I received a note reminding me to introduce myself. So here it goes. I’m Trudi Evans. I hail from Nova Scotia, Canada. I volunteer with an organization that works on body image, self-esteem, and eating disorders issues. I publish an online magazine (shameless plug). I’m fumbling through the whole publishing arena and making it a viable business with great plans to grow from that one publication into a feminist publishing house with an aggressive marketing department and a woman-focused workplace. Right now, I work in various rooms of my home, share my keyboard with my cat, raise a child, smooch on my partner, and chase the squirrels out of my teeny tiny garden. And feel a lot of pressure to blog interesting things here at Feministe.
On with the show…
The modeling industry has been under scrutiny for pushing models to attain unnatural thinness by any means, and in the end, seeing them die for their profession. So what’s a government to do to protect its workers? Investigate the models instead of the industry, of course.
In Britain, there was a proposal to ban all models who wear a size 0. It was determined that would not be suitable because the naturally thin among them would be discriminated against. Instead, they should look at female models and what they are doing to themselves. In order to retain a contract or get a new gig, a model must meet the standards set out by the company hiring her.
From The Independent Online Edition:
In the UK, the British Fashion Council (BFC) has tried to deflect the heat attached to its refusal to ban size-zero models from the catwalks at next month’s London Fashion Week by setting up an independent inquiry into models’ health.
Grand is among the scores of fashion world insiders who have given evidence to the inquiry, which is chaired by Baroness Kingsmill. The final report, due out within days, is not expected to reverse the BFC’s stance on size zero. Grand says it is difficult to ban models like Gisele, the Brazilian supermodel who “eats and drinks an enviable amount” yet still maintains a physique that most women long to attain.
Why doesn’t the government investigate the standards set out by the industry instead of holding blame to the workers for trying to attain them?
This isn’t an original question. Beth Ditto beat me to the punch, and I’m glad she did. If you don’t know who Beth is, she’s the lead singer of The Gossip and an accidental spokesperson for sizeism in Britain. American by birthand making headlines fairly regularly, she speakas out against the beauty standards that she sees as being detrimental to women everywhere.
Ditto was quoted as calling the modeling industry ‘brutal and abnormal’. In any other industry, we would start to look at the workplace for issues concerning safety and the wellbeing of the workers. Standards would be implemented and followed up on by regular inspections. But we don’t call these women workers, we call them models. And most people don’t give a damn if they die for their jobs. And yet this is who many of our girls aspire to be.
Instead of being appreciated for what they achieve, women get “bombarded with photos of girls with bodies that so, so, so few have, in clothes that will never fit and that you will never be able to afford”.
It’s not news that the modeling industry needs to be overhauled. It would be news if we got behind the models and really supported them. Fat or thin, no one needs to discriminated against in the workplace. It would be revolutionary to not pass judgment on what they do or why they do it, and support them in their rights to have a safe work environment.
And to what Beth said, all I have to say is, ditto.