Please do not feed the models

Third Place

Editorial/Column

Division 3

Please do not feed the models

Jamie Dorwart

Grade 12

E-town ExPRESSion

Adviser: Michele Cekovsky Henry

Watching beautiful girls on America’s Next Top Model, I realized that I wanted to be one of them. I decided to “go for it” my sophomore year. I was the perfect height and figured, “Why not? What do I have to lose?” Well, I was in for a huge surprise. I did have a lot to lose, weight, that is.

I went to a ProScout tryout event in Lancaster. I was really nervous, not knowing if I was what they were looking for. They liked how I looked, but told me I had to lose weight. My sophomore year I did not weigh much. I was about 127 pounds. That night I was ecstatic and thinking of all the wonderful possibilities. I decided that I would start eating salads and low calorie foods. The first week I was fine and did not mind it at all. I had my eyes on the prize and was determined to get to any weight so I could be the next supermodel.

A couple of months later I went to a ProScout weekend event where I met managers from around the world. I had a couple of callbacks but one common requirement: to lose weight. I had to have certain measurements and I was not quite there yet. I had lost some weight since my initial tryout event, but not enough. To accomplish this goal, I kept eating salads, Lean Cuisine meals and fruit, but I craved the food I had eaten all before this started. I wanted a chocolate bar, a hamburger from McDonalds, but more than that, I wanted to become a model.

I did sneak “bad” food every once in a while, but as the months progressed I started to become extremely thin. I was able to see my ribs through my clothes and my face started to appear sunken. I woke up extremely hungry in the mornings, and my stomach constantly made weird noises. I frequently talked to my manager JJ, and he made me sent him pictures weekly to see my weight loss. I got down to 117 pounds and thought that I had made it. When I informed JJ of the weight loss, he told me it was time to go to New York and start my career.

My mother and I traveled to NYC to get my portfolio started to agencies could assess how well I photographed. The studio was in a little downtown apartment. I had a great time and learned about the industry.

The next day my manager took my measurements, and I made al the size goals except for my hips. I was off by one quarter of an inch. For that reason, I was unable to meet with agencies because I was still considered overweight.

I was devastated. All the months I had gone without eating the foods I enjoy, the hours of exercise done, yet it did not seem to be enough. When I got home from the trip, I still adhered to my diet for about three weeks. I even became stricter in the foods I would consume, but my hip measurement did not change. I started to notice that my body was taking the weight loss hard when I woke up feeling extremely ill, and knew it was time for me to stop. I learned that modeling is not for me because I will never be able to obtain the measurements and am not willing to put my life on the line to do so.

According to Radical Recovery, yearly eating disorders cause a minimum of 30,800 deaths. The pressure to be thin as a model is excruciating, and the likelihood of getting to be that thin is nearly impossible.

Now I eat whatever I want and do not feel guilty about it. I am much happier and healthier. I gained back the 10 pounds that I had lost. Today it drives me crazy to see girls watching their calorie intake so closely. They do not need to be watching what they eat when they are already extremely skinny. Why would they want to be too thin? According to thinbeautiful.com, only two percent of the population is naturally extremely thin.

Until the requirements change in the modeling industry, I suggest staying away, because modeling can be extremely unsafe due to the excessive pressure to be thin.