Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Australia’s Next Top Model Tells Underweight Teenage Contestant to Lose Weight

Australias Next Top Model Tells Underweight Teenage Contestant to  Lose Weight | beauty body image

At 120 pounds (55 kg), Alison Boxer, a 16 year-old contestant for the Australia’s Next Top Model title, is not thin enough for the popular show. Alison wasn’t the only girl labeled “too big”, as 3 more girls were asked to melt cm off their thighs or shed some kg off their already-thin frames. How does the young contestant (who is already underweight according to BMI) feel about the request? Details from Harold Sun:

“It was a shock to the system to be told I needed to lose weight. At home a lot of people say I’m too skinny. I was 50kg at one stage, which I thought was a bit scary.

“So I was coming from a place where people were telling me to gain weight, to now people saying I should lose weight.”
“It was a bit of a shock as I’m so young and new to the world and to be told, no, your walk was bad and to lose weight in the first week was pretty full-on.

“I have never tried to lose weight before, but since then I have been going to the gym twice a day and eating in proportion to try to lose the weight.”

Oh that last statement is sad…

The feedback came right away:

Eating Disorders Victoria spokeswoman Megan O’Connor slammed the show for promoting a poor body image among impressionable teenagers.

“Most people would look at her and see a particularly attractive young woman, yet it is suggested she lose further weight, and it is not attainable,” Ms O’Connor said.

“We would prefer the show to promote diversity of body shape rather than assume a model needs to look super skinny.”

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