HSG

This is indeed the most significant revelation of all. For far too long, the creative heads of straight-size fashion have hidden themselves behind industrial anonymity, evading responsibility by creating the perception that fashion's underweight standards somehow "evolved," like plant life, or were the product of a mass consciousness for which no single entity is responsible.

(We see here the appalling real-world consequences of Cultural Materialism, the ideology that attributes the fruits of a culture to a general milieu, and not to lone creative talents--as if the Eroica Symphony was not composed by Beethoven, but was merely a product of "19th-century Vienna.")

But this is stuff and nonsense. Obviously, the culture that we see all around us is created by specific individuals exerting their creative will--in this case, harmfully and destructively.

After all, emaciated models do not magically appear on the runways and in fashion magazines.

They are not booked by "the industry."

They are not photographed by "New York."

They are not told to starve by "the '90s."

No, any time an anorexic-looking model is seen in a magazine or on a runway, she is there because one person, somewhere, made the pernicious decision to choose her over a healthy looking model, to put a harmful image before the public instead of a positive one.

These skeletal models are selected by specific individuals--individuals who have put their personal warped tastes before health and humanity, and who must be answerable for their destructive decisions.

Any designer, or editor, or photographer who chooses emaciated models in lieu of curvy ones should be held to account for imposing a toxic standard on young women. They should be compelled to change their policies, or forced out of the industry.

Does that sound extreme? Hardly. The alternative is, quite literally, death--and no editor's preference, or designer's predilection, or photographer's taste, is worth the taking of human life. As the photographer in the article under discussion admits, "we continue to lead girls to their death and reinforce this industry that says that to be beautiful you have to be thin."

And that has to end, once and for all.

The photographer in question must be commended for doing more than merely issuing the proper statements and paying lip service to the body-image crisis, as so many of his peers do. He has taken a principled stand, and is attempting to reform the toxic industry of which is a part.

His call to action is compelling:

We decided to take on the world of glamour and change it. We can change the world - all it takes is getting the photographers, the modeling agencies, ad agencies, and the fashion media on board . . . Let's get over being cynical. Let's recognize the problem for what it is. Let's create an alternative.

However, it is unlikely that his campaign, noble as it is, will be able to effect the reform that it seeks, when the industry is peopled from top to bottom by individuals whose explicit intention is to promote an anorexic standard, and who don't care one iota that they are ruining the lives of generations of young women.

Therefore, government legislation is urgently required, worldwide, for any reform to occur.

And all of the specific individuals who impose emaciation as a perverted "norm" must change their booking policies to embrace a healthy ideal, or be prevented from poisoning the culture.

After all, an anorexic look is not required to create beautiful, fashionable images. Plus-size models can produce what the fashion industry needs, promoting attractive fashions and creating artistic photographs, without damaging women's body image.

Cathy Bole (Flaunt Models, size 18)--gorgeously styled test photo: