Size Zero Culture

Celebrities and fashion models have a huge influence on admiring young women who want to be just like their idols. So when celebrities such as Nicole Richie starting losing weight and reaching the ‘fashionable’ size zero - of course it became the new phase which thousands of people tried to reach, with six out of ten women thinking size zero is attractive.

The Size Zero Debate:

A documentary screened on ITV followed Louise Redknapp to find the truth about size zero and what exactly is involved in attaining a stick thin body. The point of the documentary was to show society the dangers associated with losing so much weight and discourage people from doing it.

With the majority of British women finding the ‘skinny’ look desirable; according to a poll for New Woman magazine 60% of women believe that size zero is attractive, - the struggle to prevent mainly young women from dropping to dangerously low weight levels and putting their health at risk is becoming more difficult. 

The same poll also showed that 97% of women believe that size 12 is fat, however size 12 is well below the national average, size 16, although the findings suggest that the majority of women this size believe they are overweight and need to diet.

Twenty years ago the average female model weighed 8% less than the average American woman; today she weighs 23% less. That is thinner than 98% of American women. It has been said that models are as thin as twigs because that’s what a vast number of designers and fashion editors want…if models want to work, they have to fit the clothes. They lose weight. The samples get smaller, so they lose more weight.

It is known fact that we live in a fashion conscious society, in which we can observe the influence of the fashion industry and the need to be ‘thin’ to be fashionable. Because of this belief we see the impact on young women, which is not so glamorous. Fashion model Eliana Ramos, just 18 years old, paid the ultimate price when she died of anorexia in 2006.

The international community however are catching on to the true nature of this insanity. In 2006, the organisers of Madrid fashion week decided to ban underweight models from the runways in an attempt to promote a healthier image of the fashion industry. An astonishing 30% of the models were turned away for being underweight.

According to popular culture and the media there are many different opinions about the term ‘underweight’, but one way of accurately knowing if you are in fact underweight is checking your Body Mass Index (BMI). If your BMI is 19 or lower you have a higher risk of developing anaemia, bone loss, nutrient deficiency, heart irregularities, amenorrhoea and osteoporosis.

A study showed that four out of five women said they would be much happier if they lost weight. But perhaps they might actually be much happier if they could stop worrying so much. It is hard for women struggling to find the perfect weight when women’s magazines are constantly promoting the notion that size zero is what we should be aiming to achieve. It’s no wonder so many women say they can't eat normally anymore because they're trying to achieve the unachievable.

- K.J.N -