Model and actress Bianca Balti is now the face of TIM mobile service in Italy (she replaced Belén Rodriguez). She has always been an icon of elegance and style. Beyond just signing the petition against the pro-anorexia sites, she had a lot to say based on the fact that she is a model. "I’m really tired, incredibly tired of hearing people say that fashion is behind anorexia. It’s a terrible disease that has been around forever, that affects even little girls and boys, and therefore it’s not necessarily ascribable to the desire to want to look like the aesthetics seen on today’s fashion runways. If the mental mechanism that makes so many people hurt themselves by stopping to eat were this simplistic, it’d be just as easy to heal them. We need to let these people know that models are not physically similar at all to anorexic girls. All we can say is that we are thin, slender but healthy. We were born this way. Aside from the work we do, we are not that attractive to men - men prefer curves. I began working as a model because I was born thin. I didn’t become thin to be a model. Let’s stop simplifying this. Anorexia must be cured. And if we truly want to do something to stop it, the first thing we can do is stop simplifying its causes. What the canons of beauty transmit is an idea of taking care of yourself. Eating well, living healthily, doing sports. It’s a way to highlight the natural beauty in each of us. The natural body that all of us are born with. I can assure you that anyone who suffers from this disease doesn’t last long in fashion. As soon as the agency who represents the model finds out she’s sick, they guide her toward a center where she can get help and they don’t let her work anymore. Nothing is more important than health and this is certainly true in certain jobs. Why should a girl kill herself slowly to be a model? Bones don’t make for success on the runway but a proportioned, balanced body does. The proof of this can be seen in the many curvy models that have cropped up in the last few years. Let’s love ourselves girls! And let’s love those who are weaker than we are and fall into depression, anorexia or not accepting themselves. Let’s help them get help. Let’s spread the word about this Vogue initiative." You can view the original article here
I know Bianca Balti is trying to do a good thing, but what she says really bothers me. I have noticed that an anorexic (I'm not necessarily calling her anorexic) is the first to point out when someone else is anorexic, almost as if to say "hey I'm ok, don't pay attention to me, pay attention to her/him they have the problem". I hate when models try to deny that this disease exists in the industry, models like Coco Rocha, Ali Michael and Kim Noorda have come out about their struggle but many models cough **Gisele Bundchen** cough claim they have never met an anorexic model. I would say about half of models are built that way, but none of them are built looking emaciated. I think people forget being anorexic and having a eating disorder doesn't always mean you will be so shockingly thin a model doesn't have to be all bones to be anorexic, and just because she has boobs doesn't mean she's "healthy". Ok granted not every model is anorexic but even designers like Dianne Von Furstenburg are the first to admit that anorexia exists in the industry. Yes these websites are horrific and beyond sad but the pictures on the websites are of models. I do believe that even if models were not so thin these pro ana sites would still exist because anorexic nervosa has been around for a long time. What really bothers me is that many magazines and designers claim to have such a problem with anorexia and emaciated models yet they still still use them and Vogue Italia is no exception. I love Anja Rubik as a model she is very talented but it pains me to see how thin she has gotten. She is one of those people who is built very long and lean but she is now well below body's natural weight and she looks sick. She has said she is 5'10" and 110-115lbs and she claims that is healthy....ARE YOU ON CRACK. It just makes me sad that they use her more and more now that she has lost weight, and it kills me because the shoots are always gorgeous but she is just too thin and it's just distracting. Sometimes I wonder about Freja Beha but she has always been like that and her face has never looks gaunt, and I think she just smokes a ton and is just all "idgf". Also Natasha Poly but she has gotten a lot better and isn't as thin she was a few years ago. I think we all know that models who get thinner see a career revival Karolina Korkova is a good example. I don't think the industry has a right to speak out about the horrors of eating disorders until they make some changes. Putting Crystal Renn in an editorial once and a while doesn't mean shit until they stop using the girls who clearly have a problem.
I do want to point out that anorexia and bulimia are more than just wanting to be thin, they may begin that way but they manifest themselves into something more. I will say that I have personally suffered from both anorexia at a very young age and bulimia later for a little bit in high school, and it was about more than being thin. It was about control, release, and having something I was good at. When you feel like you have nothing to offer and you aren't good enough you think hell I'm not the prettiest but I could be the skinniest, I could posses something everyone else desires. I fixed all my shit and I grew up, this was in part because the people around me cared, and I was mature enough to accept the help that was offered and realized how much damage I was doing internally. I firmly believe that no matter how much help is offered you can't get better unless you want to make the change and I have seen this first hand with both myself and with others. I still have my days where I feel fat and disgusting but I get over it, I'll never look like the women in Vogue so I'll just have to deal with it. I don't post pictures of these women as motivation to be thin for myself or anyone. I will admit most of them have incredibly enviable bodies but that is not the point. I guess it's because I always wanted to do what they do, and I appreciate their talent, beauty, style and personality. Modeling is not just standing in front of a camera you have to be aware of the tips of your hair to the tips for your toes, it's hard. Just being tall and skinny doesn't mean you can be a model, sorry everyone who posts modeling pictures on facebook.....
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