For Models and Centerfolds, Thin Is Dangerously In

For Models and Centerfolds, Thin is Dangerously In

It's no secret that high-fashion models are thin. But a first study of the majority of professional models shows a leanness that is life-threatening. These are not the handful of celebrity super models in the news, but rather the anonymous women typically seen in print and television advertising for clothing, household items, jewelry, automobiles, children's products, food and the like.

The study by Patricia Owen, professor of psychology at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas, and Erika Lauren, a St. Mary's clinical graduate student, also looked at Playboy centerfolds from 1985 to 1997. Owen concluded that the trend toward thinness among centerfolds had continued, and that it was getting dangerously close to anorexia.

The study found that practically all Playboy centerfolds from 1985 to 1997, and over three-fourths of professional models had body weights below normal. Further, about one-fourth of each group met weight criteria for anorexia nervosa, a life-threatening disease. In addition, a substantial minority similarly risked chronic energy deficiency and malnutrition.

Owen's study, Weight and Shape Ideals: Thin is Dangerously In, updates earlier studies of thinness trends among centerfolds and provides first-time data on the weight of professional models. While there have been studies on the weight of high fashion models, access to such information about the majority of professional models is limited, due to the reluctance of agencies to release these data. Using the Internet, Owen and Laurel accessed the vital statistics of more than 500 professional models through model agency web sites.

"If these models are ëexemplars' of ideal beauty, then the measure for women is that to be beautiful, starvation level thinness is required," Owen writes. "It appears that the media and the fashion industry would have us believe that ultra thinness symbolizes beauty, health, and a sense of fashion, when in reality, the standard represents infertility, chronic energy deficiency, and premature death."

Patricia Owen can be contacted at (210) 431-2018 or at [email protected] Or call Roe-Ann Wood in the campus news office at (210) 436-3327 or send her an e-mail message at [email protected]. A copy of Owen's study is available.

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