Body image is a huge concern for young women and often the media is painted as the main culprit, but the reality is the biggest influence on a young girl is her mother. While there are many influences on how young women see themselves, feel about their bodies, and compare themselves to others, positive body […]

Believing you are fat in your teens could lead to weight gain later in life, a new study has found. Norwegian researchers found that 60 percent of teenage girls who thought they were fat even though they weren’t went on to become overweight in their twenties. Girls with no weight issues in their teens were […]

As New York Fashion Week begins, a young model has revealed the horrifying extremes she and her colleagues go to in order to stay thin. Russian Kira Dikhtyar, 24, told Fox News that the impossibly-thin bodies strutting down the catwalks are the result of a strict regime of cigarettes, laxatives, appetite suppressants, drugs and injections […]

An image of a naked plus-sized model with Barbie’s proportions drawn onto her body has gone viral on social media. The picture of Katie Halchishick — co-founder of body image blog Healthy is the New Skinny — was shot for the November 2011 issue of O magazine. In pictures: The real-life Russian Barbie doll It […]

At size 16, Robyn Lawley is four sizes bigger than most fashion models, but that hasn't stopped her launching a career half the super-skinny set are jealous of.

More than half 12-year-old girls think they are too fat, with many admitting to skipping meals to try to slim down, a new study has found. A major study of 31,000 British schoolchildren revealed that over 50 percent of girls aged 12 to 13 were unhappy with their bodies. Older girls — aged 14 to […]

When it comes to certain issues there is one person a 13-year-old girl won’t hear a word from, no matter how sound or pertinent, and that is her mother, or anyone who could be. Being 23 now, it hasn’t been too long since I was a teenager ignoring mum’s tips on the dos and don’ts […]

Most women would do anything to be rid of breast cancer, but British actress Sally Farmiloe-Neville has refused a mastectomy because she can’t bear to lose her “best assets”. Sally, 57, — who starred opposite Bob Dylan in 1987 filmHearts on Fire— was diagnosed with a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer in May. She […]

The government’s inaugural Positive Body Image Awards were announced today with teen magazine Dolly taking out the top award. The Minister for Youth Peter Garrett awarded the winners at an event today recognising organisations in the fashion, media and entertainment and advertising industries taking steps to promote positive body image messages to young people, in […]

The average Australian woman is a size 16, but if you head on to the high street you’ll be lucky to find anything bigger than a 14. So what’s going on? Why isn’t someone plugging this gaping hole in the market? “There’s this bizarre mindset among some of the designers that says catering for anyone […]