Hi Nancy,
I apologize, I can't source that claim properly because I got my information from radio interview panel on the BBC (around the time the Madrid Fashion Week had that ban on models under a certain BMI).

I did find this though, which I think has been mentioned before:

Women prefer thin models, study finds

From the article:

Hmmm... I wonder how they define thin and larger? Are we talking size 0 versus size 20?

Not sure, Nancy, good question. I believe they were responding to print advertisements. This is the full press release from the University of Bath:

Press Release - September 20th, 2006

I agree with highsteaks and arc.

Also, being a model is not about being attractive. It's about having a striking look, or having an unattainable look.

Most people want to look at models who are unusual or unlike them rather than someone they might live next door to.

Highsteaks, being skinny or slim is one thing. People come in all type and shapes. But being anorexic is another. Whereas I'll agree that being anorexic isn't something people choose deliberately, I also don't like the condition seen as desirable and something to emulate.

That girl should have been sent home. Keeping her in the contest is a bad example.

And I've heard about this survey as well. This contest was a bit of a survey wasn't it? I guess what is says as the comment above was that the most striking girl won. Has littled to to with size. I'm sure Marilyn Monroe would also have been a star, had she been born now.

Angeline,
I'm sorry if you misunderstood - I don't see Ms. Berglund's body as desirable OR something to emulate in any way. All I was objecting to was the hypocrisy of tearing someone else's body apart when we would all feel terrible (or have felt terrible) as criticisms were hurled our way for being overweight. Perhaps a more female-positive dialog would result if we all checked the insult-hurling at the door?

I guess I'm looking for a higher level of discussion than "Eww she's so skinny!!"

Victoiria's Secret models maybe bigger, but sitll very small comparaed to the "average" women. Those models still have long necks, small waists, slim arms and legs. Above all, their bodies are in proportan'.These traits are attractive to men. They don't have heavy rolls of fat and heavy thighs. and double chins. Models are used for all kinds of media and clothing. The very thin ones are runway models. They have to resemble hangers, because that is the best way to show clothing. As a thin (and fit) women, I resent the backlash toward someone who is thin. As if all thin people have eating disorders. Is not obesity an eating disorder? As for the size 12 (USA) being average, I'm not so sure about that. It seemed years ago a size 14 (USA) was the average. At any rate Great Britian is joing the obesity rate along with the US. I was there last summer and was a little surprised. Their European counterparts have stayed thin on the average. I saw a little bit hefty in Britian.

No! Just like "skinny" isn't an eating disorder!

Obesity CAN be a sign of an eating disorder OR a medical condition, just as bone-thin can be a sign of either anorexia or a physically-based disease.

As long as people keep trying to shove being bone-thin down everyone's throats as the "ideal" and thin women keep feeling so smug and superior to the heavier ones, there's going to be a backlash.

I've even overheard women tossing the word "anorexic" around as a COMPLIMENT.

There's plenty of fat-bashing going on on this site, even, so why is it so horrible for a little bony-bashing to happen occasionally? I've been told to get a thicker skin, but my skin has this annoying layer of fat under it that doesn't seem to serve the same purpose...

Not to get into any more of an argument about semantics, but when I, at just 5 feet tall, weighed close to 170 pounds, my eating was certainly "disordered". Half a bag of crunchy Cheetos a day, Starbucks coffee ice cream every night, handfuls of peanuts, PLUS "regular" meals, was neither healthy nor orderly.

I'm really getting too old to care a whole lot about what I look like, but now I'm old enough to care about how healthy I am. It tends to sort of balance out in time....

Not knocking the peanuts, mind you. I still eat too many of them.

Kay

How dare you, Whoa. To take a discussion about a girl who might benefit from eating dinner, and juxtapose it with the unimaginable plight and imagery of torture victims...I gotta say. Even for YOU, posting that link was offensively over the top. And it'd be nice to see you own up to that, instead of bleating (again) about how you were misunderstood.

And rachelratz - maybe you'd be better served bumping your thread about the heartache you've endured having to buy size 0 in some brands, when maybe you're a size 00 in others? That's gotta be better than internalizing criticsm of an unrelated women who puts her body on display for a living.

My worthless opinion? Skinny girl is too skinny to be anything but a bad example. Big girl is too big for conventional modeling and will not be the next Anna Nicole. Both look better than me in a swimsuit.

And I resent the backlash toward women that are NOT skinny.

I'm sorry, but anyone bigger than a size 6-8 gets a lot of s*** these days, and I think it's RIDICULOUS. I don't see how it makes ANY sense to complain about the "backlash" toward someone who's thin, and then make comments about "heavy thighs", "double chins" etc. Last time I CHECKED, there were not two extremes body types only -- there are a hell of a lot of different and healthy ones. You resent the unfair criticism? Then don't turn around and make insulting comments about bodies different from yours. That makes no sense.

As for the chiding of the thin model's body -- SHE IS UNHEALTHILY THIN. By putting her out there as a model, GIRLS WILL LOOK UP TO THAT. Do you not see the problem here? This is a huge part of the reason why MILLIONS of people die from eating disorders. I am sick of the "if you're not thin, you're fat" mentality/mindset.

There are so many body types that are healthy -- THOSE are what we should be celebrating.

I think the main point is that anorexic models are not "functional" women, so to speak, and they do send wrong message to young generation (both boys and girls) promoting unhealthy and disfunctional female image. We all know how many families struggle with their anorexic teen girls and only because of the media and magazine images.
So while the size 12 may be not 100% perfect model material, (chunky tighs) at least, she does not have emaciated and disfunctional body.
Until fashion industry begins to consider big part of the female population (i.e. average and most popular sizes), anyone less than size 2 has no chance to be seen on a magazine cover. Even if they make it, the picture will be aribrushed, again making them look slimmer and taller.

Obesity is a far farrrrrr bigger eating disorder problem than something like AN. Who here knows exactly what that girl eats anyway? Do you know how many calories shes taking in? You know what foods she is eating and how many? Whether she has AN or not... YOU don't know! Having a low weigh is just *one* of the critera you have to meet. She says that she is naturally thin and has a small frame... wait until she is properly diagnosed by a doctor, and not you. Also, concentration camp victims were WAY more emaciated than her... Stop exaggerating.

?

I'm sorry, but where did that come from? All of us here are aware of the dangers of being extremely overweight.

Also -- just because there are theoretically more people suffering from obesity than anorexia/bulimia doesn't make starvation/purging a smaller problem. That's ludicrous to suggest.