Yes models are expected to conform to an absurd level of physical perfection, just like athletes are expected to have an absurd level of physical fitness, and engineers an absurd level of technical skill. It's their job.
The parent comment is not talking about the model’s actual appearance, but rather what is done to them artificially above that. The correct analogy in athletes would be doping.
Up until about now, actors have been more like "athletes without doping". (Of course with make-up and great attention to lighting, though still you had to look good for an entire scene.) But now with technology which can de-age and deepfake like features, that boundary is pushed even further.