[Perdogg]

It's sad. Even though there are pressures in society, maybe more on women, it's up to each person to protect his or her own health.

[Dashing Dasher]

Agreed...

But, many women in that age group (and beyond) think societal pressures are more important than health. Thin shouldn't be the ideal - healthy should be.

But, even on this thread, you can see many people saying, "thin is good" -- but, to what end?

It takes someone with a backbone to stand up to societal pressures and say, "I'm fine at this weight, thanks for asking."

And mean it.

[colorcountry]

I have a niece that played soccer for Utah State University. She was a slim, healthy 5'7" 145 pounds. Somewhere she got the idea that if she could lose some weight, she could run faster.

She now weighs 87 pounds and has developed a covering of fine hair over her entire body (natures way of preserving essential body heat.) She can barely walk, let alone run and she has left college.

Her life is in ruins even if she manages somehow to stay alive. He mother at 48 years old is 5'5" tall and weighs 105. I think the pressure to be thin originated with the mother.

[najida]

Believe me, I've been there, when I was a ripped 117# freaking out that I had gained 18# from my boney 99#. I was constantly on the scales, crying my eyes out because I thought my thighs & my 36 inch hips were huge. I was a perfect size 8 then, but I hated the way I looked...you see, I really believed I was fat.

I remember when eating disorders and anorexia first came into the healthcare scene. I remember my first patient who was 1 step away from death and freaking out because we were serving her food with too much fat in it. I guess that was my wake-up call. Oh, maybe it was my own stint in the hospital. But that's another story.

Anyhow, check out every (I mean just about EVERY) woman's magazine out there.....

Seems we all are extremely flawed....our butts are too big, we're overweight, we're out of shape, our abs aren't flat enough, our boobs aren't big enough, our thighs cause thunder etc. We are constantly told we need fixing. Mostly, to be smaller....the smaller, the better

Add to that the strong reinforcement that only a size 10,
no, make that a size 8,
Oops!
This year it's a size 2!
That is the ideal woman's size.

Anything larger is ugly. Period.
No forgiveness allowed.
No matter how healthy, in shape, toned etc.
If you're larger than a 10, you're ugly.

Lastly,
Check out the threads here where severely underweight women are called hot and sexy and normal to slightly overweight women are called fat, or worse pigs. It would be nice to see a bit of balance, but I see FR like a portal into the real world. It's a rough place for anyone outside of the ideal. Which makes about 92% of us.

Ya know, we all strive to be strong and reach deep inside ourselves for self-worth and character. But if there is nothing but negative input around you, you do buy into the myth. I have, I still do at times. It's a horrendous struggle and often, you just have to walk away and isolate yourself.

I do feel for Lohan. Sadly, she lives and works in a profession that will only foster her self-loathing and destructive habits. I hope she can make some kind of escape, or have some kind of epiphany of self-worth that makes her long term health have more value that the short term rewards of being a skinny sex goddess (sarcasm intended).