Supermodels: stick insects or hourglasses?

Supermodels have been criticised for being a bad role model for young women because of their unnatural thinness, and have even been linked to the increase in eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia. We compiled a biometric database of 300 fashion models, 300 glamour models, and 300 normal women (table). The information on fashion models was drawn from model cards, displayed on model agency World Wide Web pages. The model cards provide accurate biometric data (height, bust, waist, hip measurements) on the basis of which the models are hired. We obtained statistics for glamour models from Playboy, a source which has been used by previous researchers and which is judged reliable. The normal women were undergraduates and postgraduates with no clinical history of eating disorders, who scored within the normal range on a battery of seven questionnaires on eating disorders. For comparison, we included two smaller samples of 30 anorexic women and 30 bulimic women recruited from Newcastle City Health's Eating Disorder Service.