Far beyond the "ideal" female form in the minds of many, modelling creates a paradigm not only of impossible perfectionism in terms of face and posture, but also in terms of size. As such, modelling is not about being "sexy," but rather about the common misconception that thin is also necessarily beautiful. This tends to be a female-focused paradigm rather than a sexist one, where one might define sexism as a male-imposed paradigm upon the female body.
In this light, I do not believe that the "Tyra Banks is Fat" scandal is so much racially or even sexism-informed as it is informed by the generally human paradigm of enjoying the flaws in a person who was previously assumed to be "perfect." Models are envied, mostly by women, for their lack of body fat. This is an ideal that women tend to strive for, generally encouraged by media images of the "perfect" physique. To see a person from these ranks finally backslide into the ranks of "normal" women could...
Indeed, perhaps it is even a good thing, demystifying the mystical ideal of the perfectly beautiful and the perfectly thing into something that human endeavor, rather than natural giftedness, has accomplished.
Personally, my view is that we as human beings tend to be prone to accepting media images as realism, especially with the increasing array of "reality shows" currently parading our television networks. We are seduced by images of conflict and perfection that are not necessarily as "real" as we suppose them to be. For this reason, Tyra Banks and her fat might, for once, be a refreshing change from all the artificial reality we are subject to at the hands of the media, including Ms. Banks herself. This, in my opinion, goes beyond racism and sexism. Paradigms of perfection go beyond narrowly defined conceptions; it is human to wish to be perfect, and even more so to be subject to imperfection.
