Forcellini1 Rebecca Forcellini English 1102-041 Caruso 11 April 2013

Memo: I am writing a blog to magazine editors all over America. I am writing to them to show the harmful effects that their models and images have on women reading their magazines. The content of my blog is that I want them to realize that only displaying pictures of skinny models in their magazine affects the body image that all women strive to look like. My purpose is to convince magazine editors to show a variety of women of all sizes throughout their magazine. I felt that a blog was most appropriate because I wanted to get my point across to every magazine in America and I also wanted the general people to be able to read what I was saying as well. Therefore, I did not want to just write a letter to one magazine company in particular. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/05/15/tyra-banks-open-letter-to-models-vogue-toimages-of-anorexia.html

Body Image in Magazines Dear Magazine Editors of America, When people are deciding between which magazine to buy they are more inclined to choose the magazine with natural real looking women over unhealthy size zero models because it makes them feel good about themselves. Have you ever opened the front cover of a magazine and suddenly felt bad about your appearance? Or even glanced at the front cover while waiting in line at the grocery store and automatically started critiquing yourself? Because I have done both

Forcellini2 of those things. Body image in America is linked with depression and numerous eating disorders. Body image in womens magazines has the most impact on women all over the world. Magazines are everywhere you go, the grocery store, the mall, doctors offices, airplanes, you cannot escape them. Over the past 50 years body image in magazines has drastically changed. In the 1950s the ideal body image as displayed in magazines was a size fourteen model. However, today the ideal body image is a drastically skinny size zero model. The body image that magazines promote makes people all over America feel as though they are not good enough. People do not feel beautiful unless they look like the models that they see in magazines, which is terrible because it is humanly impossible to look like those models. This not only has a harmful effect on the people reading the magazines but on the models as well. Models have to live unhealthy lifestyles if they want to keep their job and be featured in magazine articles. Magazines need to stop displaying unhealthy skinny models and feature more women who are of normal healthy size In the letter, Tyra Bankss Open Letter to Models: Vogue to Ban Images of Anorexia, Tyra Banks talks about Vogue Magazines ban of models who are too skinny or who appear to have an eating disorder. Vogue is hoping that it will stop unhealthy habits for models all over the world and they also hope that it will help with the body image issues. In the letter Tyra talks about how numerous magazine companies will not book models if they are not skinny enough. Tyra states, In my early 20s I was a size four. But then I started to get curvy. My agency gave my mom a list of designers that didnt want to book me in their fashion shows anymore. In order to continue working, I wouldve had to fight Mother Nature and get used to

Forcellini3 depriving myself of nutrition the fact that magazines are ruining body image for young women all over the world. (Banks par 4)

Tyra is living proof that magazines do not want to use pictures of models that are not thin enough. Magazines are not only promoting unhealthy lifestyles for people who read their magazines but for their own models as well. Hopefully other magazines will follow Vogue and ban the images of unhealthy models.

The ban of unhealthy models from magazines will bring positive benefits to not only their own models but to the customers reading their magazines as well. One positive effect will be that models will be able to live a healthy lifestyle and not result to starving themselves and excessively exercising to keep their job. It is not fair to the models that their bodies have to undergo drastic measures and harm to keep getting booked. Models should be able to eat healthy but not starve themselves. Another positive effect is that women all over America will not torture themselves every day to obtain that perfect body image. Eating disorders are becoming more and more prevalent all over America; however, what do you expect when all magazines display is stick skinny girls. It is impossible to open a magazine and not wish to look like every girl that you see. Every girls dream is to have that perfect flat stomach, yet have big boobs and a big butt at the same time. Even though that is almost impossible to achieve magazines give us that hint of false hope that it is obtainable. The unreal standards and body images being portrayed in your favorite magazines and ads are nothing more than a fraud, each and every photo has been retouched before it is seen on the pages of these magazines (idealbite.com par 1). With that being said, Vogues ban of unhealthy models could help lower depression and eating disorders throughout America.

Forcellini4 Another magazine that is helping the issues of body image all over America is Seventeen Magazine. Seventeen Magazine has vowed to never edit any of the pictures that they put into their magazines. Seventeen Magazine is on the right track with Vogue and they are both making an impact on the fashion industry and the lives of many women in America. Also, Seventeen Magazines shows women that not even models and celebrities are perfect and that it is okay to have flaws. Throughout the magazine there a positive tone and people feel good about themselves while reading it. Not only does Seventeen Magazine show normal curvy women but they also have articles that have tips on how to be healthy and not just skinny. Seventeen Magazine does all of those things and still manages to be a best seller and make a large profit while pulling in a diverse amount of customers. In addition, Glamour Magazine also features ads with real women and no edits. Glamour did a spread with the famous Lizzie Miller that showed off her stomach and all of her curves. In the pictures you can clearly see that Miller is by no means a size two or even a size six she is much larger than that. Glamour showed every piece of Millers body and it was all real and not photo shopped. That showed Millers stomach, stretch marks, and her legs which are not even close to being skinny. After Glamour did this their website was overwhelmed by positive feedback and comments, Hundreds of readers flooded the magazine's website the moment after the image first appeared, roaring their approval and appreciation with comments like: 'I love this picture. I was starting to despair of ever seeing real women in magazines and it made me reassess how I look at myself. I have a similar tummy which I hate - but look at her, she's beautiful. (Kelsey par 6)

Forcellini5 The magazine received incredible feedback and the sales climbed tremendously after that ad. That ad made women who do not have a perfect body and who look like Miller feel confident in their own skin.

All in All, I hope this opens the eyes of many magazines and magazines editors. If magazine editors were to take my feedback and make the changes that I have listed above there would be many positive benefits for them. Not only would their magazine gain more diverse customers their sales would increase as well. With the increase of sales that would lead to an increase in profit which would enable the company to have more money to hire more models and create more magazines. They need to realize that their magazines are ruining the confidence of Americans all over the world. Magazines need to start recognizing what women really look like. They need to embrace curves because curvy women are just as beautiful. Magazines need to show more athletic women who have muscle instead of just showing bones. The idea of the perfect body needs to be removed from every magazine, every billboard, every commercial, and from every mind in America because every body type is perfect in its own way.

Forcellini6 Works Cited "100 Percent of What You See In Fashion Magazines Is Retouched." IdealBite. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2013. Banks, Tyra. "Tyra Banks's Open Letter to Models: 'Vogue' to Ban Images of Anorexia." The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, 15 May 2012. Web. 08 Apr. 2013. "The Wobbly Bits That Shook the World: The Joyous Support Created by One Model's Picture (flabby Tummy and All)." Mail Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2013.

Forcellini7

More Research The purpose of my piece is to show magazines and magazine editors that they need to not only show skinny models in their magazines but normal women as well. Also, they need to stop using pictures of unhealthy looking models. The one thing about the article that I am responding to that confused me was why Vogue all of a sudden decided to stop showing unhealthy models. I need to look up what pursued them to make those changes. This piece stemmed from Tyra Banks congratulating Vogue magazine for their efforts in celebrating curvier models. Tyra was happy with their decision because she was never an unhealthy size zero models like the ones that are being shown all over magazines. In order to mention the things that I spoke about in my proposal I need to research what other magazines are taking steps to help body image and change the way that their magazines are viewed. Also I need to research how magazines can make money by eliminating unhealthy looking models. I do not need to research anything else for my introduction I am happy with the way it is. The interest of my intended audience is how changing their magazines and not showing pictures of unhealthy models will help them and their sales. My intended audience will gravitated towards what they will get out of changing their magazine. I still need to do more research and figure out how the magazines can benefit from what I am trying to get them to do. The unintended audiences for my piece are the people purchasing and reading the magazines. Some things that I still need to research are what customers gravitate towards while reading a magazine and what things do they not like to read about.