Part of the problem.
Model agency representatives and editors of glossy magazines have been invited to have their knuckles rapped at a Downing Street 'summit' on eating disorders. Tessa Jowell has been busy pontificating about the thin ideal promoted by the fashion industry and how this leads to eating disorders among teenage girls and young women. She has clearly paid no attention, however, to the growing body of research evidence indicating that over-zealous health promotion - particularly the kind of moralistic 'healthy weight' and 'healthy eating' campaigns favoured by this Government - also encourages dieting and weight obsessions, and is now widely regarded as a contributing factor in teenage eating disorders (see: Dieting Damage).
If she is genuinely concerned about finding a solution to the increase in eating disorders, Ms Jowell must first recognise that she is part of the problem.
