While fashion designers are demanding size 8 models for the catwalk and Juice magazine promotes "fashion to die for", is it any surprise that eating disorders are on the increase? On June 4, the NSW Health Department released a report stating that about 7500 people in NSW suffer from anorexia — 95% of them women — with up to 450 new patients diagnosed each year. Dr Janice Russell, director of the eating disorders units at Concord Hospital and Northside Clinic, estimates that 1% of anorexia sufferers die each year.
The state government has responded to this situation by organising a forum in August at which fashion, advertising and medical professionals will discuss ways to combat the increase of anorexia. The health minister, Dr Andrew Refshauge, said that the forum would aim to develop a code of conduct for the media to end "the glamorisation of unhealthy behaviour". He is aiming to change the emphasis of fashion: "Fashion does change. The fashions last year do go out and the new fashions come in. Maybe we could hasten the move away from this particular fashion to a much healthier fashion."
Refshauge is intent on maintaining profits for the fashion industry — he just wants a different image to be promoted. A lot of time, energy and money go into the fabrication of images. We are confronted with it in just about every direction we look: the dazzling displays in shop windows, movies, magazines, billboards, TV shows, even news commentators are required to project a particular image.
Why does so much energy go into it? Because it is worth millions of dollars of profit to big business each year. The whole purpose of having "the latest fashion" coming out every season is so that fashion-conscious consumers feel required to update their wardrobes, even though they may not need to. Dieting, cosmetics and cosmetic surgery are multimillion-dollar industries. Big business profits from people feeling inadequate about the way they look.
While the current skinny image is extremely unhealthy, it is not the only one that has had harmful effects on women. Take another two examples of images that have been promoted within the past 15 years or so: bronze bodies and large breasts. Both images have led women to take serious risks with their health.
The image industry is not isolated to women — there is also money to be made out of fashion for men. However, some have used this to downplay the seriousness of health risks associated with women's images. There are some examples of young men taking steroids to become more muscly and strong; however, there are many more cases of eating disorders amongst young women.
In addressing this issue for young women, it is not just the skinny image that we should be criticising, but the necessity to have any image at all. Eliminating "image" would benefit both men and women. The creators of the image generally promote only one that is "fashionable" this season, when people come in different shapes and sizes and, left to our own devices, could also develop different tastes and fashions.
The image industry aims to make people feel dissatisfied about their bodies, their clothes, their appearance and, consequently, their lives. It will continue while we live in a society where a few people are able to get rich out of the misery of the majority.
By Trish Corcoran