Fixing a flawed feminine ideal

Regarding the Oct. 21 opinion piece, “Women dying to look good,” I regret that many women all over the world have been pursuing their physical beauty in spite of possible dangers that they may face. I believe women need to realize and identify their own unique beauty, not be influenced from outside.

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Airbrushed images harming girls and boys, experts say

Calling for advertising rules to be changed to restrict the use of airbrushed images, the group of 44 academics doctors and psychologists say that the pictures promote unrealistic expectations of perfection, encouraging eating disorders and self-harm.

The paper has been submitted to the Advertising Standards Agency with a call for all airbrushed adverts to carry a notice making clear the images have been artificially enhanced.

It has been written by Dr Helga Dittmar of the University of Sussex, Dr Emma Halliwell of the University of the West of England and backed by 42 more academics.

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Are celebrities causing our daughters to starve themselves?

The other day I read an article about a fashion model angry that the advertiser for which she posed had Photoshopped her body into an anorexic swizzle.

Filippa Hamilton, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs a scant 120 pounds, is considered underweight by doctors' standards. She claims Ralph Lauren fired her for being too heavy. In a similar incident, the curvy, weight-battling “American Idol” star Kelly Clarkson said Self magazine digitally altered her cover shot, shaving off curves and thighs, giving her virtual liposuction.

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