“Three models have been banned from Madrid fashion week for being too thin. They were sent home after doctors weighed and measured all 70 of the girls taking part.
The show, which started yesterday, bars models with a Body Mass Index of less than 18, believing that they set an unhealthy example for teenage girls.
BMI is the scale approved by the World Health Organisation for indicating the weight status of an adult.
A BMI of between 18 and 25 is considered healthy for an adult under 60.
Dr Susana Monereo, a nutritional expert who weighed the models, said: “Their BMI was 16, which is a very low figure which represents extreme thinness.
“They might be of good health, but their appearance is very thin.”
Cuca Solana, the director of the show, said: “The average BMI is higher than in the previous edition.”
Since 2006, organisers have rejected 13 models – including the three – for failing the BMI test.”
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What bothers me about this is that they said, “They might be of good health, but their appearance is very thin.” Okay so even if proven healthy, these models are still considered to be too thin to work? That’s ridiculous! If a model is healthy, why can’t she work? Why does she have to be out of a job just because society thinks that it might give a bad message? Why does she have to suffer just because society wasn’t taught how to be happy with the body they were given? What this is, is stotal discrimination. Again, I’m not talking about models who actually do have eating disorders or are unhealthy, but I’m talking about how they pretty much just admitted that they don’t care if they models are healthy or not, if their BMI are less than 18, then you’re fired. How idiotic. BMI has even been proven to not even be a very accurate measurement of health. They need to reevaluate what they are doing here because it’s just not cool to do this to women who might be in perfect health.
Skinny Minny 
14 comments
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February 12, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Angela
I think the healthy women should be kept. It does seem a bit discriminatory that they would kick someone out just for being below some number standard.
February 13, 2008 at 6:28 am
Kendra
That’s so dumb!
February 13, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Jes
Wow that sucks. They shouldn’t be cut out like that.
February 13, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Vicky
Hmmm I guess that rules me out too.
February 15, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Erin
That’s bullshit.
February 20, 2008 at 7:33 am
Emmy
The whole basis of modeling is discriminatory. This isn’t discrimination anymore than not allowing a 5’4 woman to model the clothes is. The modeling world will never be fair, it isn’t meant to be fair. If they have standards and people don’t meet those standards, tough luck that’s how the industry works. If a model looks unhealthy that’s just as bad as actually being unhealthy in my opinion.
February 20, 2008 at 6:55 pm
skinnyminny
Who is to judge what looks unhealthy? What one person thinks looks unhealthy, someone else might not. It’s pretty subjective.
And even as a petite woman myself, I can understand why they don’t have 5’4 models working the runway in high fashion. To me, it’s a little more justifiable than having a perfectly healthy woman booted because in some people’s opinions she appears to look too thin.
March 3, 2008 at 10:09 pm
latisha
i think its gay.
models should deff. be allowed to to whatever they want to keep their jobs..
the hiring pl should worry bout the models, if they really want to be unhealthy..
why not let them???
they can worry about themselves..
everyone else in the world who thinks they set bad examples need to learn how to love there own body bcuz just cuz they dont like theirs does not mean they can make models go out of work bcuz they are insecure with themselves..
i hate those ppl who are putting models out of buissness…
March 11, 2008 at 6:37 am
Emmy
^That’s just silly. No career should encourage people to be unhealthy. And by allowing models to be unhealthy that’s encouraging it. That’s dangerous, the modeling industry needs to take care of their models, not endanger their lives by making it okay for them to be unhealthy because they think it’ll get them more jobs.
April 18, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Trinity
It’s ridiculous that thin models shouldn’t be allowed to work even though they’re healthy. Have we grown so used to obesity that a slim person looks abnormal and unhealthy?
May 4, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Freya
I wholeheartedly agree with Emmy.
Models are supposed to look pretty and healthy, and if they don’t, then tough luck. Stick thin (a BMI of 16 sounds pretty stick thin to me) is not the ideal, and neither is having a few pounds extra… I have a BMI of 23 and nobody would let me model either, even though I’m in the healthy range. That’s the way the modelling industry works. You’re not just supposed to BE healthy in that industry, you’re supposed to LOOK healthy. This is modelling for Christ’s sake, what do you expect it to be based on?! That’s right: looks. Not health.
May 8, 2008 at 2:26 am
yoganut
When I was in high school my BMI was 16.3. To give you some idea, I was around 10 pounds underweight. I did not look “sickly.” Yes I was thin, but I wasn’t emaciated, I didn’t have ribs poking through, I was just small framed and willowy. IMO this is just messed up. I didn’t have an eating disorder in high school, I ate a normal healthy amount of food (sometimes probably more than a normal healthy amount, but I had a fast metabolism) And I took ballet.
The only time ANYONE ever thought I had an eating disorder was in 8th grade after health class when we discussed eating disorders and I went to the bathroom after lunch (to reapply makeup), they followed me to make sure I didn’t throw it up.
My doctor always pronounced me in fantastic health and said I was a little underweight but that I shouldn’t worry about it, my metabolism would slow in time.
The modeling industry requires a lot of energy, it’s very feasible someone could have this low of a BMI, be extremely healthy and eat healthy amounts.
May 8, 2008 at 2:29 am
yoganut
Oh, sorry for the double post, I forgot something. The “too thin” models are being lambasted and left out of things because they are “unhealthy role models.” But what about all these “real women have curves,” “a size 14 is totally normal” people? The girls most affected by this message are in their teens and if they’re a size 14 in their teens it’s only going to climb higher. Why is no one speaking out against unhealthy fat? The health risks for being overweight are higher than for being mildly underweight. And unless you have a genuine eating disorder, most people don’t have the willpower necessary to get to “underweight.” But becoming obese in this culture is surprisingly easy. And a much higher health risk in part because of that ease.
May 11, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Mary
I’m no fan of size zero, and I certainly do believe that we want to see healthy girls on the catwalks. What strikes me though in this debate is that no-one has so far raised any complaints or concerns about the American model Velvet D’amour modeling for JP Gaultier during Paris fashion-week. On the contrary, the appearance of the very plus-sized Ms D’amour on the catwalk in Paris has been applauded as a step in the right direction by the very same camp that is propagating the banning of “too thin” models, supposedly for health reasons.