Female Shop Mannequins are 'Medically Unhealthy' and 'Unrealistic'
- 2017-05-16
- BBC
The bodies of female shop mannequins are "unrealistic", a new study in the Journal of Eating Disorders suggests. Researchers looked at the displays in female fashion shops in two UK cities. They concluded that if people were the same size as the mannequins they would be "considered medically unhealthy".
"There is clear evidence showing that the ultra-thin ideal is contributing to the development of mental health problems and eating disorders," writes Dr Eric Robinson, the study's author.
After being "perplexed by the dimensions of the mannequins" he saw while out on a shopping trip one day, Dr Robinson has told Newsbeat that he decided to investigate further. "We didn't find a single female mannequin that was a normal body size on display," he says.