uHollywood

Underweight catwalk models should not be banned because it is discriminatory, they’ve a limited influence and are not responsible for the effects of popular culture.

Banning a group of people from doing something that’s completely legal due to a reason such as weight is completelyinappropriate and is a direct violation of the civil rights that we claim are so important to us as a society. Civil rights protect us from being treated differently due to an opinion, a personal preference or appearance. Banning catwalk models who are underweight completelydisregards these government protected guarantees and such a move rivals the racial and sexist intolerance that took place last century. Should models be told “I’m sorry you cannot walk down that runwayThis day because you do not fit into the unrealistic stereotype of human appearance.”? Above I mentioned the words unrealistic stereotype. It is unrealistic because it is asking the world to conform to an best body type, which is something that the one in three obese people in America certainly do not. Are they punished for it? Are they given similar restrictions because of their body type. No they’re not. Instead airplane companies increase the size of their chairs.

This inconsistency brings me to the issue of the stigma against underweight people. Everyday, I walk past a newsstand and glance a look at the titles. Almost everyday there is at least one or two sub-headings that accuse a celebrity of being underweight or having an eating disorder such as Bulimia and Anorexia.

The result of this growing stigma is the ostracisation of those that are naturally underweight and catwalk models are prime examples of this. Many are teenagers and therefore are moreapt to be underweight due to their immaturity than any other reason. Kicking them out of a job because of something they often do not directly control is simply intolerance of the worst kind.

Some may argue that slim catwalk models are a bad influence on children, but what about those people that are obese or overweight?. Do they think that overweight people don’t have any influence? Look at Oprah – A celebrity that some state is the most powerful woman in the United States, and she isn’t exactly slim and is well-known for fluctuating weight. Such celebrities as these are having the reverse influence on young people and in fact are so much betterknown than catwalk models that they have much more of an effect. So surely, those in disagreement should also be pointing the finger for negative influences on children at the opposite end of the spectrum.

Others think that due to the underweight models that are on the catwalk, kids and teenagers are getting the wrong body weight role models. But when one in three kids are overweight, its obvious that the skinny models on the catwalks have not had much of an impact. Here is the crux of the issue. Skinny models look good in the clothes that are designed for them. Fashion designers do not want miss curvaceous to model their silhouette fashions, they want the slim models that are on our catwalks today. To ban the models because of this is preposterous and once again its intolerant. Should models be told “I’m sorry you cannot walk down that runwayThis day because you don’t fit into the unrealistic stereotype of human appearance.”? Absolutely not.

• underweight runway models