Dying to be thin

It was through waves of tears that I watched 'Dying to be thin,'on TV yesterday evening.  I felt sadness for the parents of these troubled and ill children, anger at the media and the pressures they put on our young ones and empathy with the thoughts and feelings the young girls had.
I was sickened at the story of the girl aged 6 who was tube fed after a diagnosis of anorexia, the helplessness of her parents as they carried her from hospital to the private clinic.
The programme highlighted the increase of eating disorders in young girls and also the increase in awareness of body shape in children as young as 7.
An experiment conducted showed the groups of girls photos of themselves airbrushed smaller and larger than their actual size, the maximum being 10%.  All but one girl liked the smaller picture of themselves and all disliked the larger, it was sad to hear the girls describe themselves as 'fat' in the pictures which were enhanced by 10%
The thin ideal is everywhere, magazines, pop videos, airbrushed models, diet commercials. Being thin does not make you happy, successful and popular, the strive for the 'perfect' body makes you unhappy and batters your self esteem.
I am not pointing the finger of blame at the media as an eating disorder is generally a symptom of a much larger problem, but it does not help someone who already has insecurities over their body image.  Things need to change and we can make I start by accepting ourselves and giving our children positive body image message.

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