Fashion and Flesh

Fashion and Flesh

Fashion is a word that conjures up glossy magazine pages, puffy dresses, high heels, and beautiful models. A little girl dressing up in her mothers high heels would seem innocent enough. Often times what we don’t see is that same girl years later battling a number of self esteem issues. We don’t see the woman struggling with debt, the woman who never feels good enough, the woman of average size who feels fat, the woman going in to have plastic surgery, the woman that is battling anorexia or bulimia. Is fashion a major role in this?

Anorexia and bulimia are two diseases not heard about that often . Maybe because
Anorexia and bulimia are not something that a magazine will print next to an ad featuring an extremely thin model. As quoted on the national eating disorders website “In spite of the unprecedented growth of eating disorders in the past two decades, eating disorders research continues to be under-funded, insurance coverage for treatment is inadequate, and societal pressures to be thin remain rampant.” Just to give you some statistical information “In the United States, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males are fighting a life and death battle with an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. Millions more are struggling with binge eating disorder.” 10 million people are fighting a life and death battle which sadly many have already lost. Fashion bosses in Madrid and Milan have set a minimum body mass index for girls appearing in their shows. This is largely due to the deaths of Eliana Ramos and her sister, Luisel Ramos. Both are believed to have died from the effects of anorexia. Eliana was eighteen years old. One percent of teenage girls in the U.S. develop anorexia nervosa and up to 10% of those may die as a result.

The fashion world today makes it seem so easy to be beautiful and sexy. Glossy pages scream out “ buy these clothes and you will look like this”. Commercials featuring beautiful models make you believe if you...

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