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10:39 pm - 02/19/2013

Scary-Thin Model At YSL Sparks "Manorexia" Debate

slimane


Weight and the fashion model have been two topics joined at the hip bone for years. Recent Fashion Week cities have set forth bans against allowing too-thin models to walk down its runways. Progress has been made to ensure that healthy food and drinks are provided backstage at shows. And the subject of anorexia and its subsequent relation to the fashion world was slowly beginning to inch its way to our periphery. That is, until, Hedi Slimane sent one particularly gaunt-looking model down Saint Laurent's Paris runway. Here's the kicker. The model was male.



You might be surprised to know that male anorexics (sometimes cheekily called "manorexics") make up 20% of people suffering from eating disorders. Back in September, GQ ran an article following the lives of multiple men who starved themselves for various reasons: Their girlfriends broke up with them; they needed to meet a goal weight; they wanted to look like so-and-so — the reasons go on and on. Sound familiar? Like their female counterparts, male anorexics feel the influence of the fashion, music, and entertainment world to look a certain way. It's not the fashion world's fault necessarily, but it does "have a powerful influence that is highly toxic to some vulnerable people," according to ED awareness organization B-EAT spokesperson Leanne Thorndyke.



The male anorexic is still largely misunderstood. The number of treatment facilities available is limited, not in the least bit due to the stigma that only women live with the disorder. Often men will actually be denied from a rehab facility because the male gaze is considered to be one of the biggest roots of female anorexia. With Slimane's decision to cast this model, the question here isn't so much "why is he so thin?" or "should he be allowed to walk?" — rather, it's a question of how male models have been largely left out of fashion's increasingly present discussion of weight and body image. (The Daily Mail)

Source
redglare 20th-Feb-2013 05:29 am (UTC)
generally i would agree but in this case i would argue that it's not so much anorexic men being like ~omg we need a word for us~ as it is society making up a stupid term because LOL MEN WITH EATING DISORDERS (SOMETHING USUALLY CONSIDERED TO BE A WOMENS' ISSUE) to belittle them

so idk
tundrabeast 26th-Feb-2013 03:00 pm (UTC)
Yes.
thewhowhatwhats 20th-Feb-2013 11:33 am (UTC)
Dennis Quaid was the first person to use "manorexia" when he came out with his eating disorder to describe the male version of anorexia. It's been used ever since then.
ilovedogs 21st-Feb-2013 03:08 am (UTC)
Source please.
thewhowhatwhats 21st-Feb-2013 12:23 pm (UTC)
"Dennis Quaid, who has talked about his battle with what he termed "manorexia"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/09/AR2007030901870.html

I remember when he first talked about his past with anorexia in 2006. The media all reported it as him having anorexia or an eating disorder, and only mentioning it as what he refers to it as.
oh_sailor 22nd-Feb-2013 07:07 pm (UTC)
manorexia was around way before 2006...
thewhowhatwhats 23rd-Feb-2013 01:26 am (UTC)
When/where did the word come from?
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