Glamour Modelling

I'm long overdue a feminist post, so here we go!

This morning, because I am a sucker for a crappy BBC Three junk documentary, I decided it would be fun to watch Glamour Models, Mum and Me on iPlayer. As the title suggests, the programme follows the fourteen-year-old daughter of glamour model Alicia Douvall. Unlike other mums, this woman is addicted to plastic surgery, has eyebrows and lipstick tattooed to her face, and wants her daughter Georgia to follow in her footsteps.

"Britney had her boob job at sixteen," Alicia says without much expression (after all, her face is paralysed), "which means it's only two years till you get a boob job." Hmm. She's also full of great advice for her daughter: "A woman is very powerful," (so far, so good) "This," she says, pointing to her body, "will get you far. That's the most important lesson you can teach your daughter." Oh dear...

Apologies if the wording is not quite right. I can't be bothered to rewind the programme and write the exact quotes.

There is hope in the form of young Georgia's brain, but it's painful to watch. She's a keen student, and repeatedly tells her incredulous mother that she does not want plastic surgery. Alicia wants Georgia to be an actress or a glamour model, and tells her that her chemistry homework is a "waste of time." When Alicia's breast implant flips and the family have to spend at least three weeks in LA, Georgia gets tearful at the thought of missing so much school. "I'll buy you clothes," Alicia says as consolation. Georgia's face says it all.

I'm not trying to criticise someone's parenting. After all, I'm not a parent myself and would have no idea how to raise a child. Instead, rather than focusing on Alicia Douvall's approach to bringing up Georgia, I'm focusing on the wider infections in society which causes stuff like this to happen. What kind of messed-up world do we live in? Why is it that women feel that their body is their ticket to success?

It's not that I have a problem with women taking pride in their bodies. God knows that would sound hypocritical as I am a bit of a poser myself. I'm not going to say that it's a good thing that I care so much about my appearance, because I know it's society that's done it to me and I know it's not always healthy. But what many models, especially glamour models, have in common is the feeling that their bodies are all they can rely on. Some people are, by society's standards, beautiful. Yes, some people have plastic surgery to feel beautiful even though they really look like deformed dolls. Some people just don't care, and that's enviable I suppose. But whatever we look like and whatever our approach to how we look, the human personality is the most important thing. Whether we are male or female, and whatever we look like, we all have our own intelligence. Whether we're academic or not, we all have talents and it is our determination, practicality and belief in ourselves that should, and does, get us places.

Alicia Douvall preaches that her body is her ticket to success. But is she happy? This woman breaks down at several points in the programme, acting like a stroppy teenager, and has deformed herself to feed her constant need for plastic surgery. As Georgia astutely puts it, "Surgery is a therapy that she doesn't need." The addictions and insecurities come from a childhood of abuse. It's not as simple as "being shallow."

If society nurtured a confidence in what's on the inside, especially in girls, perhaps we wouldn't have this messed-up glamour modelling culture. Perhaps people like Alicia, who have had painful childhoods, wouldn't feel the need to seek comfort in something that only brings more unhappiness.

The programme closes with Alicia having the shocking revelation that "Nine times out of ten, signing up to glamour modelling is a really bad idea." She tells Georgia that she doesn't need to "sell out." But how many programmes will it take before young people realise that glamour modelling is not a healthy aspiration?

Oh, I love a bit of junk TV.

J xxx