body image

Want to see your body clearly? It might be a good idea to give the bathroom mirror a break because there’s a pile of research stretching back to the 1970s that suggests most women aren’t assessing their bodies accurately. One research study in the early 90s concluded that most women overestimate the size of their waists, hips, thighs and cheeks by about 25 per cent.

While I'm loathe to admit it, sometimes a really bad hair day can really throw off my mood. Ditto with a giant pimple in the centre of my face.

It's no secret that the images of models and celebrities that we see in magazines are heavily altered on computer programs like Photoshop before they make it to the newsstands. A few recent incidents have shown just how extreme the digital reworking has gotten: Ralph Lauren had to apologise after running an ad with an alarmingly thin model, and the blog Jezebel criticised Self magazine for their heavy-handed retouching of singer Faith Hill. But does all this reworking of women's bodies have serious health consequences?

I say this with reluctance because I don't want to sound too much like a Cathy comic strip, but bathing suit season can be difficult. All of the careful staging and camouflaging you can do with clothes — a belt here, a slip there, a high-waisted hot short never — is undone the second you strip down to a bikini. The love handles, meaty thighs, stretch marks and cellulite are all on display for the world to see. If you have any body insecurities, this is the pretty much the worst nightmare. After all, during sex, you can always dim the lights — not a possibility while you're ankle-deep in lapping waves or splayed out on a dock.

I’ll admit it: I can be a jerk. When I run into an acquaintance (sometimes even a friend) that has lost a lot of weight I often experience a pang of jealousy. Suddenly, my pants feel very tight and I’m conscious of the fact that I still haven’t lost that frosh fifteen (I graduated in 2001…)