by Lola Batling

Created on: May 16, 2008

I once heard a model's job described as "a walking clothes hanger"

This is how designers more often then not view models. Sometimes models take this to unhealthy and even deadly extremes.

No one likes to be told they can't do something they love simply because they don't fit a particular mold. Even so it happens, the overweight are often ridiculed because they are large. At the same time they and others do the same kind of teasing to the naturally petite. It hurts both ways so let's just stop and think about some ways to solve the hurt and ugly rumors. Not everyone who is skinny has an eating disorder. Just like not everyone who's fat over eats.

Weight is really a touchy issue these days. There's literally billions of dollars spent on the pursuit of weight loss and total body perfection. Even race car driver Danica Patrick's mere hundred pound weight was brought into question as an unfair advantage in racing. No where is the weight argument more heated than in the world of fashion. Can a model be too skinny? Well of course. The question here is should underweight models be banned from participating in runway fashion shows?

To even answer that question you must ask yourself, underweight by who's standards? A BMI test will tell you if a person is overweight or underweight. But can a BMI be the final say? No, a BMI can often be calculated wrong. Or quiet simply people can't always fit into a nice equation. It is possible for someone who is underweight to be perfectly healthy. All human bodies are different for every person who can't take the weight off, there's another person who can't put on the pounds despite the effort. Saying an underweight model can't participate in fashion shows because she is underweight is unfair. It's just like telling an overweight person they can't model because they're fat.

What needs to be a factor in deciding if models can participate in a runway show is this, is the model healthy? Is she eating well? Some sort of criteria need to be set within the fashion industry, with the help of medical experts of course. That criteria must then be stuck to and enforced with the show organizers.

In a world where people aren't mindful of portion sizes, often eating double and triple the proper amount. It's often easy to view average sized or naturally small people as underweight.

Remember, what's right to you may not be right for others and we shouldn't force our world view on everyone else.

Learn more about this author, Lola Batling.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.