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Just when it seemed like we were getting somewhere in terms of healthier body image ideals for young women, along comes actress Anya Taylor-Joy with a throwback to the 1860s.
On Sunday, to celebrate the premiere of her film Dune: Part Two in New York, the 27-year-old posted a photo of herself wearing the underwear necessary to show off the spectacular Maison Margiela couture dress she wore on the carpet red. that is, a corset straight out of the Victorian era, which was so tight that she will have eating disorder counselors wiped off her schedules for the foreseeable future.
When I saw the photo for the first time, several thoughts occurred to me.
‘Anya, can you breathe?’ It was the first. ‘How are your ribs?’ It was the second.
Third, and perhaps most importantly: “Why are you posting a headless backstage photo that fetishizes your dangerously narrow waist, wearing a garment famous for subjugating women throughout the centuries?”
Anya posted a photo of the corset she was wearing under her dress on Instagram. The brace is so tight that eating disorder counselors will have to clear their schedules for the foreseeable future.
Actress Anya Taylor-Joy attended the New York premiere of Dune: Part Two. Anya wore a spectacular Maison Margiela couture dress. Under the dress she wore a corset taken from the Victorian era.
The female body is a biological reality. It is not a trendy template. Compressing it with corsets like this comes at a high cost, as the Victorians learned. Doctors of the time blamed corsets for anemia, blood clots, fainting, infertility, miscarriages, and digestive problems. As a former model, Anya and her defenders can still say that this corset is just a fashion item and is necessary for the dress to work. In fact, Anya simply captioned the image: “Thank you… (to the designers) for making my dreams come true.”
However, this is false and Anya is smart enough to know this.
In reality, the image is incredibly dangerous, especially for impressionable young women.
As the author of ten parenting books, I have interviewed schoolgirls who wear girdles under their school uniform in a desperate effort to reduce their waistlines. They also want to create the illusion of a bigger butt, the look made popular by reality TV star Kim Kardashian.
These waist-cinching corsets, sold all over Amazon and, not surprisingly, in Kim’s Skims range of shapewear, encourage young women to punish their own bodies for not conforming to unrealistic ideals.
But posting such an extreme image has much more serious consequences. While researching my books, I’ve seen pro-anorexia content on social media sites that sets the benchmark for the shape women with eating disorders seek.
I’ve heard the heartbreaking stories of anorexic girls who, every time they look in the mirror, put this extreme silhouette on their shapes and want to erase the parts of their bodies that don’t fit.
Anya with her Dune: Part Two co-stars. From left to right: Souheila Yacoub, Zendaya and Timothee Chalamet
Anya cut a very different figure at the Dune: Part Two premiere in London, where she donned a low-cut white dress with a sheer scarf on her head.
I’m not the only one questioning Anya about this. To date her Instagram post has had thousands of comments.
One accuses the actress of “normalizing hunger”; she is clearly told that “this is not at all a healthy look for women”; and another has written a desperate plea: “You are going to kill people with this kind of beauty promotion.” Please delete. Please.’
I find it difficult to understand why Anya would have posted this photo, or at least not deleted it once her followers had informed her of the potential damage it could be causing.
And unfortunately, the only thing I could think of was the need for publicity: the need to draw more attention to her appearance on the Dune red carpet.
As an adult actress, admired by so many young women, she needs to recognize that supposedly fashionable Instagram photos like this one can become the inspiration for tomorrow’s anorexia.