Health officials worried ‘extremely overweight’ models taking to the runway glorifies obesity
DEBATE has erupted over whether obese models should be banned from catwalks after doctors warned “overweight” models send a dangerous message.
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DEBATE has erupted over whether obese models should be banned from fashion runways after doctors warned “drastically overweight” supermodels send health messages that are just as dangerous as those sent by models who are underweight.
NSW’s top doctor Brad Frankum fears the growing popularity of “extremely overweight” models is glorifying obesity, likening the use of overweight models to advertisements with cigarettes.
The row comes as an opinion piece by The Daily Telegraph’s Sydney Confidential online editor Soraiya Fuda criticising the use of obese models went viral yesterday.
Australian Victoria’s Secret model Bridget Malcolm also has spoken out about the pressures facing young models, calling for a ban on cosmetic surgeries on girls under 18.
In her piece, Ms Fuda slammed a recent Sports Illustrated fashion parade which used models “who appeared to be approaching the sizes 20-26” as “irresponsible”.
She said: “My argument here cuts both ways. If the fashion industry decides to stop using models who appear to have starved themselves to skin and bones — as they should — they shouldn’t then choose to promote an equally unhealthy body shape.”
But “fat activists” have hit back arguing overweight women already face “so much discrimination” it is impossible to “glorify obesity”.
READ: SORAIYA FUDA’S OPINION PIECE ON OVERWEIGHT MODELS
Dr Frankum, the Australia Medical Association NSW president, told The Daily Telegraph there was a “fine line” between “being confident” and promoting unhealthy messages.
“We don’t want anyone to feel ashamed or embarrassed by they way they look and everybody needs to wear clothes ... but there is a difference between being confident in who you are and promoting a healthy weight message,” Dr Frankum said.
‘It’s a difficult message but just like we don’t use cigarettes to promote products I don’t think we should have unhealthy weights promoting products.”
Dr Frankum said a better message would be sent by seeing more models who were a healthy size — neither overweight or underweight — on runways rather than “celebrating extremes”.
Butterfly Foundation chief executive Christine Morgan, however, said “acceptance of diversity” should be encouraged.
“A person’s health shouldn’t be determined by their physical shape or size as this reaffirms social stereotypes and creates societal assumptions,” Ms Morgan said.
“Health experts are the only people who can truly able determine a person’s health and it sets a dangerous precedent for non-health professionals to make judgments.”
Body Positive Australia’s director Sarah Harry, author of Fat Yoga, also defended the use of overweight models.
“Including diversity of size is representative of society,” Ms Harry said.
“There’s no such thing as glorifying obesity because of the bias people who are bigger experience they go whether it’s the doctor, shopping or an aeroplane.”
Ms Harry said it was unhelpful to judge women’s health based on their physical appearance.
As body image becomes an increasingly controversial issue model Stefania Ferrario has pleaded with the industry to stop calling her “plus-size”.
Ferrario, who is a size 12, described the term as “damaging” to young girls.
“When we talk about size we shouldn’t be using terms such as plus size especially because in the fashion industry any model above a size 8 is labelled plus size ... and that’s misleading because the average woman is size 12 to 14,” the 24-year-old said.
But a 2015 study from the Simon Fraser University in Canada found advertising campaigns that lent towards using ‘plus-size’ models were having a detrimental effect on the public’s lifestyle and eating behaviour.
In one experiment the study found women who had been shown the advert with a plus-size model with a reaffirming message were more likely to make “higher calorie and poorer exercise” choices.
Ahead of walking for David Jones next week, Bridget Malcolm has penned a blog for her personal website in which she calls out the public acceptance on young girls having Botox and fillers.
“ ... I would ban any plastic surgery under the age of 18 and have every procedure preceded by a few months of counselling,” she said.
Malcolm wrote the piece after being criticised for having a “boring face” and “flat chest”.
“Once upon a time I did think about possibly getting implants. This thinking lasted about five minutes — I have zero desire to change my body to fit in with societies idea of how a woman should be,” she said.
Butterfly Foundation National Helpline 1800 33 4673