Sadly, when one looks at these images of models Ana Carolina Reston and Luisel Ramos, they may not notice any difference from the models they see everyday. An average non plus sized model wears from a size 00-2. Statistically only 5% of the population have this body type naturally, and it is the size we see every day depicting what girls should look like- it is the size girls strive for. These two models were not exempt from this. Both women died due to complications from anorexia and bulimia.

Ana Carolina Reston from Brazil died at age 21 of kidney malfunction due to anorexia and bulimia. She was 5’7″ tall and at the time of her death weighed only 88 pounds. Before her death she reportedly suffered from both anorexia and bulimia, eating very little and purging, only keeping down a diet of apples and tomatoes. Reston reportedly suffered from eating disorders after being told she was “too fat” at a casting call in China. Just before hospitalization, Reston was due to travel to France for work. She spent 3 weeks in the hospital before hear death.

Luisel Ramos died earlier the same year at 22 years old from heart failure resulting from complications due to anorexia. Ramos was 5’9″ and weighed 97 pounds at the time of her death. She suffered from anorexia, her father stating she had gone “several days” without eating prior to her death. Ramos was reported to have adopted a diet of lettuce and diet coke for 3 months before her collapse directly following walking the runway during Fashion Week in Uruguay.

Now one could look at these two instances as stories of two isolated instances, but the reality is that 7 million American women have eating disorders. These women are striving for a model body type, a body type that killed the two women above. Models literally cannot get any thinner: these models were working at the times of their death!

Luisel Ramos before her death in 2006.

What young girls do not realize when they look at a model like Gisele Bündchen is that it is impossible to diet into her body type. Yet, when they look at her they use her body type to feel inadequate. In February 2008, a result of research was publicized by The International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) to reveal how world celebrity images, which overwhelm popular media, influence people’s choices and decisions to undergo plastic surgery. The question asked was “What influences do celebrities have on the decisions patients make?”. The survey was sent to more than 20,000 plastic surgeons in 84 countries. Gisele Bündchen was the number one answer. Not too strange considering Bündchen herself has undergone breast enhancement surgery. Many models, such as Bündchen, further exemplify an impossible body type by going under the knife. Breasts do not come naturally on a size 00 body type, but young girls do not know that, and large breasts are a large peice of the “ideal body” type.

Something positive did come from the death of Ramos: The Madrid Fashion Week held in September 2006set a minimum BMI of 18 for all models (Ramos had a BMI of 14.5 at death. A BMI of 16 is considered starving). The same year, Italian fashion designers joined together to ban size 0 models from modeling their collections on the catwalk. I will continue with more positive feminist action later on.