I find this very disturbing, Girls, do you really want to look like a skeleton?

I too believe that we have a problem here in the United States. Many of our girls think that they are fat. We as a society see women in magazines who have been air brushed and angled to look thinner, celebrities are persecuted for gaining weight and so are models. Tyra Banks was a victim of this recently. She has a fuller figure but by no means is she fat! She is proud of her body and she came out and went to war with the media. I am glad she did. When I was in high school, I starved myself to be 125 lbs. If I could have gotten thinner I would have done it. I took laxatives, weight loss pills, lived on slim fast shakes, refused to just eat at all for days at a time. I was teased as a kid by my family that I was chubby and fat. So, I starved myself. My mother finally got so worried that she would make me sit at the table and watch me eat. I told her that she should be happy that I was so skinny, because she used to say I was chubby and fat. She finally told me she was wrong to say those things. It didn't help, I still did it. I quit doing it when I got married and I began gaining weight at warp speed. I am heavy now, because my thyroid is completely destroyed from the abuse I did to my body. I however am very confident and I think women of all shapes and sizes are beautiful. I sometimes look in the mirror and see how big I have become and I don't like it, I excercise twice a day and do what I can to just be healthy. If I lose the weight I lose the weight, if I don't, I just want to be healthier. My daughter now says that she is getting fat, but I keep telling her no she isn't. She really is thin and very beautiful. She is tall like her father, but she looks in the mirror and sees what all girls see....her faults. I told her that women in magazines aren't real. They are air brushed and posed to look thinner. That in real life they don't look like perfection. I also tell her that she is beautiful just the way she is and God doesn't make mistakes. If he wants her to be this way then that is how it is. We are all different, we all have different body shapes and we all gain and lose weight differently. The lat few months she has been fine and hasn't tried to diet anymore. I hope it stays that way.

Definitely not. I think it is really disturbing to see girls so thin - as thin as wraiths. I really think one does not need to be overly thin to be considered beautiful. In fact, you might cease to be beautiful when you get too thin. :P

In our country, being fat or being thin is not a big issue. Sometimes it becomes an issue but compared to the US ours is a lot mellow. I was shocked when I watched an episode on Tyra Banks show that a girl around 6 refused to eat because she said she want to be a skinny model. And she thinks the only way to be a model is to stop eating. Her mother has to force her to eat but the kid really does refuse to do so. I am deeply worried about how the media in the US pressures their kids. I don't think being fat or thin is an issue.

I think it is the Americans that started this what i call nonsence behavioural attitude, cause they carve this useless idol for models making them to be skinny. This is what we call "Lepa Dollar" which leterally means thin like a Dollar. Now it driving their kids crazy that they cant even direct the kids to follow a healthy way of life. Well in Africa we dont make it mandatory for models or anybody to be so thin like a walking skeleton in orther to make it in the business, infact if you are that thin here then its either such is a AIDS patient. No man can say he like so much or attracted to a skinny scallywag.

i don't really look after looking like a skeleton.. a little meat will do.. ehheheeh

I don't think it is about guys finding thin woman more beautiful. Because I thought so before, but fortunately I had my share of relationships, even if I'm not the ramp model type. For me, the problem is the media. It has too much influenced on the young people. My daughter of three sometimes do sit ups, "excercise" she said so she would be "sexy". She doesn't really know what she is doing but it is alarming to see that the media has such influence. And at least it is exercising she knows, not hunger strike, which is worst. But fortunately, I don't have a problem for feeding her, because she also knows that nutrition means health. I try to often watch tv with her. So I can explain when this or that is not good. We really have to guide our kid to avoid them to have eating disorder. And build up their self confidence and self esteem. So they won't be too much influence by media. By the way, thank you for adding me to your friends!! (^^,) Looking forward to more of your discussions.!

I never cared for the skinny skeleton look and wouldn't want to be that way. When I count their vertebrea or ribs there is something wrong. What gets me is these models all strive to be underwieght and it looks unhealthy and yet most people when they think of pin up girls think of Marilyn Monroe. If she were alive today she wouldn't be a model, she'd be considered too fat. She wore between a size 14 and a size 18. Yes she was proportion but that's not what the industry wants now a days. Before Twiggy though it was quite normal to have a nicely curved proportionate woman as a model but after Twiggy it was the ones that looked like they escaped a POW camp that was in style. It's wrong and I know they are trying to fix it but they need to do a lot more and quickly.

I agree that size 12 is fat ,but size 0 is tooooooooooo skiny.

I think this is a very disturbing trend that's happening all over today. It's these ideas that are being conveyed to young girls that are causing them do do terrible and unhealthy thingsto themselves mentaly and physically.

i dont think that a girl who is very thin is attractive. actually, when i see girls or a person who is very i thin i feel pity for him because i think they lack of nutritions or they have no money buy foods. but some i thought is just for fashion but i dont think its nice to look at. when i am at the age of 16 i tried to starve just to be look like a model and it works out but my health was affected and i was admit to the hospital.

No, I sure don't want to look like a skeleton.

I live in Canada and we have the same problems... And the thing is that I am FAT... I'm a size 21 and I also know that even if I lose weight I will only ever at the smallest be a 16... Media has shown that all non anorexic women are fat... but not just media! did you know some clothing stores dont fit above and 12-16? To me that is prejudice and I will not step foot in those stores

I find that I am not as influenced by the media about my weight. I realize that these women have lives REVOLVE around looking beautiful and thin, and I don't need to be like that. It would be unrealistic for me to strive to look like them. Being Asian, I think there might be more pressure to be thin, because many Asian girls are just naturally skinny. All my life, my family has called me fat or chubby, and that hurt a lot, but I got used to it. I lived in America for most of my life, until I moved to Taiwan for two years. I had never considered myself THAT overweight until then, because I was constantly teased at school by my male classmates and male FRIENDS about my weight.

I have this friend of mine who keeps asking me,"Am I fat?" The same question all day and everyday. I mean she's all skin and bones; thin as a rail. And I'm like," If she thinks she's fat, what does she think of me?" I mean who cares about how you look you can't just force yourself not to eat just because you want to look like those models in magazines. Well, yes! it's a major issue today especially to teenage girls and worse younger girls. You don't have to be skinny just to be beautiful or just to fit in.

Wow, this is a big one already! i don;t have time to read through everything, but I'll gladly leave my two-penneth just incase you get round to it! It's known under a variety of names, but generally comes down to one thing. Many women have a disproportionate self-image. Even besides the main issue of body weight, every woman I've ever met has a list of things they dislike about their own bodies. I'd love to know what the actual cause of this is, bu tthink that it's generally media and the attempt to match the unhealthy image projected by skinny celebrities. From a guy's POV, I like women to look HEALTHY. Some guys like women slimmer, some like a whole lotta woman! Personally, I like average women with curves rather than muscle and no visible bones besides knees and elbows! My wife actually suffered bulemia when we first met. Having the baby was quite difficult for her, as she's naturally slim, yet grew to a ridiculous size as she came to term. Even now, she complains of her hips and tummy not being how they were, but I LOVE the new her. She's a little curvier and I'm not so scared that I'll bruise an internal organ while hugging!

i am s size 12 and no i don't think that i am fat, but i do i can lose a pound or two. i would like to go back to a size. i never thought being skinny was sexy. and i am sad when i see young girls and women try to conform to what is suppose to be sexy. because they see all of these young girls on tv wearing a size too. it is sad. i am a size 12, and in the words of Tyra Banks i say "So What!!!"

Certainly not!true I'd want to be sexier but not as thin as a skeleton.It looks creepy!Honestly,people should not give a damn on how you look like.It's just how you carry yourself.

In no way, shape or form is being size zero voluntarily attractive or even healthy. Now, for those woman that are a size zero due to genetics, and they can present themselves well, that is a different story. But, for those woman who think being super skinny is sexy, they are mistaken. Our media is portraying a very dangerous fashion (if you can even call it that). I wish that we could back to the times where woman with a little meat on their bodies were the sexy ones!

This trend is contributing greatly towards young girls problems with body image. It is very sad indeed. They just had a celebrity couple's fairytale wedding last weekend, and I was shocked when I saw the bride. She looked so pitifully thin that it brought to mind pictures of starving children in some third world country. I mean, these people have an obscene amount of money at their disposal, but they can't afford a decent meal? It's just plain craziness to me. Whenever I see someone looking like this it makes me all the more thankful for the little bit of extra padding that I have. My mother was fond of saying that we should keep some meat on our bones in case food ever becomes scarce-because then we'd have something to lose down to, LOL.

Well this goes out to the girls out there.... I know that Boys prefer "Healthy " girls ... Imean .. when I look at a skinny girl , I'm like "Oh god, I thin I just saw a ghost ".....I hate , and so do many of the boys I know , skinny girls.... We all like them a little healthy , not to fat , but not too skinny either... just my views though ... So stop "Crash dieting" and live your life to the fullest...