MTV, a bastion of political correctness and home of "Paris Hilton's My New BFF", has finally decided to cancel a casting call for its new shocker: "Model Maker". The offical website stated "Have you always wanted to model but don't know where to start? Maybe you don't know the right people. Maybe you are not thin enough. Women come in all shapes and sizes, but models don't." This is truly horrifying! The casting call continues:“Skinny,” “no body fat,” and “size zero” are the words and phrases associated with models. “Chubby,” “well-fed,” and “big- boned” are not…Is this an April Fool's joke? Unfortunately, no. You can read more about it on the Huffington Post, here.
This is one of the most horrifying concepts I have ever heard. To encourage eating disorder behavior to become "model thin" is beyond reprehension.
I don't have the same problem with other slightly similar shows, such as "Celebrity Fit Club" and "the Biggest Loser". We undeniably are an obese and unhealthy culture, but encouraging teenage girls to lose enough weight to become waifs is just shocking to me. Although MTV didn't have the sense to veto this in the brainstorming session, at least it didn't make it to production.
What do you think?
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4 comments:
Well, it is good that this didn't make it to production, but I also don't like the other weight loss shows you mention. Sure, healthy lifestyles are good, but I feel like the shows do more to promote fat-shaming than health. Of course, I'm pretty much disturbed by all reality TV shows, the appeal of many of which seems to be the 'shock value' of cruelty to the contestants.
I think that if shows truly wanted to promote health, they would encourage us to feel proud of what our bodies can do when they are fit, not ashamed of how they look. They further promote the false idea that you can judge the health of a person's life style by their waist size - which is false.
wow, that show sounds incredibly disturbing. good thing it got cut!
I must admit I have only seen snippets of the other shows I mentioned. I am, however, in support, generically speaking, of the overweight losing weight through lifestyle modification (ie diet and exercise).
Additionally, I know my in-laws watch the Biggest Loser for support in their own weight loss endeavors, so it must be doing some good, right?
Well, Loup, since you are a doctor I'm sure you've had ample examples of people who do need to change their lifestyles and lose weight for legitimate health reasons. And perhaps there are some shows that help them feel solidarity with others who are seeking to lose for the right reasons. Of course, as a teacher, I've not been in that position, but rather in the position of having to try to police the cruelty of students who say things like "we're going to sign you up for The Biggest Loser, So-and-So! Would you go on?" The girl its said to is always not actually fat, its just a way for the kids to be mean while feigning innocence (what? I meant to be nice! She could win money!). Of course, since that's my only contact with these shows, I assume the worst.
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