Sickly thin model in Cover – who are we to point fingers at?

There have been extreme controversy surrounding the latest version of Cover, and the team now firmly, I'm so torn in such a case. It seems to me, there are many sides represented. Assistance, including. the 16-year-old girl, models. There is a model agency – In this case, Scoop, but in my view it could also have been so many other. There is a customer – in this case the magazine Cover, it could also here also have been so many other stores or brands.

The 16-year-old girl has a job that she is very good at. She is probably also happy about it and wants to fulfill those expectations, is asked of her. Model agency Scoop, which is one of the largest of its kind in Denmark, must deliver an item, something I actually think they usually do well. Cover wants to create what they see as a good product and thereby maintain a high readership.

So where is it right?, that the film breaks?

Is that the model, which is apparently too thin, who must refuse to work in that condition,? She bears a responsibility which (rolle)model and thus represents an ideal of beauty, that affects countless young girls, which is shaping their view of their image of beauty. Should she say no to work, thereby risking confusion with his agency, and thereby perhaps even be passed over for future jobs?

Is it Scoop Models, who should take better care of his employee, which in this case is only 16 years old, who was obviously in the middle of a grieving process, that had caused a, In My Eyes, unhealthy large weight loss? Should they refuse to deliver that item, as the customer wants?

Is it Cover, who must take responsibility for changing a paradigm, as outwardly truly sickly? They want to create good fashion series and secure a good circulation and satisfied readers. Shouldn't they give their readers what they want – which is a thin and very young female ideal?

The model has certainly not been forced in front of the camera, and therefore always has a choice to be produced, but I simply do not believe, that at her age she is fully aware of, what is being initiated, when she chooses to do such a job in her condition. Besides, I don't mean, that you can afford to call someone – and not a 16-year-old girl at all – the things that she has been called in recent days.

I myself have been in situations several times, where I have been asked by either the client or my agency to change myself. It has, for example, my hairstyle or my weight. I have also been on the job and been told about my mistakes and shortcomings that I myself was not present in the room. I also have to say hello, that it may require its woman, to make a good picture after you have just pointed out all your imperfections; go ahead and smile. Here, as a model, it is important to remember, that in the eyes of many customers you are basically just a product they have bought, and therefore, as such, you should not take the criticism personally - but it takes time to learn and internalize, and therefore I can understand, that many models end on a scale, which is too low in relation to their health.

If you are passionate about your job, then you usually want to fulfill your role, and you can become blind to how big the sacrifices you really have to make. I also think that many people outside the fashion industry know about the risk of, to lose oneself in the process to success. It could be the employee pushing himself or being pressured into a workload he can't handle, and therefore decreases with stress. It might be a different industry, but it's just unhealthy, and the rest are therefore, in my eyes, details.

Cover magazine has created a fashion series, which has attracted attention. Hurray. But there in the midst of the zeal to create something hyped, where is the empathy for the people who are used as tools? I am disgusted by this purposeless approach, which has such a big consequence for especially the young girls and in particular this young model.

In my opinion, the agency has in no way lived up to that responsibility, like they should be grown up, when you have such young people employed to do such influential jobs. Scoop Models let their employees down by casting a youngster, malnourished model, albeit impartially, into a media storm, and then wash their hands of a not so small abdication of responsibility.

But the truth is, that we cannot allow ourselves to point fingers at the messenger, which here is Cover – because we all participate in it. The fashion industry has helped create what many see as an unhealthy ideal – but they couldn't hold on to it, if there weren't people to supply the tools and customers to buy the item. If the agencies have unhealthy models on their sales shelves, they provide the opportunity to produce the ideal, and customers give their consent by purchasing the magazines, the clothes etc.

The models that accept the agencies' and customers' requirements, and which uses completely inappropriate means to fulfill, they are also jointly responsible. These models forget their great responsibility for, that this distorted ideal of beauty is fixed with seven-inch nails in the consciousness of girls as young as 8 years old. Moreover, they feed the sick network of anorexic people more arguments to destroy themselves even more.

As I see it, cannot create a paradigm shift by simply asking one or more of the parties to change business practices. It is an effort we all have to make, if you want to change the world, You have to start with yourself.