new show encourages normal weight women to diet for modeling contracts

[skeptifem]

http://weblogs.amny.com/entertainment/urbanite/blog/2008/08/mtv_asks_wannabe_models_to_los.html



Women must be between 17 and 24 years old, 5'9" to 6' tall and 130-190 pounds to enter. A 5’9” woman weighing 130 pounds has a Body Mass Index of 19.2. The healthy range is 18.5 to 24.9.A 5’9” woman weighing 130 pounds has a Body Mass Index of 19.2. The healthy range is 18.5 to 24.9.
The show, which is currently casting, will begin taping in September and air sometime next year.
Here's an excerpt from the press release I received:
"Women come in all shapes and sizes, but models don't. The term model conjures an image of stick-thin, towering beauties oozing confidence, glamour, poise and sexuality from every pore. "Skinny," "no body fat," and "size zero" are the words and phrases associated with models. "Chubby," "well-fed," and "big- boned" are not."
It goes on to say, "With weekly eliminations looming, models must put their best foot forward at all times while staying focused on losing weight."

a new low for a totally ****** channel. absolutely shameless.

eta- some people on ONTD are saying its a hoax. ill try to find out more

[Wides]

It looks a little cheesy, but i found this (http://www.realitywanted.com/call/3015-mtv-model-makers-now-casting) site. Basically all the info is copied and pasted from the op's url. I just don't know if MTV subcontracts it's casting.

[GreyICE]

Remember when MTV showed music videos and avant garde shows that actually did push some limits (like Aeon Flux)?

MTV currently is the lousiest channel on TV, IMHO, and given its competition that is saying a lot. When people talk about sell outs, normally I laugh, but MTV really did sell out.

But seriously. 130 pounds? I'm sorry, 130 pounds is not overweight unless you're like 4'6" tall or something. It's a healthy weight for most women.

Even 190 isn't bad. On a 6 foot tall women that's a BMI of 25.8, which means you can lose a few pounds, but hardly pushing the boundaries of obese.

[badnewsBH]

Didn't Penn and Teller already establish that the BMI isn't a valid method for measuring healthy weights anyway?


Link to the show (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urrbWWPNd5o)


Rather than defining "model" as "woman who has certain height/weight combination", perhaps the show's producers could take the unprecedented view that "model" is a "woman who makes our clothes look good, in a size that's realistic for most women". They won't, of course, but it would be refreshing.

[TragicMonkey]

I can't imagine people dieting to become models for television.

But then, I can't imagine people watching MTV, either.

I remember when it played music videos. By themselves. Not as part of some framing program with "celebrities" yakking about them and crowds screaming over the music and text going across the screen. Of course, I'm very old. The music videos played were for new hits released on things called records. They were bigger than dinner plates! With no copy protection software on it! You might have been able to play them on a computer, I wouldn't know, since only the largest universities and the militaries of the richest nations possessed computers. Which took up entire rooms, which had to be kept freezing cold so the vacuum tubes would feel at home, remembering what it was like in outer space. To which we had only just been.


eta: Goddamnit. I feel good about my waist size, but now I feel depressed about my age. It's beginning to look like I'll never be a supermodel.

[badnewsBH]

Thanks, TM, I forgot to comment about that. The age thing, not your waist size. :p

Why does a model have to be between 17 and 24 in order to be a viable candidate? Does this mean there aren't any women who are 42 and attractive enough to model? What about 37, or 33? Hell, pull it back to 26 and ask the same question.

Seems to me the people producing this show lack imagination, in addition to the other stuff they must be without to create this show...

[Wides]

i'm tempted to watch, because i want to see what advertising slots fill the breaks. I got odds 20 to 1 that it's all Revlon, Slim Fast, diet pills, personal training equipment, and designer clothing.