At a time when the fashion industry is set to make a much welcomed U turn on skinny models, there is a growing issue with young women buying slimming product from the Internet. These young women are putting their health and even their lives at risk in a bid to "fit in" with the expectations the fashion industry has set for them. Only today, I was reading in the paper about a 21 year old having died following an overdose of "slimming pills" she had purchased from a website! The fashion industry has to take some responsibility for this! For years now young women have had their self esteem and confidence knocked because of what they have perceived to be a must! You cannot possibly be attractive unless you are a size zero!! It is long overdue for the fashion industry to change these perceptions. Women should be encouraged to accept their size and focus more on being healthy! Even if that doesn't mean being skinny. Healthy eating and exercise should be promoted and women should not be driven to buying so called "slimming products" in order to fit in. The question is, have we left it too late? A whole generation of young women have been affected by the "size zero" trend and this will be a difficult thing to reverse. We need more "normal" models, with curves in the right places. Men should add their voice to this as most men do not find skinny women attractive, that is a fact. I look forward to a new trend of women looking like women, not underfed human beings.
