Tyra Banks recently awarded 19 year old Ann Ward the honor of being American Next Top Model’s winner.
Ward is shockingly thin and it has drawn some controversy as people say that she is a little bit too skinny, perpetuating a negative image for women who want to try and look like Ward does in order to gain the approval of their peers.
The model is 6’2 which is partially why she is so thin.
Experts on eating disorders say that when people like Ward are held up as the ideal bodies for women to aspire to, it becomes a very dangerous message.
Others say that she is naturally thin because of her height and that there is really nothing to worry about.
Marisa Sherry,a nutritionist based out of New York says that some of her clients are starting to engage in binging and purging in order to look a certain way, a truly dangerous behavior that could potentially lead to serious complications.
Sherry has stated that there are more and more images of what she calls “unrealistic beauty” portrayed on television to impressionable young women that do not need to see those images in that context.