Skinny Models Banned

MADRID, Spain (Reuters) -- The world's first ban on overly thin models at a top-level fashion show in Madrid has caused outrage among modeling agencies and raised the prospect of restrictions at other venues.

Madrid's fashion week has turned away underweight models after protests that girls and young women were trying to copy their rail-thin looks and developing eating disorders.

Organizers say they want to project an image of beauty and health, rather than a waif-like, or heroin chic look.

But Cathy Gould, of New York's Elite modeling agency, said the fashion industry was being used as a scapegoat for illnesses like anorexia and bulimia.

"I think its outrageous, I understand they want to set this tone of healthy beautiful women, but what about discrimination against the model and what about the freedom of the designer," said Gould, Elite's North America director, adding that the move could harm careers of naturally "gazelle-like" models. -- Courtesy CNN.com Read the rest here.

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Do you think the fashion industry encourages bulimia or anorexia? Or do you agree with Cathy Gould that the fashion industry is just a scapegoat?

Did any of you ever struggle with an eating disorder? Would you be willing to share if/how the fashion industry encouraged you?

Do you think anyone is really "naturally gazelle-like" as in the photo?

I think as women (as are most of the readers here) we need to be careful how much emphasis we put on size. It's one thing to be trim and fit, it's another to be 5'8' and 105 lbs. Aside from an illness that could cause such weight loss, I think that is ridiculous.

I have always struggled with weight, ever since adolescence. Up and down and up and down. Weight Watchers (4 times) and Nutrisystem and several others. Fortunately I have always had some sense of how to avoid an eating disorder, although some people consider overeating as much of a disorder as undereating.

I'm not afraid to say at this point that I was a size 20 at one point. I was 5'5" and 205 lbs. I have come a long way in the last two years, beginning with a serious bout of bacterial pneumonia a year and a half ago, where I lost almost 25 lbs, to most recently my diagnosis with Type II diabetes and the ensuing changes in my lifestyle. I (finally) bought a pair of size 10 jeans the other day. Haven't seen that size in about 13 years, and then only briefly.

But I have no goals of being super-skinny. For me at this point it's about health. I'm not a fanatic, I just aim to be active every day and not overdo it on stuff the I shouldn't eat much of. It's a lifelong adjustment for me, and I don't worry too much about going overboard on the diet/exercise routine, because I am a food junkie. But I realize after half a lifetime of overindulging, it's time for me to moderate my enjoyment of food and incorporate it into a healthier lifestyle.

I think it's our responsibility as mothers (even if you don't have a daughter) to be realistic and healthy as an example to girls we come in contact with. In Titus 2 we are asked to be an example to younger women "to be self-controlled" among other things. I would read that in this case as not only helping encourage them to lead a healthy lifestyle, but also not to get carried away.

Do you think we adult women have an impact on younger women and girls, specifically on their eating habits and tendency toward eating disorders? Or do you think society's encouragement to be skinny has a stronger pull?