Over fifty percent of women in the UK wear a size 16 or over. Every day on the tube, in the street, wherever, I see a lot of overweight women. I don't want to see them in magazines as well. I'm not saying this to be cruel or offensive, but thinness is the modern desirable aesthetic. If it wasn't, the proportion of the female population on a permanent diet wouldn't be so huge. Compare Geri Halliwell as seen at the Brits a few days ago to how she looked as Ginger Spice, and you can't really argue.

Fashion magazines are not supposed to be about the real world. They are a means of escapism and dreaming. They are about beauty, glamour and aspiration. They do NOT cause eating disorders. Kate Moss did NOT single-handedly introduce the concepts of anorexia and bulimia into this country - she has never even reportedly suffered from either.

Eating disorders are psychological problems relating to low self-esteem. They are nobody's 'fault'. The media have shouldered most of the blame for the increase in number of sufferers in recent years, but this is grossly unfair. If there is a grain of a self-image problem in a woman (or man)'s mind, then subjection to images of thin, attractive models will cause this seed to grow. But magazines and movies do not PLANT this seed - there is self-doubt in all of us. In most cases, a person worried about how they look will diet or start to take more exercise as a result of their concerns. In severe cases, where the mental state of the person is less balanced, they will cease to eat at all, or deliberately over-eat then vomit.

The number of young twenty-first century women putting their bodies and minds through this ordeal is shocking, but not surprising. It is little wonder that we feel inadequate in so many ways - the UK never really accepted the idea of feminism. For example, according to the Equal Opportunities Commission, women are still earning 18% less than their male counter
parts. Men can still be very cruel in their appraisal of women physically (I think we've all seen men shouting "who let the dogs out" from a car window). Women do themselves no favours either by bitching about other women's bodily shortcomings (as an illustration read More! magazine, or listen in to any all-girl conversation in a pub). I guess we probably do this to make ourselves feel better, but it backfires in the end.

Anyway, back to fashion magazines. Reading Vogue and Elle and Nova makes me believe that just maybe, one day, I could be a successful, gorgeous, size 8 fashion darling with an enviable celebrity lifestyle. In all likelihood I won't, and I've accepted that. I've also accepted the fact that sticking my fingers down my throat after every meal is not a fast-track to happiness, popularity or beauty. I had food poisoning the other day and, while leaning over the toilet with nausea and raging stomach cramps (nice imagery!), tried to make myself sick by this method. I thought I would have given ANYTHING to stop feeling so ill and I still couldn't do it, so I can't imagine being bulimic anyway, but I suppose this is by-the-by. Sorry if that sounds rather unsympathetic, I know it must be a terrible thing to suffer from, but it's also gross. And you DO have a choice whether or not you MAKE yourself spew.

Slimness implies good health and is attractive. But the biological fact is that it's a struggle for most women to keep trim, because as a gender we store a lot more fat than men. We all need to have a lot more confidence in our own abilities, personalities and desirability, and separate that from what size dress we wear, or else DO SOMETHING POSITIVE ABOUT IT.

But magazines and the big screen are a place for idols, however superficial that might be. They are a place for visual beauty in the same way that an art gallery is. I want to gaze and sigh at Kate and hope that one day, even thou
gh I can't even be arsed to join a gym, my arms will look like drinking straws too.