Newsletter Brighton & Hove High School GDSt
Issue 4 September 2015
Dear Parents and Girls,
I was glad to read (timely, in the middle of London Fashion week) that MPs are to investigate whether very thin models should be banned from British catwalks, after a petition calling for health checks reached 47,000 signatures. Rosie Nelson is a 23 year old model who is petitioning the UK Government to introduce legislation to stop the use of models who are unhealthily thin, and introduce health checks to make sure models don’t have worryingly low BMIs. Caroline Nokes MP, who heads the all-party parliamentary group on body image ( http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmallparty/register/body-image.htm ) is to invite senior members of the fashion industry to get their views on whether legislation is needed to protect young models from feeling pressured to lose dangerous amounts of weight. Speaking to The Telegraph (22/09/15), Nelson says: “Designers are so used to using models of a certain size that they don’t change. Maybe it’s because they think their clothes won’t sell as well if they use bigger models, or they think it will damage the reputation of the brand. But that doesn’t really matter when young women everywhere are idolising models who are so thin. It’s horrible that they’re probably thinking ‘my body is different’, and it can lead to them developing insecurities and possibly even health problems. The fashion industry defends itself saying it’s creating ‘art’ but it needs to realise how much influence they have on people, and how important they are to the rest of the world”. Societal pressure around body-image is a serious topic and one that we explore a lot with girls in school: we are involved in the Dove self-esteem project; our Year 9 girls took part in a Diversity rolemodels workshop yesterday; we address body-image as part of our PSHE curriculum and in our February Well-Being Week and we regularly raise awareness in assemblies for campaigns such as Young Minds, Beat and so on. The issues are more complex than just super-skinny models, but for the British fashion industry to take a stand would be a good step in the right direction. The governments in France and Spain have already passed laws: I shall watch with interest the results of the all-party enquiry which begins in November. Here is the link to Rosie Nelson’s petition: https://www.change.org/p/dcms-create-a-law-to-protect-models-from-getting-dangerouslyskinny-lfw-modelslaw Have a good weekend.
dates
Jennifer Smith
Monday 28th Y13 Academic review; Y7/6th Form assembly at junior school; Hullabaloo choir 6:30 – 9:45 pm Thursday 1st October Futurewise profiling test (Y11) periods 1-2 Friday 2nd Y9 Latin group visit Fishbourne (rest of Y9 in school); TPQ deadline; Young Leaders’ Conference (Bath); PA Wine Tasting evening at Junior School (tbc) Saturday 3rd Italian for Beginners; Digital Festival; Theatre Workshop (JS); 2-4pm Junior School Open Afternoon; Young Leaders’ Conference (Bath)