Marilyn Monroe was not a Zero

Living in these days of Size 0 models and unhealthy, obsessive dieting with the pervasive "you can't be too rich or too thin" pop-culture constantly pressuring people into unhealthy lifestyles, you'd think these findings, discussed in this article from the Sydney Morning Herald, might be a bit of a welcome relief:

What men want: thin's not in

More Australian men will choose size 14 over size eight when it comes to the body shape of their ideal woman, igniting debate on what it means to be thin.

Men's magazine FHM conducted an online survey asking whether its readers found a size eight, size 12 or size 14 model most attractive.

Here we are, size 12, size 14, both perfectly healthy and normal body types that speak of both fitness and abundance on a fundamental biological level that no ideology, no matter how well-meaning, can over-come. But that isn't going to stop someone from pissing on the parade because they can't accept biology trumps ideology:

But Julie Thomson, general manager of eating disorders and body image campaigners The Butterfly Foundation, said such surveys were far more damaging to women than they were helpful.

"It objectifies women and still perpetuates this ideal that men do look at women externally only," she said.

Fortunately though, not everyone is driven by the hormones, or their ideology. We are not computers or books or women's studies programs. We are humans. And we are attracted to each other, on a great extent, by our perceived reproductive fitness. Fortunately some of us can look at issues like this through the prism of science without immediately bashing others:

Flinders University body image expert Marika Tiggemann said the findings supported academic research on the topic on female body image. "We find women want to be thinner than what men find attractive," Professor Tiggemann said. "Men's idea of what is 'thin' is larger than that of women. Unfortunately, a lot of people think being thin demonstrates being in control or being disciplined, while being fat is a sign you're weak."

The editor of women's magazine Cleo, Nedahl Stelio, said that most women did not diet for men but for other women. "Most men I know would go for more boob over thinner thighs, but women, by nature, are competitive with other women," she said.

"And if the society and celebrity ideal is thin, that's what she's going to aspire to, just to get one up on other women."

Women diet to show-up other other women? I did not know that, though having watched and listened to my mother and her unhealthy dieting issues for a decade, I should have. But, even not connecting that in my youth, as an adult I'm not surprised. Men do all kinds of stupid things to their bodies to compete with other men, no reason women should be exempt. After all, they're people too. And one thing you can count on is that people will do stupid and unhealthy things for stupid and unhealthy reasons.