On size zero...

I was chatting to a girl in the changing rooms after karate yesterday when she announced that she needed to lose weight because she wants to be size zero. That is a horrible thought in itself, but this girl is already slim - no bigger than a size 8 (size zero is a UK size 4). She said her sister is a size zero, and that she wants to 'be like the models in the magazines'...those were her exact words.

I've seen all this in the news lately, and have thought it was bad etc, but I've never met anyone who actually wanted to look like that. I started telling her how unhealthy it was, how it was like wanting to look like someone who was starving, and there were millions of people in world who really are starving, that she would feel constantly hungry and tired, even if she did get to that size, it would be hard to maintain, I told her that guys wanted something to grab hold of, and that I didn't think most guys would find that attractrive. Then told her how your body starts to shut down if you get too underweight, with your periods stopping, and then I told her just how unhealthy it would be generally.

To which she replied:

"Oh, I was going to go on an apple and diet coke diet; is that unhealthy?"

To which I simply said "YES!" (though I should have mentioned that her teeth would probably fall out on that diet!)

I don't know how old this girl is, I think she is a fresher so I'm going to say around 18. She thought guys would find this attractive because that is what she has seen in the media - I'm sure some guys do, but I reckon that the majority want a little something to grab hold of! It was scary to find out that there really are people so susceptible to all of this. Maybe I was a weird teenager, in that while I was totally obsessed with my weight and body image...I only had a vague desire to look like the magazines, not an actual drive to obtain it.

Anyway, I don't know if I changed her mind, but I made her re-consider whether it was a good idea I think, I hope.

The world is such a sorry place, and as real Britain gets bigger (not always a good thing either mind!), the models get thinner. But this is just one of many problems the world faces - people need to realised it is people who cause poverty and wars and low self esteem and crime and violence - it is not just the way the world is. It is like that, because people are like that, and so we are the ones who need to change it.

Right?