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Skinny Models Send Wrong Message Melvin Durai Melvin Durai is a Pennsylvania-based writer and humorist. Born in Tamil Nadu, India, he grew up in Zambia and moved to the U.S. in the early 1980s. In 1995, while working as a reporter for a daily newspaper in Chambersburg, Pa., he began writing a regular humor column. His weekly column now appears in several newspapers and on a number of Web sites. He also writes a twice-monthly column on Indian and Indian-American issues. He is a diehard fan of the National Football League and also likes to run, lift weights and play soccer, tennis and pool. An award-winning feature writer and aspiring novelist, he plans to publish a collection of his best columns. You can write to him at humor@melvin.com To read his older columns, go to http://www.humor.melvin.com

For about 10 years, Wal-Mart has been featuring its employees and their families as models in its advertising fliers. The department store chain saves money and gives some regular folks a chance at a little glory and fame. Imagine yourself in a Wal-Mart flier, wearing a pair of $10 denim shorts from China, smiling like you just won an Academy Award. You’d be the envy of your neighborhood. They may even organize a parade for you.

But aside from the obvious goodwill created by the Wal-Mart program, there’s a more significant benefit for society. I realized this recently while thumbing through a flier, gazing at models such as Sheila, manager of the garden center, and Vanessa, sister of Florinda, assistant manager. I’m so used to seeing professional models and found myself thinking, "Oh my goodness. I can’t believe it. Some of these women have hips."

I actually thought that hips were out of style. Professional models, even those in department store fliers, haven’t had hips since at least 1964. And as their hips disappeared, that extra weight somehow moved all the way up to their chests.

It’s amazing the type of body you can create through the delicate combination of plastic surgery and starvation. Some models today are so skinny, they’d probably gain a few pounds just by kissing, say, Bill Clinton. A few pounds and a few nice gifts.

I don’t know about you, but an emaciated body is not my idea of attractive. If I were dating such a woman, I wouldn’t be able to eat. I’d feel too guilty.

Of course, models aren’t the only women who desperately need to be fed. I keep picturing Sally Struthers in a new television ad, saying, "Please take a few moments to think about all the people who are starving to death, while you’re having your 13th slice of pizza. For just 70 cents a day, the cost of a cup of coffee, you can help feed some of them. If you call right now and pledge just $21 a month, we’ll send a few life-saving snacks to the starving women on the television show ‘Friends.’ Please call 1-800-FEED-A-BABE."

I’d be the first to call. I’d pledge not just my money, but also my energy. Yes, if given the chance, I’d be willing to feed Jennifer Aniston personally. That’s how much I care about eradicating world hunger.

Have you seen Aniston and her co-star Courtney Cox Arquette recently? They’re wasting away. Who’s in charge of feeding them? Ally McBeal?

If this continues, medical students will be able to watch "Friends" just to study the movements of the human skeleton. "Oh my gosh," the male students will say. "Jennifer Aniston has such a cute fibula! Look at the way it stretches across her tibia. That woman has such sexy bones."

This is a serious situation and not just because some of these actresses may collapse in hunger. These stars are role models to teen-age and preteen girls who could develop eating disorders while trying to emulate their idols. They’re getting the wrong message from television and advertising, a message that says, "It’s cool to look like a stick. You’ll be attractive to men and you’ll never have to spend another cent on X-rays."

Teen-age girls would be better off looking through a Wal-Mart flier. They’d see what typical women look like. They have hips and you can’t see their bones. And you know what? They look just fine.

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