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6. In the past few decades, the media�s standard of perfection has grown increasingly unhealthy and unrealistic. While models twenty years ago weighed 8% less than the average woman, today they weigh 23% less. Eating disorders, like anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating, are becoming increasingly prevalent throughout western countries. According to US estimates from The National Institute of Mental Health, between 5 percent and 10 percent of girls and women (i.e. 5-10 million people) suffer from eating disorders...Estimates suggest that as many as 15 percent of young women adopt unhealthy attitudes and behaviors about food.

7. An estimated 10 percent of female college students suffer from a clinical or sub-clinical eating disorder, of which over half suffer from bulimia nervosa. 15 percent of young women have significantly disordered eating attitudes and behavior. In a study of children aged 8-10, approximately 50 percent of girls said they were unhappy with their size. In a study of girls aged 9-15, more than 50 percent claimed they exercised to lose weight, nearly 50 percent claimed they reduced food intake in order to lose weight, and approximately 5 percent claimed to use their parents' diet pills or laxatives in order to lose weight.

8. Increased social pressure to be thinAccording to studies into diet, weight loss and body shape, many individuals feel dissatisfied with their body shape, and develop sub-clinical / borderline eating disorder attitudes and behaviors. For example, 80 percent of American women claim to be dissatisfied with their appearance and shape, and 1 in 2 American women are on a weight loss diet. The prevailing standards of body weight and shape, as revealed in the use of abnormally thin models in the media, continue to emphasize the idea that "thin is beautiful" and only make things worse for adolescents and adults with borderline anorexia, bulimia or binge eating disorders. Attitudes to weight, shape and diet in pre-teens and teensFor example, 40 percent of 1st, 2nd or 3rd grade girls want to be thinner. And 80 percent of 10 year olds are worried in case they become fat. In another survey, 70 percent of 6th grade girls surveyed said that their concern about their weight, shape and diet started when they were aged 9-11.

9. Plastic surgery is not merely for a select and wealthy few. In the United States alone, over 11.5 million cosmetic procedures � both surgical and non-surgical � were performed in the year 2006. Most popular surgical procedures: 1. Liposuction � 403,684 (2006) 2. Breast Augmentation � 383,886 (2006) Since 1997 there has been an increase of 446 percent in the total number of cosmetic procedures. Surgical procedures have increased by 119 percent, nonsurgical procedures by 726 percent. Last year, 3,841 women 18 or younger underwent breast augmentation, a 24-percent jump from 3,095 in 2002, which represents a 19-percent increase from 2,596 in 2001, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Only 978 girls had the procedure in 1992.

17. http://www.about-face.org/goo/newten/6/index.shtml http://www.geocities.com/youth4sa/advertising.html http://www.childrensmediaproject.org/article.asp?showid=47 http://www.annecollins.com/eating-disorders/statistics.htm http://www.aboardcertifiedplasticsurgeonresource.com/plastic_surgery/statistics.html http://www.surgery.org/press/procedurefacts-asqf.php http://www.theworldly.org/ArticlesPages/Articles2005/February05Articles/PlasticSurgery.html http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1861/context/archive