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Petition Tag - body image
This is a petition to ban all size 0 models and also models with an unhealthy BMI (below 18.5) within Australia from the fashion catwalks and magazines.
We live in the 21st century where we are able to travel to space! It only makes sense that we do not take a 'one-size fits all’ image approach when it comes to our appearance and body image. Out of the worlds 7.017 billion population no two people are identical. Therefore why should we as both men and woman be exposed to an extremely influential fashion industry that tells us as that 'this' (size 0, which is an Australian size 4!) is what we need to look like to achieve 'that look' which is defined as so called 'beauty'.
Why should curvier women feel intimidated by these designers and this industry? We shouldn't! We are all different shapes & sizes, and if you believe that the fashion industry should portray a realistic body image of the Australian woman instead of underweight models that pursue us into believing that the size 0 image is how we need to look to achieve beauty than please sign this petition so that the Australian Government can ban these models and their associated health risks such as anorexia and bullemia.
Anorexia is most prevalent in adolescent girls who idolise these stick thin models that are flaunted to us in almost every magazine and fashion catwalk. Anorexia is the third most common chronic illness among adolescents. 40-60% of high school girls are on a diet, 50% of girls between the ages of 13 – 15 years old believe they are overweight and 80% of 13 year old girls admit to dieting. Almost 50% of suffers with anorexia also suffer from severe depression. This is a vicious cycle that is not only physically unhealthy, but it is mentally exhausting. This petition is going to be presented to local media, national media and eventually the Australian Parliament and government to demand a policy be put in place that bans these underweight models, and also ensures that as a legal procedure all models need to have a full health check before undertaking any modelling assignment.
If you believe that change is due and wish the help prove that we as Australians embrace the ‘real’ and healthy woman than please sign this petition.
The young voices have been silent too long and that has taken a toll on our bodies, we need change in the media industry. No longer is "healthy" considered beautiful, instead it's who's the most muscular or thin.
The number of teens with eating disorders and suicidal thoughts or action are rapidly rising because of depression that comes from not being "perfect."
3. Present a More Realistic Body Image 
The medias presentation of “the perfect” body image is damaging to the self esteem of many teenage girls, who, based on a variety of factors, will never be able to attain the body image presented to them by the media.
The media gears it advertisements towards the audience that is most easily influenced and exposed to advertising the most. The average woman sees “400 to 600 advertisements per day” and by the time a young woman is seventeen years old “she has received over 250,000 commercial messages through the media” (Source 3). This constant exposure to the media brings up the question of what type of advertising is being used to attract the attention of teenage girls. It’s obvious that out of an average of 400 to 600 advertisements a day, only a few will really capture teen girls’ attention (Source 3).
Unfortunately studies have shown that “50% of commercials aimed at girls spoke about physical attractiveness, while none of the commercials aimed at boys referred to appearance” (Source 3). The commercials talking about appearance and beauty are the ones that truly capture the attention of teenage girls.
4. Require Body Image Education in B.C. Schools
Men and women everywhere are under pressure to measure up to a certain social and cultural ideals of beauty, which can lead to distorted body image.
Women and young girls are constantly bombarded with "Barbie Doll-like" images. By presenting an ideal that is so difficult to achieve and maintain, the cosmetic and diet product industries are assured of growth and profits. It's no accident that youth is increasingly promoted, along with thinness, as an essential criterion of beauty. The message we're hearing is either "all women need to lose weight" or that the natural aging process is a "disastrous" fate.
Images of female success and fashion portray the ideal woman as smart, popular, successful, beautiful and very thin (the average fashion model weights 25 percent less than the average woman). Pressure to measure up is great, and is constantly reinforced by family and friends, as well as advertising and popular media. Women still are taught that their looks will determine their success, and that thin equals beautiful.
Girls and women aren't the only ones with body image issues. Surveys show that increasing numbers of men and boys are also feeling unhappy with their bodies.
The ideal male look today, as shown on TV, in movies and in advertising, has become increasingly lean and muscular. Even the proportions of G.I. Joe and other action figures have changed dramatically over the years, from more normal male proportions to a physique far bigger and unrealistic.
Over the past two decades, the gender gap in media objectification has closed. Every bit as unattainable as Barbie-doll proportions and the heroin chic look are the broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted, fat-free, and muscle-sheathed male physiques littering today’s media.
The affects of negative body image can be tragic in both men and women; often leading to a lifetime of depression, anxiety, reclusiveness, chronically low self-esteem, compulsive dieting or eating disorders. 25 percent -30 percent of people with eating disorders remain chronically ill, and 15 percent will die prematurely.
We feel that the mainstream media, who's respsonible for our contemporary public sphere, lacks a diverse representation of women of different sizes as well as ethnicties. As a result, our "ideal beauty" is becoming more and more narrow, women are developing a skew sense of self, leading to depression, self-loathing, poor self esteem and eating disorders.
We have seen your epsisode on "Everyday Women" and found it to be an insuffiecent way to address real women and their body image. Many designers notes that it was difficult to design for plus size women and make it beautiful - we feel these comments were not addressed in a responsible manner. We ask you, in your next season to dedicate one episode to responsibly address body image in the media and its affect on real women.
We feel that the mainstream media, who's respsonible for our contemporary public sphere, lacks a diverse representation of women of different sizes as well as ethnicties. As a result, our "ideal beauty" is becoming more and more narrow, women are developing a skew sense of self, leading to depression, self-loathing, poor self esteem and eating disorders.
The ideal body type, as put forth by the media is becoming dangerously thin, a majority of female media icons have a “BMI [that] is on the border of what a clinician would regard as anorexic.” By projecting these images of rail thin women, what message does this send to our youth? “Fashion is a mirror and many teenagers imitate what they see on the catwalk” said Concha Guerra. This past september, Madrid, Spain put a ban against overly thin models at top-level fashion shows. They hope by doing so, they will project a healthier image of what beauty is. "This is about protecting the young women and men who work in the fashion industry, as well as those who are at risk of an eating disorder and can be influenced by the pictures that they see."
Last week the organisers of Madrid fashion week announced a ban on models with a BMI of under 18. Now London needs to do the same.
We owe it to the models themselves and the millions of girls worldwide with serious warped body images.
It won't stop models being thin - only 30% of Madrid's were affected, nor will it stop anorexia, an illness which stems from deep unhappiness and manifests itself as a weight problem.
What it will do is stop exploitation and encouragement of the illness as an aesthetic choice; your support is vital.