Skinny Rules OK...

By Anna Bang

I have just come off a marathon session on www.theskinnywebsite.com (well it makes a change from my borderline psychotic obsession with eBay) and I feel utterly nauseated. Initially it was primarily to scoff, and it IS absolutely as vile as you can imagine. It made me wonder whether there is any humanity left at all in this so-called civilized world we live in. To save you boosting their figures, it primarily concerns itself with the ebb and flow of celebrities' weight. You're shown a couple of snaps of say Jessica Simpson, a few lines on why that particular image was chosen, some speculation on whether she has lost or gained, and invited to leave a comment. This site allegedly receives 39,000 visits PER DAY. Thankfully, only a tiny percentage of these visitors actually leave a comment, but the majority of those opinions make your hair stand on end. No-one passes muster before these people (all gods and goddesses to a man/woman, I'm sure!), and, as you can imagine, the odd sensible suggestion is lost in a sea of sick and hateful outpourings. This website will appeal to the kind of people who'd undoubtedly have pushed to the front to watch lions devour Christians or clucked contentedly as they knitted away by the guillotines.

It did make me think about how obsessed we are with weight. I defy any woman, and increasingly men, too, to remain healthy and normal, faced with the barrage of brainwashing we receive on a daily basis regarding surface aesthetics. One indicator of just how neurotic we have become is looking at women's magazines, especially the weeklies, where inevitably there will be at least one strap line per magazine relating to weight or celebrities' weight. Shane Watson put it beautifully when she recently wrote: "Start playing fatter-or-thinner in real life ('Ohh, you've lost weight'; 'Oh no, I like you curvier') and you have been got by the people who exist to make your life a tiny, ever-decreasing circle of pedicures, handbag purchases and fussing over the colour of your mobile phone."

Whether you are upfront about your dieting or disguise it as an allergy/health related concern, apparently a staggering 72% of the population is constantly either on a diet or considering going on one. However well-meaning the whistleblowers who started the recent furore over overly skinny catwalk models were, I think the real issue is not the fashion designers who show their wares to a mainly industry-orientated audience biannually or fashion magazines who are mainly preaching to the converted; no, I blame the endless bombardment of our consciousness by magazines scrutinizing celebrities. Our notion of what beauty means is increasingly being reduced to a handful of actresses and celebrities defined by the media, advertising and Hollywood blockbusters. We live in an age of globalized beauty, where even traditional strongholds like Japan and Brazil are starting to cave in to the relentless propaganda from North America. Beauty, what it means to be beautiful, is being reduced to a small selection of actors, actresses, models and socialites. As the renowned plastic surgeon Werner L. Mang puts it: "People are losing their personal values and integrity because the predominant face of culture does not care for such private qualities (...) You cannot use a scalpel to create a meaningful existence."

Yet TV increasingly reflects the obsession of gossip magazines, awash with programmes featuring 'civilians' attempting the imagined perfection of celebrities, with catty presenters unscrupulously egging them on. Lured by the otherwise unattainable goodie bag of free multiple surgeries and dental work, they are allowed into the select arena for their 15 minutes of fame. Just as long as they don't mind the nation observing every nook and cranny being probed and rudely commented on before being Dr Frankensteined into the bland, anodyne sameness that apparently is considered 'beautiful' in this parallel universe and thus more socially acceptable. These programmes churn out an endless parade of before and afters for us to gawp at, one that eventually merges into a televisual wallpaper of carefully blow-dried, frosted-blonde look-alikes.

Although a minority of celebs with curves have recently emerged, even they confess to having doubts about their size. And when I say curves I mean an 'ample' size UK10-12 rather than UK6 - 8. Tyra Banks was recently dragged through the whole sorry mess simply because she happened to be papped looking extra booty-licious in a bikini. Lucky for Tyra, she has her own talk show to name and shame her persecutors on, and the moxy to present that particular show wearing nothing but a pair of heels and the very bikini that had landed her in hot water in the first place. Striking a series of poses, she showed how even a supermodel's body looks different, depending on the angle. But there's only one Tyra...Flicking through most magazines aimed at women, you do start to feel slightly bullied. Endless pressure disguised as information regarding the latest 'it'-bag or 'must-have' sandals, this new Hollywood A-list diet, that hairdo of the summer and so on, all delivered in a nagging tone. You sense the relentless PR-machine driving all this, that women are more and more being made to feel intimidated by the way other women are represented in fashion, celebrity and advertising. And it starts earlier and earlier: girls as young as 8 or 9 are now fully conversant in the lives of LA-socialites, rapturously turning the pages of their mother's HEAT or OK! magazine, their sponge-like brains eagerly soaking all this cretinous chatter up.

A large part of the content of these magazines is made up from speculations on celebrities' current weight, usually delivered in a sugar-coated way, interspersed with simpering worry and mock concern about the way 'Tinseltown' pressurises young actresses to look a certain way. "X's friends are devastated at how much weight she has lost" or "fans were shocked at the recent skeletal frame of Y". At times even asking its readers whether they think Y should put on weight, as if Y is unable to decide this for herself without the august advice of Susie from accounts, flicking through this weeks issue of Grazia, simultaneously caning a family-sized bag of Maltesers.

I do find it worrying that women of all ages are daily told by magazines that basically it doesn't matter how incredible you are or how smart, because the most important thing is to look perfect. It is all scarily redolent of being back at school, the 'cool' girls being the skinny ones in the latest gear, not the swots notching up good grades. Watching Madonna perform at the Live Earth concert, I was in awe of her showmanship. Personally, I can live without her guitar strumming, and singing live is possibly not her forte - no, the real feat for me was the fact that she did the entire performance in 4-inch heels! Despite pushing 50, she's as fit as a butcher's dog. Yet I know that all the gossips will focus on is her arms, I could literally pick the photo they'd choose, captioned with the usual 'hilarious' witticisms referring to builder's hands and admonishment regarding muscular arms on a woman. Nothing about the fact that she delivered an amazing performance, is a very astute businesswoman and clearly incredibly healthy. Angelina Jolie can adopt child after child in her one-woman crusade to solve the world's overpopulation, but at the end of the day-too skinny! Renee Zellweger can be a great comedic actress for all she likes, because we're just going to focus on whether she has lost or gained.

Apparently Paul McKenna is working on a new TV show that will show you how to transform your MIND...I can't wait. Hopefully it will start a trend for focusing on your soul rather than the state of your abs.