Actions speak louder than words, Petra... so much for all the talk about healthy weight and body image for models when your agency continues to promote the exact opposite! You, Next, and your show are perpetuating an unconscionably dangerous stereotype. Millions of young girls look up to you and will form life-long opinions of their bodies based on your example. You are creating rampant low self esteem at best, and illness, suffering, and premature death at worst.
You have the power to influence the lives of an entire generation of girls, for better or for worse. We need them strong, confident, empowered, and ready to live their best lives. Don't show up at Live Earth claiming to care about the future and not stop to think about the effect the next generation of young women will have on the planet! Your show is teaching those girls to be ashamed of themselves, to waste their time and innate gifts striving for an impossible ideal, and, worst of all, to limit their unique potential trying to fit an outdated and dangerous mold. Is this really what you survived the tsunami for?
We expect more of you, Petra. We know it's a big machine. We know it's a cold and uncaring industry that has manufactured this ridiculous image of women for its own short-term gain. But who better to be a radiant light in this world than you? Who better to provide the warmth and caring so desperately needed for balance?? You know the expression... if you aren't part of the solution you're part of the problem. Which are you going to be?
Few women could ever look like you, Petra, but many could learn from and share your strength, your wisdom, and your heart if you chose to use the gifts you've been blessed with to make a positive, life-changing difference in the lives of the countless young girls who look up to and adore you.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: kali_n,
All the talk about healthy bodies made me so happy during the visit of the nutricionist and then those two from the agency saying that the anorexic looking Michele made the lingerie look Expensive and the voluptous bright Lucia was FAT (and she accepted it so gracefully)this show was made to show the real life of a model, but could use the chance to promote a LONGER life for a model. Not just tsunamis kill models!
It's really silly to shame Petra for this. She, of all people, did caution the girls against starving themselves and drew parallels with her own life and diet illusions in the past. The show is about the real challenges of a model to be - the good, the bad and the ugly -and as such should not be confused with the TLC Health Channel. Besides, it's high time the modeling industry in the US started paying attention to the girls' smarts, as part of the overall beauty parameters. Then, there will be fewer models who know better not to fall ill. Why do you think Lucia is taking her agents' comments with poise and healthy grain of salt, while Michelle is all tears when they tell her she is not healthy? Because the modeling industry in Europe is smarter! Girls in Europe are more motivated and better informed about the balance between food and exercise. It is not surprising that many viewers in the US equate the agents' request for "losing weight" with diminished food intake, while most viewers in Europe look at this as the need to exercise and stay healthy. So, it is, if anything, very refreshing to see Petra cultivating the new core of highly informed and assertive individuals in the modeling industry.
Petra is rightly taking heat for this because she is claiming to be about one thing and then promoting the opposite. It's her hypocrisy that is so disappointing, and that's what she's being called on here... that, and the fact that she knows better.
She's a powerful member of that industry and has had first hand experience and been a front row witness to the very real danger of promoting this underweight image as the ideal - both to models and to other young girls around the world. And yet she was involved in selecting the dangerously underweight model for the show, and she belongs to an agency that is rewarding that girl for whatever she is doing to stay so unhealthy while telling the only one at a healthy weight to lose some.
Petra apparently thinks she can stand back and blame the current standards on her agency. They in turn blame it on the designers, and the designers blame it on the publications, and the publications blame it on the advertisers, and the advertisers blame it on the consumers... and pretty soon everyone is pointing fingers at meaningless concepts like the industry, the media, society, and guess what?! Then no one has to take the blame. It just becomes the "reality" and no one has to bear any responsibility and no one has the power to change it. Well, that is just simply BS.
Everything changes. And all it has ever taken are a few people in the right position at the right time. And Petra Nemcova is in that position right now. It's her choice whether to use it or not.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: c_novell,
as much as Petra has said she's against starving oneself just to be a model it's too bad she's getting blamed for the weight issue. Next is not her agency, she's not the boss, she's not a designer, she is not in control of the fashion world, she's just a model ( a humble one at that) who's gone through the ups/down, seen the good/bad/ugly/pretty side of the biz all she can offer is advice on how to lose weight the healthy way like working out, watch what you eat and seeing a nutrionist.
The two agents at Next are the ones who should be ashamed of themselves. These girls aren't even allowed to have personalities or opinions about what they are doing. They are just supposed to bow and agree to lose weight because those two creeps tell them to. Lucia and Beatrice are stunning and don't need to lose a single pound.
I think you should be ashamed for blaming Petra for something she is not in control of. Petra is the face of the show...the host, if you will. She simply picked out the girls and is trying to help them pursue their dreams. She is not the one who told Lucia to lose weight, it was the agency. And whether you like it or not, modeling is what it is. These girls went into business knowing what is expected of them. Like it or not, most designers want skinny models because they make clothing look more appealing. They really could care less if that makes little girls feel bad about themselves or not. Also, it is very immature to ask if "this really is what (Petra) survived the tsunami for?" She definitely did not survive it for you. And she certainely didn't survive it to miraculously change the world to fit your fancy.Petra is doing a lot to make the world a better place and she inspires people to try a different outlook on life. That's more than what most models (and people in general) are doing these days.
Come on ya'll. Model's have to be skinny. Maybe not that death's doorstep type of skinny, I think that's bad but they do have to be tall and skinny. I agree that this should be accomplished in a healthy manner but I also DISAGREE that people should be left alone and should be happy, enabled...whatever.... to be the weight they may be even if it's over-weight. This country has a rapidly growing problem with obesity (yes, there is also a problem with eating disorders but I don't think the problem is as dire) and it should not be glorified or made ok to be un-healthily large.
i want to say that i love petra and think she's a healthy and great model. i don't think anyone can avoid weight in modelling. u need to be a certain size, not unhealthy and life-threateningly skinny, but a certain size nevertheless. so what they said i think was valid. they told lucia she was a little big but still saw her as an amazing model. and lucia took it well and did a great job throughout. i think the industry is what it is and petra is a great part of it; a good example and a great model. thanks petra for the show! dont be discouraged by this talk...a new season is anticipated
All the talk about healthy bodies made me so happy during the visit of the nutricionist and then those two from the agency saying that the anorexic looking Michele made the lingerie look Expensive and the voluptous bright Lucia was FAT (and she accepted it so gracefully)this show was made to show the real life of a model, but could use the chance to promote a LONGER life for a model.
