Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
It worries me how alarmingly stick thin girls of today have become. Image is everything nowadays and losing that extra two pounds is important enough to risk one's health and wellbeing.
What adds insult to injury is the fact that most actors and actresses these days look like skeletons themselves, especially in roles where they play characters half their age.
An excuse that many entertainment and media industries use is that 'stick thin' images sell and the thinner one is, the more likely he or she will be able to portray the roles in television shows and movies. So, what message are we sending to our children?
I remember watching great actresses like Audrey Hepburn gracing the television screen at an average weight but that does not seem to be good enough these days.
It is fine if a girl wants to lose weight through exercising and dieting however, where does one draw the line? When one is on the border of anorexia and bulimia, it is kind of hard to kick the habit once it takes over a teenage life.
The issue of image and weight consciousness may be prevalent more in the West, but it doesn't mean that we do not have such cases in the East. What with more and more girls gluing themselves to television shows such as Beverly Hills: 90210, it is scary enough to even think that those actresses on that television show are influencing our young.
I myself, I must confess, am not that happy with my weight and posture since I am nearly 40 pounds overweight but what bothers me is when girls and boys alike, who are dangerously thin to the point of losing their own existence, come up to me and others and continue complaining how they must lose even more weight.
What happened with being one's own self and that being enough to be confident on both a physical and social level? I hope that we, the youngsters, do not fall to levels where we question our image above our intellect when it comes to being confident and smart.
