Models & Anorexia
With hip New Yorkers focused on Fashion Week, including the designers setting trends and the models bringing them to life, many experts are warning that the skinny women walking runways are not only at risk for eating disorders themselves, but could cause eating disorders in the young women who admire them in magazines and on television.
I disagree—at least with the latter concern. Certainly, women (and men) who make their livings by marketing their physical presence—and being acutely aware of how others are reacting to them—may be more prone than others to psychological disorders connected with self-esteem and unresolved emotional turmoil deep beneath the surface. This not only includes anorexia and bulimia, but conditions like depression, panic disorder and substance abuse. The same could be said, however, of those who gravitate toward the acting profession or any other career in which success is partly determined by the way the person looks in front of a camera.
I do not believe, however, that young women who see thin models in magazines or on television become eating disordered based on those images. In order for anorexia or bulimia to take root, a woman has to have a pre-existing vulnerability of brain chemistry or a life history of emotional turmoil or both. Seeing thin models in Vera Wang or Calvin Klein won’t distort the body image of those whose self-perception has not been made fragile, whether by complex psychological dynamics or complexities of neurochemistry.
For me, part of the evidence that thin models don’t spread eating disorders is that fashion designers use these women to market to all consumers, not just the ones who are razor thin. The marketplace is still a pretty smart barometer of the American psyche and that means that, like it or not, women who are size 12 are just as likely as size 2 women to be motivated to buy clothes worn by today’s “Twiggy.” And America is getting fatter despite our collective ideals of beauty, not slimmer.
If size zero fashion models cause anorexia, why have decades of exposure to them resulted in an epidemic of obesity among young people.
I maintain the same position about violence in movies. No amount of watching violent films can make otherwise healthy people turn into thugs or killers—any more than watching films about heists turns moviegoers into thieves.
I believe the same can even be said for advertising of alcohol and cigarettes. The advertising itself doesn’t create addicts. The desire to be repeatedly intoxicated by alcohol or nicotine resides in the brain chemistry or life circumstances of the users, not within the text or photographs of what is used to promote their drugs of choice.
There are many powerful and toxic influences that fuel the millions and millions of cases of eating disorders, mood disorders, anxiety disorders and substance abuse disorders in the United States. The most significant of those influences, however, are to be found not in the magazines we read or the television programs we watch, but in the disintegrating and traumatic relationships that unfold right in our homes.
Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatry correspondent for FOX News Channel and a New York Times bestselling author. His book, “Living the Truth: Transform Your Life through the Power of Insight and Honesty” has launched a new self-help movement including www.livingthetruth.com. Dr. Ablow can be emailed at info@keithablow.com.
Tags: acting, alcohol, anorexia, bulimia, cigarettes, depression, eating disorders, fashion week, models, New York City
Share
I must WHOLLY disagree regarding the affect that “skinny” models have on the woman’s psyche.
Have you ASKED women how they feel about themselves after looking at a magazine of fashion models? I believe you are equating the male reaction to a female reaction.
1) You state that more people would have anorexia if this was accurate. However, I believe that anorexia is on the rise in both women AND men. One reason given for anorexia in men was the rise of the “perfect models” on men’s fitness magazines.
2) Your premise ignores that there is not an “either or” but levels of effect. For example, some people will become anorexic because they want to look pretty like the models. Others will become just generally unhappy because they want to look pretty like the models. Most women will not have the will power to deprive themselves of food like an anorexic, but still also not want their husband to see them naked. Many women spend much of their day thinking about what they eat, what they don’t eat, their weight, their size, their shape. Most of that is a negative comparison to what society deems “pretty” which equals “worth”.
Women want to feel beautiful. They develop unhealthy attitudes about food (which can lead to obesity OR anorexia) when size is equated with worth. Shame in the overweight woman can make her want to self soothe….with food. The emphasis on tiny sizes make food both the enemy and the friend, when food should just be food.
I would like to make another comment.
As a psychologist, surely you understand that humans do not do what they know they should, or what they want to do. That would seem to tell you right off the bat that there can be obesity AND a crippling effect on the self esteem of women by having unhealthy models in our media.
Please consider dismissing your premise and re-examining the issue. If you doubt my words, as a woman who understands the mind of a woman, go to the Dove site and see how grateful people are to see NORMAL size models. Go to a woman’s dieting website and see what they are saying. See how much anorexia is hitting younger children, and ask a younger child what a beautiful woman looks like. Odds are that child will indicate that the woman has to be VERY thin, not just normal healthy thin. See how many children they they are fat, even if they are not.
Then research obesity. Understand that many obese women know what is considered beautiful in our society and that they do not hit that mark.
Then look at the rest of us–normal/slightly overweight BMI’s who feel “fat” and “ugly” because we are bigger than clothes hangers. Look at the emotional and marital effects that has. Every day ignoring our minds, hearts, and souls because our bodies do not fit the societal stereotype for beauty.
Are we anorexic? No, but some of us might be bulemic. In any case, our sense of worth is dictated to some degree by the media and the media likes skinny.
“If size zero fashion models cause anorexia, why have decades of exposure to them resulted in an epidemic of obesity among young people.”
Good sentence summarizing your argument, Dr. Ablow. You entire post today makes a lot of sense.
As the Policy Assistant at the Eating Disorders Coalition in Washington, DC, I am writing to express concern about your article discounting of the contribution of societal factors on the development of eating disorders. We are in the beginning stages of genetics research & just now on the cusp of being able to better identify the way in which genetic factors influencing eating disorders work in combination with societal, relational, and other environmental factors in the development of eating & body image disorders(ED).
To assist your readers, I’d like to clarify your statement: “In order for anorexia or bulimia to take root, a woman has to have a pre-existing vulnerability of brain chemistry or a life history of emotional turmoil or both. Seeing thin models…won’t distort the body image…” Actually, the risk of developing an ED is only 50-80% influenced by genetics—leaving much room for the environmental factors. A more accurate statement about society’s influence is this, “although genes load the gun, environment pulls the trigger.” (Cynthia Bulik, Ph.D., eating disorders researcher). This means that even if there is a strong genetic predisposition, the environment still plays an important role in the onset and continuation of ED. Also, dieting, a normalized behavior in our culture, is a risk factor for the development of an eating disorders and can trigger disordered eating in anyone—regardless of the strength of ones genetic risk. However, genetic predisposition does not spell destiny. Since we can not yet change our genes, our only for now is to make the environment more healthy. I hope you & your readers find this feedback helpful. Thank you for addressing these life-threatening disorders!
I do believe that especially young women, feel pressure to be thin because of the image fashion models reflect! Women, and even men who may be especially vulnerable because of certain peer pressure or family expectations, ARE influenced by these models! I was anorexic for a couple of yrs and have pretty bad arthritis from the disease. It is a very scary thing to go through. I had to make myself eat or die. You just don’t want to eat when you are anorexic! I really thing it should be against the law to exploit these unhealthy women! It is slavery!!!!!!!
You are nuts. You are nuts on your ideas about anorexia/bulemia, alcohol and tobacco, violence in movies…you are just nuts.
The people who fall to anorexia/bulemia tend to start out as 13 year old girls who then keep at it, often, till their own bodies start to fail. Earlier with anorexia…later with bulemia. Images are part of what makes someone think about themself. So is being teased as “fat,” but that is something that we would have a hard time legislating. Why can’t models be a size 2-4. Do we really need size 0 models? They set a standard very few can obtain and no doctors will say is healthy.
Why not make models look athletic…we need healthy models…not just skinny.
And, on another note, can you please ask Dr. Coomer when she is on TV to cover up a bit. We don’t need doctors running around in little tight short and low dresses. What you talk about on TV is very educational, but you don’t need to use your body to “educate.” Save it for a more appropriate place. I had to turn you off. You are fit – just don’t shove your legs/boobs in people’s faces! You dress like that around your patients? I doubt it. Think of your viewers as your patients and dress appropriately. I’d like my kids to be able to watch you too, like they do Dr. Manny on many (but not all) subjects. Difference is, he isn’t selling his body to be on TV. You don’t need to either.
After years of treatment and AA , I have been taking antabuse for 2 years. As long as I take it it works. I drank once while taking it and it was an awful experience. My wife watches me take it and swallow it every morning.
A Believer in antabuse
I have had treatment and AA for 15 years for alcholism to no avail. Antabuse works for me for the last 2 years. I drank once and it was an awful experience. My wife watches me take and swallow it every morning
I wholeheartedly agree with Dr. Ablow’s article.
Eating disorders, substance abuse, etc. require a certain predisposition (be it genetic and/or environmental) to come into being. No amount of glossy photos of extremely thin models, happy, attractive people enjoying alcohol or cigarettes, or violent movies will push a person into following that path, unless certain factors were in place while that person was either conceived, or raised as a child.
While I’m on the fence about eating disorders having a genetic basis (considering that’s an addiction to a behavior rather than an actual drug), there’s plenty of evidence proving that a predisposition to substance abuse is genetic.
What I think many responders are missing is the all important environmental influence in creating these problems. The “life history of emotional turmoil” is, in my opinion, the key ingredient in creating a person who would need to resort to such self- (or other-) destructive tendencies. This life history could be from a toxic family of origin, teasing at school, or something else altogether.
Without the fragility of self-esteem developed from one’s early detrimental experiences, it’s extremely doubtful that anyone would develop eating disorders just from seeing skinny models. I know this from experience, having had both anorexia and bulimia.
I’ve never, ever met anybody with an eating disorder who didn’t come from a very troubling home.
Girls usually don’t see catwalks and rarely buy Vogue or Harper’s. They see something on tv and teenagers magazine. Eating disorders don’t come from a distant place, or violence from a movie; feeling helpless, not accepted, this makes the difference. Yes, if you’re not pretty life can be hard, but not because of models. If you eat healthy your body is pretty enough to be accepted, if you’re fat or you have pimples, your schoolmates make the difference. A model is often more beautiful than the girl who’s watching her and this is accepted; an inexistent self esteem makes you think you need to be more trimmed, more beautiful…not a girl you’ll probably never meet, but the prettiest one at school, or in your block. And this comes from your family. your school. your teachers. Models are not MY world as violence can shock me at the movies for one or two days. My family and my schooldays are with me forever.
Mac,
Did you know that more than 20% of teenage girls have had anorexia or bulemia. Most are from normal homes. My sister was from a normal home; my two cousins werer from normal homes; a high school girlfriend was from a normal home; friends I’ve known have come from normal homes…there just is no logic. Normal families are greatly affected by it. Just be thankful if your family and friends are in the 80% that don’t, but also know that you do know someone that has one of the two diseases, but you just don’t know it.