I have to say that brief interview on the lunchtime news about teenage girls becoming obsessed by the way they look..was a complete waste of live air time.  The women whom spoke about the main reasons why girls are becoming insecure and obsessed with body image said it was because parents dont speak with there daughters enough and peer pressure was a ridiculous explanation.

 I think that it is completely obvious that is not the first reason, but the fashion industry is to blame.  I am a model and so i know this very well, whilst girls as young as 13 are being photographed for beauty shots in WOMEN's magazines not even Teens magazines, it highly likely that they will make comparisons between them and the pictures they see of other girls portrayed as being their same age!  If women in there 30's compare themselves to 20 yr olds and 16-17 year olds compare them selves to pre-teens what hope do young girls have at developing body confidence.

 As far a girl guides are concerned most girl guide groups are looked down on by young girls whom are body conscious and these same girls wouldn't even dream of joining the girl guides.  This whole issue is just being scapegoated back to being a parents problem, when actually it's an entire industry who is at fault.

 

zeni

 

zenzero:

 The women whom spoke about the main reasons why girls are becoming insecure and obsessed with body image said it was because parents dont speak with there daughters enough and peer pressure was a ridiculous explanation.

My parents spoke with me plenty and was forever telling me that I was beautiful and never needed to lose weight but that has never stopped me trying every fad diet there is out there. I did it because I'd look at the women in magazine and think that I would like to be that skinny and try the diet they supposedly did to get that way.

Luckily, as I have got older I have become more comfortable with my body and no longer do these things but I completely understand why young girls do and it has absolutley nothing to do with parents.

This country is not where the majority of woman are a size 8 or less, underweight and around six foot tall; as these so-called overpaid supermodels are. The clothes they are made to wear on these catwalks are laughable. The average clothes size is around 14/16 yet these designers do not cater for the majority of woman. There is no fashion trend to follow today. Most normal thinking woman wear was they feel comfortable in.

I disagree.  I think girls should be body conscious and strive to look like the models they see in the magazines.  Its good for them - they can  be in competition with themselves and as they do they get fitter and healthier and slimmer which is what the govt is trying to tell us we need to do.  It shouldnt affect their self-esteem that doesnt come from being fat or thin it comes from how your parents valued you when you were growing up.  If you want to get on the bandwagon of dieting, exercise and all the rest of it to try and look thin and sexy go for it.  nothing wrong with it at all.  you get a few 0.0001% who go on to be anorexic but they would have done that anyway over something else if not body image so to all the young girls out there....get comeptitive, make yourself feel good, get as thin as you can.

these images of supermodels needs to be out in the open these girls and MEN (its not just the one gender) need to know that obesity will eventually bring them to their death bed sooner. we take so much preaching for choosing to smoke, drink and do drugs so why shouldnt that be the case for people who gain so much weight they become morbidlly obese.

this should give people the incentive to lose weight and have a slim, defined and healthy figure. for men its more about gaining muscle and bodybuilding. both genders it requires hard work and i think some people just cant be bothered with hard work. so they need to be shown the dangers of what their doing.

when they do diet or build up there is a threshold. a line when its going too far. when its losing weight that lines is going into size 0 aka anorexia. with building up muscle its becoming so bulky your about to have a heart attack. some people take it to the extreme. these people need help more.

its not just obesity that is deadly when it comes to the human body but combating it could also be deadly if you take it to an extreme level for example anorexia. both sides need to seen and explained not just obesity

Its a load of rubbish that girls who read magazines get anorexia.  If they are prone to mental health problems then looking at models isnt going to trigger anything off.  The illness is already there so I think its wrong to pull models apart.  In truth 99% of them are slim and muscular do lots of exercise and eat plenty of fruit and salads.  We dont need alot of fat on our bones in this day and age unless we do strong manual labour all the time.  Perhaps if  more young girls used the models as role modelsit would make them feel healthier mentally as well as preventing physical obesity which carries all sorts of dangers.

I would encourage all teenagers to use skinny role models in magazines to emulate a healthy lifestyle.

susanna foxtrot:

Its a load of rubbish that girls who read magazines get anorexia.  If they are prone to mental health problems then looking at models isnt going to trigger anything off. 

I would encourage all teenagers to use skinny role models in magazines to emulate a healthy lifestyle.

are you a psychiatrist? My young cousin and my brothers ex-girlfriend both had eating disorders and it was nothing to do with mental healt issues. They saw skinny models in magazines and strived to be like them ... how, in your opinion is that healthy?

I would encourage people to live a healthy lifestyle but I would in no way encourage people to emulate the unnaturally skinny models that grace our media forums.

You make it sound dawn as if young girls dont have a mind of their own.  Most do and listen where it comes to looking good and encouraging teenagers to emulate skinny models wont make any of them too skinny - its almost impossible today to stay slim and the govt. is worrying about obesity in our young people anyway so the less they eat the better. the key is to eat quality protein foods and not rubbish.  Research will probably show that the girls who had anorexia (tiny %) were not ill because of looking at images of thin models.  If they were healthy in mind there is no way they would starve themselves to death and using slim models is ridiculous.   The sooner our teenagers lost a couple of stone and cut out most of the junk they are eating they will be healthier and happier.  Diet as much as you can - not just young women but everyone.

Why should people diet if they are happy? I could in no way be considered skinny but I neither have the need or desire to deprive myself of something I like just because the likes of you think I should lose weight.

It was probably women who are overweight themselves and out of shape that started the whole thing against emulating models in magazines to give out a negative message about them because they are jealous and would love to be slim, lithe, energetic and able to wear normal clothes.  Putting the blame on women who may be considered underweight by fat people is not a good argument.

Its much easier to blame the models than get up and doing something about your unhealthy attitude towards eating and lifestyle.

I have never met a happy fat and overweight person who is truly satisfied with their lot.  Heavy people are not only at risk from heart attack, diabetus, cancer, stroke and the other fat related diseases but they are a pain to put into a car, taxi, public transport, hotel beds, trying to get past them in the supermarket, they crawl along at a snails pace trying to reach the burger bar and be first in the queue.  Ever sat next to a fat person in a theatre or a bus?  When they get ill or pass out no-one can help them up again - it takes a crane to lift really obese people from their bed to a toilet - get thin, stay thin and be healthy.

wow, what a lovely person you are

Its hiding the truth that gives the wrong message out.  lets not make excuses for fat people.  Shame them into looking after themselves so that they do not become a liability for others.  Its one area of our health life that we do have some control over that doesnt cost any money!.  Lovely people dont always tell it like it is so cant be trusted to tell the truth.  Too many people are dying in this country from obesity related illnesses - we are going the same way Americans are.  In another 10 years there wont be a flat stomach in sight!

And you think that by being horrible about fat people obesity is going to stop?

Yea i do.

Too many fat people live in an unreal world where people tell them, dont worry about it, its whats inside a person that counts, and all the time we make excuses which helps to keep them in their bubble of unhealthiness for the rest of their life in some cases.   What needs to be pointed out to them is that their fat is a liability to the rest of us, especially when they are old, infirm or need personal care and that their disease or illness is exacerbated by the fact that they are eating too much food.  If you tell them they look awful, they are a liability to society, and that they owe to themselves and their family to look after themselves properly they will shape up mentally and do something about it.  If, as a result of being told these truths, they commit suicide then they would have done it anyway eventually.  There is no excuse for fat people.  0.001% have a hormonal problem but the majority do not.  So to answer your question yes obesity is something very much to be ashamed of.