2008 Woodie Awards
Striving to be beautiful, starving to be thin
Latoya Washington
Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: Points Of View
- Page 1 of 1
To starve or not to starve, that is the question! But should that really be a question? People eat when they're hungry right? Wrong!
People aren't eating much these days according to Jessica Turner, an aspiring Bay Area model. After recently attending a Top Model audition in Los Angeles, Jessica left not with the golden ticket for the next phase but with the disappointment she felt when the panel informed her that she hadn't made the final cut.
According to Jessica, the audition consisted of one question.
"How much do you weigh?" Jessica, weighing in at a 130 pounds was immediately discarded from the group after her weight was revealed.
"Not a good feeling," Jessica explained. All of her life she has struggled mentally, physically and emotionally with her weight.
" I fight myself everyday, Jessica said. "Society makes me feel that fat is bad and ugly. On top of that I wear fake nails and hair weaves because that's what makes me feel pretty. And even after that I still find something wrong."
What Jessica revealed is a common problem that is growing worse every day. Women and men are killing themselves in order to stay thin. The definition of beautiful in society is a 110 pounds, 5-foot-7 and a size two. These are hard numbers to match for people who eat real food everyday.
In the modeling world, a size four is a 12 and a six is a 14. A size 14! Most women would die if they ever climbed into the teen world of fashion. But a size 14 is considered to be the average size for American women.
For the women who want to be "above average" the extreme is the only alternative.
Purging, starving and binging are a few extremes just to name some. For others, there are the not-too-extremes, such as diet pills, excessive exercising and smoking. All are possible roads can be dangerous because they can all lead to death.
But there seems to be no concern with what's going on inside as long as the outside looks good. No one thinks about the possibility of developing a blood clot and dying when they are getting liposuction. And there are too few people who exercise daily for their overall health.
When will people finally understand that being different is the beautiful part? If everyone looked the same, life would be very boring. People differ in race, color and culture so naturally body shapes and attributes are going to differ as well. The biggest concern should be health and how people are going to lengthen and enjoy the life they currently have.
" If society didn't judge so much, things would be different," Jessica said. " I'd be home eating pizza right now, but sitting on the couch eating pizza isn't cute, so I'm going out for a jog instead."
People aren't eating much these days according to Jessica Turner, an aspiring Bay Area model. After recently attending a Top Model audition in Los Angeles, Jessica left not with the golden ticket for the next phase but with the disappointment she felt when the panel informed her that she hadn't made the final cut.
According to Jessica, the audition consisted of one question.
"How much do you weigh?" Jessica, weighing in at a 130 pounds was immediately discarded from the group after her weight was revealed.
"Not a good feeling," Jessica explained. All of her life she has struggled mentally, physically and emotionally with her weight.
" I fight myself everyday, Jessica said. "Society makes me feel that fat is bad and ugly. On top of that I wear fake nails and hair weaves because that's what makes me feel pretty. And even after that I still find something wrong."
What Jessica revealed is a common problem that is growing worse every day. Women and men are killing themselves in order to stay thin. The definition of beautiful in society is a 110 pounds, 5-foot-7 and a size two. These are hard numbers to match for people who eat real food everyday.
In the modeling world, a size four is a 12 and a six is a 14. A size 14! Most women would die if they ever climbed into the teen world of fashion. But a size 14 is considered to be the average size for American women.
For the women who want to be "above average" the extreme is the only alternative.
Purging, starving and binging are a few extremes just to name some. For others, there are the not-too-extremes, such as diet pills, excessive exercising and smoking. All are possible roads can be dangerous because they can all lead to death.
But there seems to be no concern with what's going on inside as long as the outside looks good. No one thinks about the possibility of developing a blood clot and dying when they are getting liposuction. And there are too few people who exercise daily for their overall health.
When will people finally understand that being different is the beautiful part? If everyone looked the same, life would be very boring. People differ in race, color and culture so naturally body shapes and attributes are going to differ as well. The biggest concern should be health and how people are going to lengthen and enjoy the life they currently have.
" If society didn't judge so much, things would be different," Jessica said. " I'd be home eating pizza right now, but sitting on the couch eating pizza isn't cute, so I'm going out for a jog instead."
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