El cuerpo

Body image is a universal topic discussed and debated throughout all parts of the world. Similar to countries like Brazil and America, Spain has expressed concern with the body weight of high fashion models. Since many young girls look up to models and set their body standards compared to theirs, a lot of young women are starving themselves in order to achieve the "ideal" body. Over a year ago, at Madrid Fashion Week, 30% of the women models did not have a healthy body mass index. The show was protested against by medical associations as well as women's advocacy groups. The Madrid Fashion Week show implemented a new requirement that anyone who did not have a healthy body weight may not model in the show. This was a bold move by the show organizers; Madrid Fashion Week is Spain's top fashion show. The impact of this move was a good one because it shows young women that being too skinny is not acceptable and it shows the importance of having a healthy body weight.
I thought this would be an interesting topic to discuss in my blog because it is something that women across the globe struggle with every day. Although throughout my blog entries I've discussed many differences between Spanish and American culture, I wanted to show that no matter what culture differences exist, there are still many similarities. People have more in common than they may think and this goes to show the universality of body image.

Spanish Fashion Show Rejects Too-Skinny Models: Women with Very Low Body-Mass Index Not Allowed on Runway. Associated P, 2006. 1 Dec. 2007 .