A Weighty Issue

A few days ago, some girlfriends and I had a long discussion about weight. None of us are obese, or even overweight, but most of us have had our share of body issues, from full-fledged eating disorders to occasional thoughts about thick thighs. Even though I've spent my entire life underweight, I haven't been free from body image issues, ranging from wanting a bigger butt (or, frankly, any butt) to wishing I were a little taller.
Rarely am I one to blame the media. After all, who wants to look at pictures of out-of-shape ordinary people in Victoria's Secret or the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue? We all like looking at pictures of beautiful, youthful, glowing models and celebrities. As long as we accept that those images are fantasy, and not reality, we can look at them, daydream a little, and move on. But sometimes the media can be blatantly irresponsible, as was the case with the cover of a current celeb mag (I think it was US Weekly) which features "best" and "worst" celebrity bathing suit pictures on the cover. One their worst list: a thin but perhaps slightly untoned Kirsten Dunst and a tanned and toned Kate Hudson, a mother of two, who had a very small flap of loose skin on her lower abdomen. The woman has two kids, and she looks amazing!!! The danger, and the not-so-subtle message this magazine is sending, is that every woman will start to feel inadequate and unworthy of being seen in a bathing suit. It's more than irresponsible; it's cruel.