In recent times there has been a backlash against the
unhealthy, ‘heroin’ look that’s been popular in the fashion industry for the
past few decades. Sometime in the eighties, fashion designers decided that skeletons
with gaunt faces and stick like bodies would be the best thing to display their
wares on. And over time, Western culture has grown to believe that skinny is
attractive and sexy.
This has not always been the case. Throughout history
voluptuousness and curves have been considered attractive. This can be seen in
historical art, where the great beauties have soft round faces and chunky, well
fed bodies.
This is most likely because it’s only a recent development
that humans (in the Western world at least) generally have more available to
eat than they need. In history, scrawniness would have represented poverty and
sickliness, whereas plumpness showed wealth and health – and was therefore
attractive.
But this new obsession with skinniness has had some sad and
dangerous effects, including a host of eating disorders, depression and
numerous deaths.
So perhaps it’s not surprising that society is beginning to
think harder about what they realty find attractive and the unrealistic
pressures impressionable young girls and boys are put under.
Some industries and even countries are taking a stand by
making guidelines, rules and even passing new legislation to discourage and ban
the use of unhealthily thin models.
If you want to help be part of the movement towards more
plus size models, then register on the Neon Model website.
