In the words of Audrey Hepburn, “Happy girls are the prettiest.” It‟s a simple and obvious thing to say, but there

are millions of girls out there that just aren‟t happy with the way they look.

It seems that it doesn‟t matter what you say to them, how you say it, or who you point to as a role model, the

realisation just isn‟t sinking in. Natural, curvy and happy is the most beautiful thing you can ever be, and stick

thin celebrities that constantly grace the front pages of all these glossy magazines certainly aren‟t helping.

If these celebrities want to class themselves as suitable role models to impressionable teenagers, then maybe it‟s

about time they started acting and looking like one. Young girls read all sorts of things, and when they see their

favourite actress or singer looking „fabulous‟ with their bones showing, then it‟s obvious they‟re going to want

to follow suit.

It‟s absolutely ridiculous that middle-age actresses are starving themselves just because they feel they have to.

Don‟t they realise the damage they are doing, not just to themselves, but to the people that look up to them?

They are watched pretty much every single day, not only by the paparazzi, but by teenagers that want to grow

up and look eerily similar.

Girls aren‟t getting to grips with the fact that having your collarbone protruding and ribs showing is not sexy,

not clever and certainly not healthy. They should be looking to Kate Winslet, Beyonce, and Scarlett Johansson

as role models, who are happy, beautiful and curvy, instead of Victoria Beckham, Nicole Richie and Mischa

Barton, who look like twigs on legs.

The obsession with being thin is almost like a domino effect. One actress loses weight to please the media, and

the next minute the rest are all doing the same. When these celebrities start to look so gaunt, young women

believe that this is what you have to look like to be pretty and healthy.

The media‟s idea of the “perfect” women also doesn‟t help as it sets off insecurities in a “normal” woman, when

really, they have absolutely nothing to worry about. Surely the main important thing is to just be happy in your

own skin, and to learn to love yourself; flaws and all.

It‟s easy to get caught up in the flawless images that are put in magazines, but this is something that isn‟t classed

as real, no one looks perfect in real life. Behind the scenes of these photo shoots, a hell of a lot of airbrushing

goes on, changing the faces and bodies so much, they almost become unrecognisable.

These Hollywood stars make such an impact on their younger viewers, and the emphasis is very much on

external appearance. Maybe this is why so many teenagers are on constant diets, and why they yearn to be thin

and to be able to fit into fashionable clothes.

A recent survey showed that 79% of women thought that their social lives would improve if they were thinner,

88% of girls feel the need to “look perfect”, and 70% believed that overweight people were generally seen as

less intelligent and also less attractive. Statistics like these are so worrying, and also quite disturbed. It‟s also

figures like these that are brainwashing young girls into changing the way they look.

One thing that proves many of the women in England are pointing towards the “curvier” side are the clothes

sizes in High Street stores. Browsing around New Look, Primark and River Island, the sizes that always seem to

be thin on the ground are 14-18. This just goes to show that women these days are curvier than they used to be,

and they‟re overpowering sizes 6 and 8.

Another thing that doesn‟t bode well is size 4 clothes in fashion stores. A size 4 is equivalent to a size zero in

America, and it‟s so small it fits a little girl. What‟s so great about being the same size as a schoolgirl? It‟s a

terrible idea to make clothes this small, as this is telling teenagers that it‟s okay to be so tiny, when really, it‟s

hugely depressing and unhealthy.

Young girls just need to look at Marilyn Monroe. The beautiful style icon was a curvaceous size 14 and she

proved that you don‟t need to be skinny to be healthy, happy and successful. Wouldn‟t you rather be curvy,

happy, healthy and a larger size, than something that resembles a bag of bones?

There are over one million anorexic women in the UK alone, and all the time these emaciated models and

actresses are gracing the front covers of magazines and the red carpet, it seems likely that this number will

continue to rise.