The Skinny Issue

Being in fashion means being able to see runway models upclose. While I still have to see a runway model strutting her stuff live, I have seen quite a few zoomed in pictures to make me realise how bloody skinny these girls are.
With London Fashion Week knocking on the door of many fashion mags and such (trust me, they are all in a hurry to get things organized, similar to the designers who'd be displaying their stuff!) I can imagine pages filled with how "normal" people are worried that the "anorexic" models will influence their children!
AS IF! To be very honest, I personally believe that although runway models are sickeningly thin, they don't really affect young children. I doubt there are millions of teenage girls attending these shows or flipping through magazines thinking, "OOOO I wanna be that thin!" I could be wrong, but this is what I feel.
Eating disorders are not to be blamed on models, I think they are more to do with peer pressure. And I can say this with confidence, because I was a borderline anorexic. I never read Cosmo and thought that my real ambition in life was to be stick thin. On the contrary, I read Cosmo and went, wow I want to have a successful career!
Getting back to the topic, I interviewed a woman who was in her 20s during the Twiggy period. She was anorexic and bulmic. I asked her why she decided to lose weight, and it was more to do with her self confidence, her mother was a curvy woman and she personally despised that. She also mentioned that being wafer thin was possible because there was a general trend of being thin around that era. The woman, who is now fit and is proud of having a full figure mentioned she felt sorry for today's runway models because she understood what they go through to remain thin.
When I was in my early teens, I was part of the Mean Girl clique of my school. Although none of them were skinny, the leader of Mean Girls, lets call her A would constantly tell me I was fat and thus not as pretty as her! I clearly remember once she asked a classmate lets call her D, whose prettier, A or me. D cooly replied, I was the prettier one, specifying a few features of my face which I to date love. As a shy teenager I was overwhelmed that I was prettier than A. But oh no, being a mean girl, A couldn't take it and she went on a rampage to dampen my self esteem by pointing out the fatty bits of me. As we grew older, the fatty comments from A grew worse and in the end I decided to go on a diet. By dieting I mean hardly eating any food. I would eat tiny portions of my meal and I gave up a lot of things I adored. I my mind I decided I hate food, which meant I don't have to eat that much. I ate to survive and I was a miserable sod! Oh the mood swings and the anger.
I don't think anyone noticed I had lost weight or said anything. As for A I was still ugly as shit. That doesn't really do wonders to a teenage girl, does it? I was anemic, I'd hurt easily and I was a moody bitch! I had to get my blood checked every week and had to have to most disgusting medicines to keep myself going.
Luckily after all the drama and trauma, I bid Mean Girls goodbye. I made a whole new bunch of friends, of all types, fat-thin, pretty-ugly, girly-manly. And they all are lovely, well someone of them are. They would constantly worry about my tiny portions and would coax me into eating more.
I was pretty happy with myself, and I started loving food. I'm a complete foodie now and I am a tad bit overweight. I don't mind shedding extra pounds now, but I do know the difference between being pretty and being stick thin!
I do feel terribly sorry for runway models, they are paid to stay this thin. I'm sure it must not be a happy job. I don't think I can give up food even if they pay me a million pounds every week.
The size 0 factor is a huge problem in this society and I don't blame the models, I wish they knew the difference of being happy and fat! I think eating disorders can be blamed on members of the society, simply because there is such a need for perfection in this imperfect world!

XX