An image to heal - influence of models as a cause of eating disorders

Humanist, Jan-Feb, 1997 by Jill S. Zimmerman

But the legacy lives on. Articles and books proclaiming the strenuous diets and work-out schedules of models - 1990s' style - are ubiquitous in bookstores, on newsstands, and in grocery store checkout lines. In Glamour's "The Secret Life of Models," we learn that fewer than 5 percent of the supermodels have a stick of butter in their refrigerator. Diet & Exercise magazine tells us that Vendela, the Swedish-born supermodel, works out one-and-a-half to two hours every day with a personal trainer. Nadja Auermann's fitness regimen includes swimming, riding a stationary bicycle, aerobics, and weight training with elastic bands. Linda Evangelista admits to spending all her free time on maintenance:

"Every day is a battle....

"I'm talking about dieting. I'm talking about working out. I'm talking about health and skin quality."

Actresses also deserve some recognition for the suffering intrinsic to their profession. Like models, they're under the gun. If they're considered fat and unfit, they're considered unattractive - which spells failure in a field overflowing with one "perfect"-looking woman after another. According to an article in Longevity, Pamela Anderson Lee had a contract with "Baywatch" that strictly forbade her to gain weight. The article says that Anderson Lee "follows a mind-boggling fitness regimen. Even during non-working months, Anderson keeps to a rigorous program of 25-mile mountain bike rides or one- to two-hour athletic walks, plus 50 lap pool swims or more strenuous ocean swims."

The Redbook article "Take It Off Like a Star" described Oprah Winfrey as having "a maniac exercise routine" that includes two daily four-mile runs, plus 45 minutes on the Stairmaster and 350 sit-ups. The article reported, "In an eight-month period, [Winfrey] walked, climbed, biked, and hiked about 2,260 miles - the distance from her own Harpo Studios in Chicago to Eureka, California." Bette Midler reportedly eats nothing but vegetables after 5:00 pm. Demi Moore's workout "stresses crosstraining: road cycling, ocean and river kayaking, snowshoeing, hiking, skiing, plus daily weight lifting." Moore, like many stars, has a live-in nutritionist/cook and a personal trainer to ensure that she adheres to her strenuous workout schedule and spa cuisine. (Would we really trade places with any of them if we had to live in fear of losing our jobs if we gained five pounds?)

In the schizophrenic 1990s, women's magazines routinely show two sides of the same coin: a gooey, fat-laden chocolate cake recipe placed next to an advertisement for Slimfast; "How the Stars Fight Fat" diet tips across the page from an article on anorexia nervosa. It is not often that women's magazines present articles that are actually meaningful for today's body-image-conflicted woman.

This has also been true historically; articles geared toward helping women develop positive feelings about their bodies have been few and far between. In 1996, 17-year-old Resa Holsapple from Little Sioux, Iowa, wrote one of the first essays on body image published in a women's magazine. In "Our Muscle Mania Has Gone Too Far," Holsapple wasn't so much concerned about losing weight. She was concerned about her self-esteem, which was plummeting because she was a self-proclaimed "clumsy, uncoordinated, leaden-footed nonathlete" during the John Kennedy-inspired physical-fitness wave that swept through our nation's high schools. She wrote: "Like many of my fellow incompetents, I try to do the best I'm capable of. A few years ago that would have been enough. Now it leaves me feeling unpatriotic and disgraced.... Let P.E. classes produce fun as well as fitness."