For better or for worse?

Cleo, Women's Weekly, Who, Cosmopolitan, Women's Day... the list rolls on. All of which contain influential pictures and articles that have an effect upon the youth of the magazine world.

For better or for worse? I say for worse.

Firstly, pictures of skinny models wearing the hottest new fashion on the catwalk, what is it imposing? These images of under weight runway models as tiny as a size zero, have a harmful effect on young girls who are at a normal and healthy weight of a size eight to fourteen all over the globe. Young women are getting the impression that being skinny is the new look from seeing the models who walk down the runway. No wonder why Charlotte Carter a runway model size zero was banned from London Fashion Week because of her "unhealthy appearence", it's about time someone realised what this look is doing to young women all over the world. When ever I see a model wearing a beautiful garment I instantly think to myself, "If I was that thin it would look good on me too" and I wouldn't be suprised if other girls like myself think that aswell. This seems to be encouraging girls to lose weight and drop to that fragile size zero. I on the other hand have accepted that i am a healthy size 10/12 and enjoy eating real food, not celery and carrot sticks. About one in a hundred adolescent girls suffer from anorexia, and in some cases with 10% of girls it can be deadly, with lack of food, or even suicide. In the past few years more males have been diagnosed with eating disorders, because with guys, it's all about being 'ripped'. Males exercise excessivly to burn off extra calories they have eaten, which is a condition called exercise bulimia.

Why do runway models have to be based around a disturbing size zero? I'm a tennis player, professional or not, tennis players come in all shapes and sizes, so why can't models? Why shouldn't there be a 6ft3 model built athletically like Serena Williams? or a 5ft4 model built like Maria Sharapova. I'm 5ft6 and built athletically, I tried to get signed last year (2008) with multiple agents for modelling, but they wouldn't sign me because I'm not a size zero. It's sad and depressing that I can't have a career in modelling because I'm not and don't want to be a size zero. I know that some girls who are a size 12-14 will think when approaching a new group of people who are a lot thinner than they are, "will they accept me because I'm this size?" It's sad.

Skinny, almost anorexic seems to be the new fat in the celebrity world. The changes in Hollywood seem to make it easily in the magazines everywhere, with titles on them such as 'Skeletal Nicole Ritchie's weight plummets again', and along with it pictures of Nicole in a "skin-tight orange dress [revealing] a concave chest and protuding hipbones."

Weight loss "rememedys" are poping up all over the internet. Anna Nicole Smith was said to have been poping pills to lose weight, and they appeared to have been working. "The Anna Nicole Smith weight loss like any responsible diet reccomends combining the pill with a healthy diet and exercise for it to be effective." Anna Nicole Smith was said to have lost nearly 60 pounds on this pill called Trimspa. In my opinion Trimspa is unnatural and an unhealthy way of dieting. It says that they reccomend "...combining the pill with a healthy diet and exercise for it to be effective." Anyone is better off having a healthy diet and exercising frequently and then there will be no need to take trimspa, because they won't have any weight to lose. Trimspa is unatural and unhealthy, I don't know how anyone can let a pill take toll of there body in losing weight. This sort of advertisement is encouraging women of all ages that "...your dream body diet pill" will make you 60 pounds lighter in such an artificial way. Though Anna Nicole Smith isn't the only drug, weight loss promoting celebritie out there. Lindsey Lohan was said to be taking Adderall, a perscription drug for ADD effected people, and Lindsey isn't. "She's taking it to lose weight." The fact that Lindsey is already so skinny, and she's taking drugs to be skinnier, this is telling young girls thats Lindsey's weight isn't skinny enough. This is encouraging the awful size zero all over the world.

Models such as the one on the right are shown promoting the fashion on the catwalk. The model shown looks disgusting, her ribs are extremley exposed, um... eat some food! Eating disorder anyone?

As for Victoria Beckham also known as Posh Spice, out of the English Pop band Spice Girls, once a normal and healthy weight has dropped from a normal sized woman to a rather tiny size in a short amount of time. Nice Victoria, your a real good role model for your fans, not. Check the picture out on the left. You can see the difference in her face, and her collar bones that she has dropped a few sizes. She looks healthier on the left. As much as Victoria looks anorexic she admits in an interview with BBC that she is not anorexic because she eats..."no i'm not, I know that because i eat, anorexic's don't eat..." Well in my opinion you need to eat more, you're fading away to nothing!

The media is always producing cover pages of magazines saying "How to feel the best" , "Flatten your belly" or "23 ways to fake your weight". How about no, I'm comfortable with my weight and I'm not willing to change to look like someone else. Why is it that the media is always trying to change the look of everyone, if everyone changed, then we'd all look the same. It would be like living in a world of bones.