That's the announcement on the opening page of the site of Brigitte, Germany's best selling women's magazine. The editor announced recently that, from now on, the publication would only feature normal sized women. This came after complains from readers that there were too many models with "protruding bones" portrayed in their pages.

I say this is good news! Not that everyone agrees, the owner of a modelling agency in Munich, claimed: "The fact is that women want to see clothes on beautiful, aesthetically pleasing people," she said.

Right, that's what they want the most, right after wanting to develop low self esteem and impossible body standards to hunt them their whole lives...

I think it's remarkable that this was an initiative from the magazine... given that the fashion industry is both one of the most influential in determining body standards, and one of the most resistant to change and easily dismissed as "silly women's stuff" when one starts thinking of public initiatives to shape these trends. Still, some instances exist, such as the Spanish government banning too-thin models from appearing in catwalks, and--indirectly--the EU regulation of sexist advertisement. What do you think?

The Guardian article.

Suedeutsche article (in German).

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October 6, 2009 4:50 PM

[0+]  nattles_thing said:

I think it's great that a fashion magazine is showing a wider range of body types. Magazines are slowly realizing that women really appreciate it. It's slow, but it's progress.

I'm sad that the owner of the modeling agency thinks "pretty and aesthetically pleasing" absolutely has to mean model-thin.

But still, why does every conversation about this have to include phrases like "normal sized women?" Thin women are not abnormal. And the whole "ew gross protruding bones" thing also kind of bothers me -- I can see my ribs and hipbones even when I'm at a healthy weight.

We don't need to tear down one body type in order to celebrate others.

That said, I still think this is a good idea and I'd love to see what Brigitte does with it.

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October 6, 2009 9:30 PM

[0+]  rebekah said:

I think the post is referring to the women who are obviously starving themselves so that they can keep their jobs

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