Sharp, smart and sixteen - Sara Bailey looks at the teenage desire to become slim

The gym memberships have risen, an infestation of pre-dusk joggers has hit Oxford, chocolate bars are abstinently being swapped for apples – it can only mean one thing.

The vow of “New Year new me!” is thoroughly under way, and dieting is on the agenda.

In some cases this may not be a bad thing: over-indulging at Christmas with the false words of “Oh just one more” may have left you with unwanted cushioning.

My tell-tale sign being the previous two minute sprint to get the bus now slips into four minutes – but I digress. I think little healthy nips here and there can be quite appropriate but the alarming rate of teenage girls essentially punishing themselves to become slim is disconcerting. A recent studied showed almost half of teenage girls between 11and 14 are dieting in a desperate attempt to become slim. Many regularly skip meals; doctors are even treating girls as young as six for the eating disorder anorexia.

This I don’t doubt, though I myself am yet to beat the post-school siren call of Nutella.

Among my friendship group, none of whom are over-weight, many have declared that they are dieting. Although this is not nearly as severe as anorexia, they still seem to feel the need to shed the pounds at 16, not to mention the sub-standard nutritional intake that comes of this.

The warped notion of cutting carbohydrates based on celebrity diets is common amongst teenage dieters. The effortless-looking diets of bikini models are anything but ‘effortless’. What’s more teenage growth is suffering as a consequence and healthy, balanced diet routines becoming unhinged. The question is: is there really anything to ‘blame’ for these attitudes?

Of course, actors and models with idealised figures factor crucially in this dieting conundrum. Failing to swap the skinny women seen in Vogue, for example, with ‘real’ women is often scrutinised. Frankly I really hate this ‘real’ women concept. Throwing women with curves on the front will still create these body comparisons; in what sense are skinnier women not ‘real’?

Regardless, low self-esteem can be an outcome, with emotional problems affecting 18 per cent of those 13 to 14 year olds dieting. Let me be clear, this obsessional dieting isn’t restricted to my generation. Even my 92-year-old blind great aunt is acutely conscious of her weight; blouses (gifts that we’ve bought I might add) ruthlessly rejected for not complimenting her figure. From the voluptuous curves of Marilyn Monroe to the slight figure of Twiggy – idols like these have lowered women’s self-esteem since the twenties.

What is being ignored is the middle spectrum of health. My half-a-grapefruit-at-breakfast friend claims it is for the purpose of feeling healthier, more confident, and that she is.

Dieting doesn’t have to be drastic; collapsing with nutritional weakness isn’t the only way. So when teenagers are seen, celery sticks clutched in hands, let’s not blame all of our woes on the media. Self-esteem should be based on something less fragile.