Femme Fat-Al

I'm watching America's Next Top Model. I find this show hilarious and brilliant in equal measure. It makes me feel better about myself that my chosen mode of personal expression requires some form of cerebral intensity.

I blew a gasket at work today. On Thursday I am being sent to a meeting with a company who sell diet pills. There is nothing essentially wrong with this I suppose - what annoyed me was that there are only pictures of women on the website. The entire marketing of the company is aimed at the ladies and it promotes such an unhealthy desire for all of us to be sticks that we think that we need to take desperate steps like diet pills and that's fine.

I'm tempted right now to turn up with a chocolate bar in each pocket and various strawberry laces hanging out of my teeth.

I'm not sure I'm going to be able to keep my temper at people who make a living selling insecurity with free delivery.

I don't think I'd have minded too much if I hadn't checked the Facebook page for the company and seen the comments from girls who were buying these products.

"Hi, just ordered some of these pills - hope they work!"

"Is there a way I can use these without the detox and still lose weight?"

"I've been on these pills for 10 days and haven't lost ANYTHING - what do I do?"

10 days? 10 days - are you kidding me? And the advice coming back is - just eat less! Take more of the pills! Take this combo! What the fuck?

Eat sensibly, eat fruit and veg and exercise and give yourself months, not days, to lose weight. Where is the voice telling us this stuff in a way that we're actually going to listen?

Watching America's Next Top Model is like the icing on the cake - reminding me that the world is barmy and that some people will manipulate the self-worth right out of others. And it very frequently seems to be a girl.

Can we please work out a world where we aren't terrified of looking like ourselves? Where we aren't reading magazines where we applaud extra weight if it's in the right places and circle it in red if it's not deemed appropriate? Where we are neither allowing obesity on the ground of not offending but not encouraging brittle bones and poor diet for the sake of wearing a pencil skirt?

It really upsets me.

My meeting on Thursday may end up with a fully inserted Snickers in a man who should take better care over the advice on his website...