We've long ago established that the "OMG EAT A SAMMICH, NICOLE" / "WHO ATE ALL THE PIES, FAT FATTY" approach to body image issues within the media is neither healthy nor helpful, but what about when we reach the edges of celebrity (who, let's face it, will never be treated like actual human beings because they're in fact sophisticated automatons) and head into 'real people' territory?

It's still open for debate, but it is suggested that certain images and stories can have a negative effect upon people suffering - or recovering - from eating disorders; it's colloquially (amongst sufferers and recovered people) as "triggering".

Well, someone might like to take The Age Online's photo editors aside and have a gentle word to them about the concept of "triggering".

To wit, this graphic from TheAge.com.au's front page (linking to this story), which you will find after the jump - because, unlike CERTAIN MEDIA OUTLETS, Defamer Australia cares a lot:

While eating disorders are conditions that are never as simplistic as "looking at a pro-ana website made me do it", there needs to be some sensitivity in the way media outlets deal with the topic, whether generally or specifically, particularly for those people who already have EDs - at the worst, a person may see an image and feel driven back to the edge by it, at the very least they can be upsetting.

We appreciate that, in a fashion news sense, the introduction of minimum BMIs for runway models has been a big story over the past year or so, but is this really the way to go about publicising it? How about showing a model of "healthy" BMI - or just not having a graphic at all?

It's one thing to appear responsible by reporting on (and by implication, supporting) these measures, it's another to undo that good work with an image like the one above. Lift your game, photo editors!

Tags: au | fash | future walkley award winners | models | moral guardianship