The Model & Celeb Weight Thread [Read post #1 before posting] #1

[emailme.]

i have a ballerina friend and i have asked her why ballerinas are so skinny.

she said that your body slowly changes if you are a commited in the dance.

i dont think just because ballerinas are known for being skinny and a model comes from that background they have a higher chance of having ED.

i hate how people keep trying to find a reason how a model can possibly have ED. I know your just putting that info out there for some FYI.

i know i may seem pro ED but i just dont think we can accuse any of these models to have ED and feel the need to defend them.

i think that most of these girls are naturally skinny. they are chosen out of thousands of girls world wide.

When you pile 30 of them it really seems like its just impossible. Its like having 30 albino people. Its just really odd and fishy....

if youre not naturally skinny and cant look suspiciously unhealthy then you wont make it in this business.

You can have an ED but to be successful in this industry you cant be sick. You will have no longevity because its a draining job.

[emailme.]

nah mk doesnt have an eating disorder.

oh cmon that girl doesnt even look sickly. i dont even know how shes accused of one. i have lots of girls in my school that looks like her.

i mean i would question nicole richie but mk?

it was one phase in her life that she looked unhealthy and now it sticks to her? that is just unfair.

[TheKiwi]

^ It's a VERY common thing for ballet dancers to develop EDs. Of course some of the change in their bodies is due to the unique excercises they do in ballet, but many of them are not naturally skinny, which is basically a requirement if you want to be a successful ballet dancer. You don't see ballet dancers with big boobs and big butts! So, many girls (and guys) develope EDs in order to make their bodies slim enough to be a successful dancer.

[emailme.]

but you wont last long. You cant be sick and do such work out. its just impossible. You'll stay for 1-3 years and thats being generous.

ED takes a big part of you and if you really love and really passionate about the arts then youll have priorities right. And that is to find a better way to stay skinny to do what you love and have the energy to do so.

[emailme.]

what im trying to say that any long-term models cant have EDs. It is impossible to have achieve their longevity with an ED.

You either have it or you dont. You cant fake it. It will catch up before you even make a spark in this industry.

[TheKiwi]

Originally Posted by emailme.

but you wont last long. You cant be sick and do such work out. its just impossible. You'll stay for 1-3 years and thats being generous.

ED takes a big part of you and if you really love and really passionate about the arts then youll have priorities right. And that is to find a better way to stay skinny to do what you love and have the energy to do so.

The assumption that if you have an ED, you won't be able to have the stamina to exercise so much is not always true. Have you ever seen the anorexics who go on talk shows like Dr. Phil and such? They can be 80 pounds and run 2 miles a day and lift weights! It's amazing what people are capable of doing even when their bodies aren't getting very much nourishment. People can live with EDs for decades and still exercise!

[cestmagique]

ugh this thread moves too fast! people will sacrifice a lot, including their health, for fame, beauty, or whatever it is they love or desire. and besides, everyone is different. for some people an ED is more obviously debilitating and they can hardly function in everyday life. for others it has quieter mechanisms and they can remain focused on their goals (modeling, dancing, etc.). there is no single situation that applies to everyone.

[emailme.]

actually i have seen that show. its just my view is that, inoccent till proven guilty.

[cestmagique]

Originally Posted by emailme.

ED takes a big part of you and if you really love and really passionate about the arts then youll have priorities right. And that is to find a better way to stay skinny to do what you love and have the energy to do so.

That's kind of an optimistic view of human nature, imo. People aren't that pure in the way they think/feel/behave; a lot of models and ballerinas could be said to be too passionate about their careers, in that their health becomes far less important to them. By the way, what other way is there to be skinny than to diet or exercise excessively (as people with EDs do)? Become a druggie?

[emailme.]

my ballerina friend had said that she didnt start that skinny and many people in her class didnt either but if you really commit to the program your body will adapt to it.

its like athletes, just a different workout.

[TheKiwi]

^ You're really turning a blind eye to the large known percentage out there of ballet dancers who have EDs! Just because you can't see the problem doesn't mean it's not there.

[TheKiwi]

There's a really interesting article on ballerinas and eating disorders. It was published in the Edwardsville Journal of Sociology. Here's an excerpt from the article, and then you can read the rest at the link at the bottom:

Like the rest of society, dancers’ appearances have also changed over the years. In the 1930s and 1940s, ballerinas were considered thin at the time but, as can be seen in photographs, looked very healthy (Gordon, 1983). Since dancers have generally been slimmer than ideal, these dancers becoming even thinner for today’s ideal is a problem. As one renowned ballet teacher said it: “It is a reflection of society, everything has become more streamlined” (Benn & Walters, 2001, p.146).

In order to understand the pressures that dancers face to be thin, it is necessary to explore the ideas behind the practice of ballet. Women who become dancers are not exempt from cultural expectations that tell them in order to be successful and beautiful, they must also be very thin. They live with the same pressures as the rest of society, however, they also have to deal with the risk of unemployment if they gain any amount of weight or their bodies do not look a certain way (Gordon, 1983). In a career where education is discouraged because of the time it would take away from a dancer’s most successful years, many professional dancers are not attending college and in some cases are even dropping out of high school (Gordon, 1983). These dancers are putting all of their resources into their body and its appearance. If a dancer does gain weight, develops an eating disorder, or becomes injured, she is left out of work with relatively few choices for the future. Most professional companies have “appearance clauses” in their contracts, which usually state that if the dancer gains any noticeable amount of weight, she is eligible to lose her position in the company (Gordon, 1983, SLB, 1993). These clauses also state that tattoos, piercings, and changing hair color are not permitted (Gordon, 1983). Haircuts are discouraged, and usually only allowed with the permission of the director.

Almost everyone credits George Balanchine, the renowned dancer, teacher, and choreographer, with the current aesthetic of ballet in the West, referred to by most as the “Balanchine body,” or the “anorexic look” (Gordon, 1983). He has promoted the skeletal look by his costume requirements and his hiring practices, as well as the treatment of his dancers (Gordon, 1983). The ballet aesthetic currently consists of long limbs, and a skeletal frame, which accentuates the collarbones and length of the neck, as well as absence of breasts and hips (Gordon, 1983, Benn & Walter, 2001, Kirkland, 1986). Balanchine was known to throw out comments to his dancers, such as: “eat nothing” and “must see the bones” (Kirkland, 1986, p.56).

If Balanchine has created this aesthetic, other choreographers have followed and adopted it as the norm. Mikhail Baryshinikov, star dancer and former director of American Ballet Theatre, did not tolerate any body type but the Balanchine one (Gordon, 1983). During rehearsal and without any warning, he fired a corps de ballet member because she was too “fat” in his opinion (Gordon, 1983). He said that he “couldn’t stand to see her onstage anymore” (Gordon, 1983, p.150). Fortunately, management intervened and the dancer was rehired. However, Baryshinikov and the rest of his management were known to have had meetings with their dancers in order to emphasize the importance of weight loss (Gordon, 1983). Obviously, dancers need to be fit and trim in order to be successful in their occupation, and no one should argue that staying fit is not helpful in order to see a dancer’s body line; however, it is the extreme skeletal goal that is cause for so much concern.

http://www.siue.edu/SOCIOLOGY/journal/v32kelso.htm

[TheKiwi]

Here's another excerpt from the same article... It's sick, really!

It is not uncommon for a dancer to walk into what she thinks will be her daily ballet class and find a scale set up in the center of the dance studio instead (Gordon 1983). These weigh-ins are arranged ahead of time and kept secret from the dancers. A director from American Ballet Theatre explained that warning the dancers would defeat the purpose. As one former dancer put it: “A forewarned dancer is a forestarved dancer (Gordon 1983, p.43).” Not only are the dancers weights recorded but many times are read aloud to the entire class. Even the youngest dancers, at one pre-professional academy, at ages eleven “gasped in horror” as the teacher read their weights aloud at 50 to 60 pounds (Gordon 1983, p.43). Public humiliation is not uncommon in the ballet world (Hamilton, 1998; Benn & Walters, 2001). Directors and teachers are known to make hateful comments and even resort to name-calling in some cases (Gordon, 1983). One director told one of his dancers to “drop the weight in three weeks. I don’t care how you do it”(Benn & Walters, 2001, p.145). When she did in fact drop the weight by basically not eating, she was rewarded with a role in the performance that the company was rehearsing. Dancers learn at an early age that rewards and punishments are based upon weight. If a dancer loses weight, she is praised and rewarded with a role in a ballet. If she does not, she is punished by not being cast at all (Gordon, 1983). It seems that directors and teachers perceive how thin a dancer becomes as a sign of dedication to the art and is often times rewarded (Benn & Walters, 2001). Suzanne Gordon (1983) accompanied several members of an elite advanced pre-professional academy to a professional audition. She witnessed hundreds of dancers asked to walk across the floor of the studio, where many of them were then asked to leave. After fifteen or more years of professional training, these dancers were not allowed to even audition. Apparently, they did not have the right “look.” This practice is used by most professional companies across the United States (Gordon, 1983).

[Zen]

this is regarding post #3011 Emailme ^ that reminded me. I went to highschool with this girl who was a gymnast and she was short and very petite in size. Very thin but muscular. I remembered her hardly eating anything or drinking much fluids. And a week or so before her tournaments, again she hardly touched any food or liquid. Years later I saw this documentory on gymnastics and athletes in general and it was astonishing to know there are even athletes who have image issues for many different reasons. So many people expect athletes to be one of the healthiest but we don't realize they can also be the most unhealthiest.

[AMACINOM]

Irina makes Kate B look fat in #2968