S-02. Thin Models

Voice 1

Hello. I'm Marina Santee.

Voice 2

And I'm Rachel Hobson. Welcome to Spotlight. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

Voice 3

It is the night of a fashion show. What clothes will be popular this year? What clothes will be in fashion? Many important people from the fashion industry are here. Buyers, magazine writers and cameramen wait impatiently for the event to start. They talk quietly. Finally, the music starts. Beautiful young models walk out from behind a curtain. These models are wearing the newest clothes of the fashion season. They walk up and down so that everyone can see their clothes. Everyone is watching them. And at home thousands of young girls are watching the models on television. Many of them want to be models too.

Voice 1

Being a model sounds like so much fun. Many models have the chance to travel all over the world. They earn a lot of money. And best of all, people think they are extremely beautiful. But there is a growing problem in the fashion world. Models are becoming too thin. In fact, some have even stopped eating normal meals. They believe they need to be very thin to succeed in their job. In today's Spotlight we look at the life of a model who became too thin.

Voice 2

Ana Carolina Reston Marcon grew up in Jundai, Brazil. Her early life was good. She was a lovely little girl, and she was happy. But she had big dreams. She wanted to be a model. She would dance around the house in her mother's shoes and clothes. And she asked anyone who had a camera to take her picture.

Voice 1

Things changed for the family when her father got sick. His condition worsened little by little. Finally, he lost his job. So, Ana decided that she would earn money to help her parents. Her chance came when she was thirteen years old. She heard about a local beauty competition. Ana felt full of joy. She immediately decided to enter the competition.

Voice 2

The day of the beauty competition arrived. Ana's parents were in the crowd of people watching. They cheered when she came out. Everyone thought she looked beautiful. So did the judges. So, Ana won! The prize was a trip to Rio de Janeiro*. She took her mother with her. They stayed in a top hotel and ate the best food. Ana felt good. She was making her family's life better. And maybe her dream to be a model would come true.

Voice 1

Soon, Ana had more luck. Famous modelling agencies chose her to represent them. And she got a lot of work in Brazil. She was doing well. But she wanted to travel. Even more she wanted her picture to be in all the top magazines. Then, in January 2004, she had the chance to work in China.

Voice 2

In China Ana's agency sent her to 'castings'. Castings are meetings where companies choose models to work for them. During this process models are often severely criticised. Ana did not know how to deal with such criticism. An agency employee told about Ana's experience:

Voice 4

"She arrived in China. And the men looked at her and said, 'You are fat'. She took this very badly."

Voice 1

This was the first time Ana was so far from her family. And she had to stay in China for three months. This new life was not what she expected. Ana felt lost and alone. Even worse, she started to feel bad about herself. She started to believe the criticism. Some fashion designers and agencies believe that clothes look better on tall, thin models. Ana's weight was normal. But she started to believe she was fat.

Voice 2

Ana returned to Brazil. But she had changed. She no longer wanted to eat. This situation continued for some time. And after nine months of not eating properly Ana felt sick. Laura Anacona is a fashion writer. She became friends with Ana around this time. Laura quickly understood that something was wrong. She remembers that Ana would only drink fruit drinks. And Ana said that she could not eat any more. She said that when she tried to eat she felt sick. Laura knew that Anna had anorexia - a condition of denying the body food. Anorexia is caused by an extreme fear of being fat. People who have it usually do not think they have a problem. But everyone around Ana could see that that she was unwell. Laura remembers:

Voice 5

"Everyone knew she was sick - the other girls, the agencies, everyone. Do not believe it when they say they did not know."

Voice 1

Ana continued to work. She got international jobs in Japan, Turkey and Mexico. But she was living on a limited diet. She would eat just fruit, and only two kinds of fruit - apples and tomatoes. Ana lost twenty-five percent of her body weight. Finally, Ana got so sick that she could not work.

Voice 2

Ana told her mother that she felt pain in her body. Her mother was very worried. She immediately took Ana to hospital. But it was too late. On the fourteenth of November 2006, Ana died. Finally, her picture was in every magazine around the world. But it was there because she died from kidney failure, caused by anorexia.

Voice 1

Ana is not an exception. In recent years, three other young women died in Brazil and two in Uruguay. All of their deaths were connected to anorexia.

Voice 2

Dr Tommaso works with models who have eating problems. He worked with Ana too. He believes there is a big problem in the fashion industry.

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"[The fashion industry] encourages an idea of beauty that is completely unreal."

Voice 1

Professor Janet Treasure agrees with him. She is a doctor at King's College in London. She believes that the fashion industry affects girls' opinions of themselves. She joined forty other doctors to write a letter to the British Fashion Council about the problem. She wrote:

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"The fashion industry shows models with extreme body shapes. This is one reason why young girls develop eating problems."

Voice 2

The fashion industry in some countries is starting to do something about the problem. Organizers of shows in Spain, Italy, and Australia banned extremely thin models. And Brazilian modelling agencies will no longer accept girls who are too thin. It is good that some countries are starting to take steps to protect young women. But many countries still refuse to deal seriously with this issue. Sadly, more young women like Ana may die before any real changes take place.

Voice 1

The writer and producer of today's programme was Rachel Hobson. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom, the United States and South Africa. Quotations in this programme were adapted for radio. Computer users can find our programmes on our website at www.radio.english.net. This programme is called 'Thin Models'. Thank you for joining us for today's Spotlight programme. Until next time, goodbye.

Correction: The script originally stated that Rio de Janeiro is the capital of Brazil. In 1960, the capital of Brazil was changed to Brasilia.