Germany’s Next Anorexic Generation?

A comment on the effect of TV model castings on teenagers

January 25th 2006: The start of the first season of the German version of an “America’s Next Topmodel”. The jury lead by Model Heidi Klum observes the 11637 applicators in swim wear. Irina a 1,83 meter tall brunette is introduced. Like all others she waits nervously for the opinion of Heidi and her expert-collogues after her “live walk”. To their answer that she is not what the show is searching for she asks “Am I too fat?” At a weight of 52 kilos at a height of 183 Irina would be categorized underweight after BMI-standards. Pointing at their logo displaying the silhouette of a thin model Heidi replies: “For us you are!“ The girl’s elimination is confirmed right away. More and more girls are dismissed due to their weight in the following shows. Weighing 50 Kilo at 1,75 eliminates girls from the show just like a weight of 52 at 1,76. Three seasons later the shows still airs with 3,86 Million watchers per week. Most of them, as a study of the German Ministry for Family Affairs states, are girls between the ages of 13 to 19. In a phase when popularity becomes very important, shows like “Germany’s Next Topmodel” have dramatic effects on this age group since the success of being thin is glorified.

There are 600000 cases of eating disorder and a rising number of teenage anorexics in Germany. That “half the normal-weight girls and a quarter of the normal-weight boys still described themselves as being too fat” and that “normal-weight children who believed they were fat scored as poorly as children who really were obese” in a self esteem test is the result of this year’s survey of the German “Bravo” magazine. Addressing the responsibilities of the media therefore becomes important. Model agency manager Louisa von Minckwitz does not understand the uproar. She states that in the model business “very thin, androgen girls are wanted”. To the accuse of doctors like Prof. Dr. Manfred Richter, director of the Roseneck Hospital Chimsee, that topmodel casting shows are “propaganding the unreachable thrill of being super skinny” she responds that model casting shows are just picking out the girls that will have the best chance in today’s harsh fashion industry. Also Peyman Admin, who is a part of the jury is this opinion: “the demand for skinny girls is not coming from us, but directly from the top designers”. This defense statement is not accepted by the doctor who warns of the deathly outcome 5% of the anorexic cases have: “The show is increasing teenager’s demand for dieting”. Shows in which very skinny girls succeed over normal-weight girls, give young teens the wrong picture. The psychologist Günther Klonsinski confirms this saying that these idols from the media can lead to the wish for weight loss. “Connecting a fixed body shape to success, recognition and confidence is dangerous”

Glorifying the victory of the super skinny therefore can have dangerous effects on teenage girls. Though it is reasonable that the models for the standard designer clothes size 34 have to be searched for, shows should be aware of their influence on viewers and take responsibility for it. A first step of resolving this problem could be taken by the government by banning underweight models from catwalks. If this would resolve the “thrill for thin” is questionable, but it might take some pressure of Heidi’s casting show and for the first time lead her to say: “Sorry you are too thin for this job”

Bibliography:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/many-normal-weight-teens-feel-fat/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6492893http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/gesellschaft/0,1518,538454,00.htmlhttp://www.ceiberweiber.at/index.php?type=review&area=1&p=articles&id=30http://www.bild.de/BILD/unterhaltung/TV/2009/04/08/jade-mcsorley/start-bei-britains-next-topmodel-trotz-magersucht.htmlhttp://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendungen/kommentar/965335/http://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama/90/372901/text/

2 Newspaper Articles

Pregnant at 12 – Can’t we trust our children?
Shock over Germany: 12 year old Chasey Melling gave birth to a boy in a hospital in Munich last night. “It’s a boy, he’s adorable and I’ll be a good mother”, was all she said to the press. The father is yet unknown though many friends claim to the press to have had intercourse with Chasey. A test shall now show the truth! Her pregnancy was not long known of “I thought I had just gained some weight, I didn’t think I could get pregnant that fast”, the 7th grader claimed in our March interview. “I’ll be a good mother”. Words coming from a 12 year old. The question arises: Can we not trust our children anymore? Can we still let them leave the house without worries? The recent teenage baby boom clearly shows that we can only hope for better times!

12 year old gives birth
The 12 year old pregnant C.Melling has given birth to a boy on Tuesday. With the father yet unknown, the 7th grader agreed to a paternity test to give the situation more clearance. The Melling’s case lead to an appeal of Family-Minister Carla Anne Drung, demanding more early sexual education addressing contraception and the consequences of unprotected intercourse. “Schools should address this topic more sincerely and talk about it openly during health classes”. Drung’s goal is to draw attention to this problem but not overreact. Calling Chasey Melling’s case an exception she made it clear that she believes in the responsibility of young adults. WHO-chairman A.J.L Jowler on the other hand appealed to A.J.P. Lingard claiming the only effective way to address this problems would be government spending. More national expenditure going towards free contraception would be the only way to prevent rising teenage pregnancies.

The White Tiger: Balram's Dream

Balram's dream:

Around me I saw a garden full of lovely fruit trees. Apples, oranges… even cherry trees. I hadn't eaten in 5 days. Or maybe it just felt like it, but my stomach was burning of hunger and more and more liquid had accumulated in my mouth. The apples now seemed like little round pieces of treasure to me. I could already feel the glory that would overcome me when I could take a big bite into one of them. It felt like everything around me was gone… For a minute I stared at the treasonous goods in front of me.

Then I realized I was still lying on the floor. I hadn’t moved a bit. It seemed like someone had glued me to the bottom of this fruit garden. Now I tried to move but I could not get up. And the more I tried the less power I had to try one more time. The smell of the cherries started giving me hunger pains. What is going on? Why couldn't I get up? What was wrong with me? More and more men and women came to pick the fruits of the tree forest, stepping over me and tripping me on the way there. My stomach started hurting after a while since the fat men walking over me were almost 5 times the size I am. As I saw them grabbing more and more fruits I saw their eyes getting bigger. Their avarice got greater! They grabbed the apples, the oranges and the cherries while their big tummy was shaking. In this forest no one was collecting fruits together. Everyone was picking their own trees, slapping the person next to them, hitting or even biting. They didn’t even see me lying at their feet, as their carpet, ignoring my screams and the noises of my stomach. And then there were the other people, who were like me lying on the ground, with their face stunned. Our faces were full of mood. The dirty feed of the others had spread the mud all over our body. The others on the floor also looked hungry but they had given up. They had no energy and no hope! They wanted to starve. But I didn’t! I was ready to fight for a fruit. I was ready to press the energy out of my body to step up, get through and tried not to panic. Looking at the others on the forest floor, they were facing the same difficulties. But I wanted to bite, hit and slap like them. I wanted to become like them. I wanted to move my legs! I wanted to stand up! But then I looked at myself and for the first time since I woke up and I realized that I was free of limps. Yes! My legs were gone and so were my hands. I gasped and looked around. I stared at the fat collectors and us lying under them without arms and without legs. With no possibility and no prosperity!We had no limbs and therefore no chance to get up and pick fruits from the garden. We could only stare.

Headings to Articles

Text 1
Shock! Animals going crazy!New abilities of animals fascinate
Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle
The cow jumped over the moon
The little dog laughed to see such sport
And the dish ran away with the spoon

Text 2
Pipers son pilfers pig Man takes consequences for stolen pig
Tom_Tom the piper’s son
Stole a pig and away did run
The pig was eat
Tom was beat
Tom went roaring down the street

Text 3
Horror! Well known man goes to sea in a tank!Man goes to sea in a tank
There was a young man of high rank
Who went to sea in a tank
They said, “It is sad,
He surely is mad!”
And he proved they were right when he sank

Text 4
Miserable Mistake!!!!No success for alternative poetry
There was a young man from Japan
Whose poetry never would scan
When they asked him why
He said with a sigh,
“It’s because I put as many words in the last line as a possibly can.”