 140 pounds. Most fashion models are thinner than ninety-eight percent of American women. (Rader, par.2) The models of the year 2000, like Kate Moss and Jodi Kidd, are so abnormally thin that they are creating the distorted image of the ideal body that many insecure women are trying to imitate. Female models are getting thinner and thinner at a time when women are becoming heavier, and this gap is getting wider than ever.Actresses also deserve some recognition for the suffering they endure in their profession. Like models they are under the gun. If they are considered fat and unfit, they are considered unattractive. The stick figure celebrities are all over the movies and te...
