Here I am, all of me, a normal healthy size 12. I admit, at times I do obsess, but when is enough enough?
Is it when a girl gets picked on because she's "fat"?
Or when she ends up in hospital because she hadn't eaten in weeks?
Just because she's not a size 6, it doesn't mean she's not good enough!Body image is a huge issue in our society, and is an issue that needs to be resolved. Every month I flick through my latest issue of Cosmopolitan magazine and I am instantly drawn to the skinny models and celebrities plastered all over the pages, tall but slim, weighing a ridiculously tiny 30kg, if that! What does that show the young and older people in our society?
That to look good you have to be as tall and slim and as light as these girls in the magazines?
The media often sends messages to New Zealand women that "thin is beautiful" so people create an "ideal or perfect" body image in their minds. It is sad people are able to compare their own perfectly normal bodies to this "ideal" image which, of course, leaves them with negative feelings about themselves and concerns about their body size and weight which can eventually become an addiction and obsession.
The reality is it is an unhealthy, superficial obsession and it starts to go too far. When girls want to be popular and skinny they will do anything. People with anorexia have an unrealistic body image and they have a huge fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though they are underweight. Bulimia is also a serious illness that can be seriously detrimental to a person's wellbeing. People with bulimia have a cycle of bingeing food while they are trying to control their weight and food intake. They then feel guilty about the food they have eaten so use self-induced vomiting and laxatives to purge the food and calories from the body to prevent weight gain.
Anorexia and bulimia are two very serious illnesses, but the issue of negative body image is an issue many women in New Zealand society suffer from.
There are too many thoughts and sayings within and between women that are becoming all too familiar: "If only I was shorter/taller/had curly hair/straight hair/a smaller nose/longer legs, I'd be happy."
It is sad people constantly think and believe every day if their body was different or something about the way they look was different, they would be happy.
People, and in particular women, should be happy for the way they look! They were given all of their traits from their families and they should be proud they are who they are.
A majority of the time, no-one is even judging. The idea of negative body image comes directly from the person's head and what they believe is "perfect". Yes, some people are lucky, and their body image seems perfect, but if you believe you are not one of these people you need to see the reality is you are still completely normal! If you eat, you're not fat, you're healthy! New Zealand women need to stop being so harsh on themselves and be happy they are alive and appreciate the body they have.
• By Georgia Scott, Year 13, South Otago High School
