Death, new price for beautiful body

Viewpoint by Ashley Cole/reporter

Women are dying to be skinny.

Eliana and Lusiel Ramos, fashion model sisters, died recently from anorexia six months apart, and their deaths have triggered talks about the health of fashion models.

Fashion executives in Milan and Spain have issued strict rules about the health of models, but the fashion industry in England and America have not.

The Council of Fashion Designers in America has rejected the body mass index requirements that European authorities have set.

The body mass index rules ban models with a BMI of less than 18 from walking in fashion shows. Spokesmen from the CFDA say they are more focused on the awareness of the situation and not policing these models.

It’s time to start policing and find a way to help these women be healthy. Models influence us in many ways. Young girls across the country look at fashion magazines, and many of them look to these models for inspiration in attire and physique.

Until the CFDA revamps its idea of beauty, our country will continue to have a skewed vision of body image.

The CFDA is not the only culprit in setting the standards of beauty.

Every magazine, television show and red carpet event is filled with women who are painfully thin. We worship these women; we buy the magazines; we watch their movies; we try to look like them.

It’s not all the fault of the models. Editors of these fashion magazines, including Anna Wintour, are very specific about the type of women who grace the covers.

Movie and television executives are no better; they cast these women.

Why do we care about conforming to Hollywood’s standard of beauty? Where are average-sized girls? Why aren’t they strutting the catwalk?

I applaud the advertising and marketing executives who created the “Campaign for Real Beauty” for Dove products. It is so refreshing to see real women of varying sizes and ethnicities show off their real bodies. No one is airbrushed or retouched. We see these women the way they really are.

Many people have criticized these ads saying the women are too big to be on television or in magazines. Several critics said the ads are offensive and disgusting.

These objectors seriously need to stop thinking so small minded and realize that most women in America do not look like Victoria’s Secret models.

We need more ads like the Dove ads. We need more women like Queen Latifah and Kate Winslet who will not compromise their bodies or health to meet the impossible standards imposed on us.

Until our perception of body image changes, women will continue dying to be skinny.