Govt says they’re going to ‘tackle skinny models’. Good luck with that.

This was the news story that greeted me when I woke up on Sunday morning:

The federal government will tackle the fashion, media and
advertising industries over their portrayal of stick-thin women,
with a new code of conduct requiring magazines to feature
normal-sized models and disclose the use of digitally enhanced
photos.

Youth Minister Kate Ellis says the portrayal is contributing to
a generation of children – some as young as six – suffering from
eating disorders.

"It’s pretty clear that we have a problem if young people are
literally starving themselves to be thin," she told News
Limited.She said advertisers and magazines will be encouraged to use
fewer skinny models and instead feature real women with healthy
body sizes."It’s about representing people of all different sizes and all
different looks and ensuring people know that it’s OK not to (be
skinny)," she said.

Great news and hmmm, it sounds EXACTLY WHAT I WAS DOING AT COSMOPOLITAN with our Body Love policy all those years ago. Oh wait, is that the sound of me tooting my own horn?
Why yes it is…..

The article went on to report:

"It also promotes the fair placement of diet, exercise and
cosmetic surgery advertising to avoid overly glamorising the
severely underweight celebrities."

Under the code, magazines and advertisements would be forced to
disclose whether a model’s image had been digitally enhanced.

"We know so often that when we see images that people are
aspiring to look like they have been altered and enhanced," Ms
Ellis said.

"I don’t know whether it’s the government’s job to ban them
(digitally enhanced images) but I do think we need to have a
transparent system where people realise the models in those
pictures don’t look like that themselves and disclosing when
there’s been altered or enhanced images."

Ms Ellis said the Victorian code of conduct, while voluntary,
had been successful in achieving a healthier portrayal of women’s
bodies in the media and in fashion.

"On a national level, the code of conduct would be complemented
by an advertising campaign aimed at teenagers to promote positive
body images, along with support services and programs to help young
people suffering from eating disorders."

Lordy I hope something comes of this but I’m not hopeful that fashion magazine editors would have a bar of it. Vogue is already bristling.

Vogue editor Kirstie Clements said beautiful, young people
belonged on the escapist pages of a fashion magazine, not real women of
different sizes.

"It’s about beautiful young girls creating beautiful fantasies; it always has been, it always will be,” Ms Clements said.

"It’s been done before and it didn’t work. One of the teen magazines
were using girls who were size 14 or 16 _ I’m not sure that’s the right
thing to do when girls are 13 years old.”

I’m so sick of that argument. As if somehow portraying a DIVERSE mix of body sizes in a magazine is going to cause obesity. You can’t have it both ways, ladies. If images of skinny models doesn’t cause anorexia then a size 14 or 16 model is not going to cause obesity. Stop hiding behind rhetoric and stop making excuses.