Skinny?

Skinny?

“I want to be skinny!” “I wish I were skinny.” “Why can’t I be skinny?” Who can say that they’ve never heard someone say any of these questions before? I’m sure most people have asked these questions themselves. In a resent national survey, 84 percent of women and 58 percent of men claimed they have dieted to lose weight. At any given time in the United States 65 million people are dieting and contributing 33 billion dollar a year to the diet industry (Stinson 2001). What is it that American’s are trying to do, become skinny? Do we really know what it is to be skinny?
When I asked my roommates and friends who they considered to be skinny, the most common responses were, Barbie, models, actresses, and musicians. These groups of people are who we think to be thin. They are heavily publicized as beautiful and beautiful is thin.
Thinness has not always been viewed as being so wonderful. In earlier times the ideal figure was more voluptuous. Soc...