May 15, 2013

As the old saying goes, “a picture can say a thousand words.” Star Models, an agency based in Brazil, has released some anti-anorexia ads that feature shocking imagery: a “real” model next to a sketched model with the gaunt and exaggerated proportions typical of fashion illustrations. The ads sport the tagline, “you are not a sketch. Say no to anorexia.” While the “real” models have been airbrushed to further mimic the sketches, the ad successfully makes the point that the fashion industry sets unrealistic standards of beauty that often put pressure on models to develop eating disorder behaviors. This graphic imagery isn’t unique. In 2007, prior to dying of anorexia, Italian fashion model Isabelle Caro, appeared in ads that graphically showcased her body, by then ravaged by her eating disorder.

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May 13, 2013

Anorexia nervosa is an uncomfortable subject. Many individuals who have suffered with it as well as those who have not have a difficult time talking about this deadly eating disorder. Sometimes art can be an excellent way of bringing difficult subjects into public discourse. That is the goal of Mess a musical play by Caroline Horton.

Ms. Horton is an expert in anorexia, having suffered with the disease through her teens and into her twenties. Horton got the idea to write about her experiences with anorexia after giving a talk at the college she attended following winning an award for her 2010 play You’re Not Like the Other Girls Chrissy.

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April 30, 2013

In Stockholm Sweden, there are reports that model scouts have been trying to recruit girls on their way out of eating disorder clinics. It’s reprehensible that these model scouts are trying to take advantage of young women when they are in a vulnerable state. It has long been established that the pressures of the fashion industry have helped contribute to models developing eating disorders. Entering the modeling industry in a vulnerable state could easily cause these women to relapse.

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April 29, 2013

When the U.S.S.R. crumbled and the Berlin Wall fell in the late 1980s there were a lot of positive repercussions. Families that had been separated could unite, people in former Soviet countries got freedoms that they had yet to experience. However, research shows one possible negative consequence. Research from the Czech Republic shows that exposure to Western media following the fall of the Soviet Union correlates with higher instances of eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia.

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