Fashion World – models and backstages

The ethics of encouraging young girls to aspire to unrealistic and idealized models of femininity exemplified by the 'fashion model' has been discussed both in academic and public debate. What is less known is how the beauty system moulds and affects the models themselves. Those models who appear as the epitome of glamour also have a shady side away from the limelight where different ethical dilemmas loom large. As a psychoanalyst, I know about the human cost paid by the very individuals who are commodified into objects of desire.