Why does everyone want to be skinny?

Many people have an obsession with thinness. Research shows that even when people go on a diet, lose weight and reach their optimal weight, they're still not happy. So what's missing? Research shows that the media drive an obsession with thinness, and equates it with being attractive, powerful and successful. On the one hand, this is true.

It would be easy to say that the solution is to have bodies in many and varied shapes on the television screen or in magazines as successful and attractive as the skinny versions. I feel like I'm consuming fewer resources if I'm skinny, as if showing that I'm not greedy. I think I also associate it with being young. When I'm underweight, I feel like that means I'm sick and I deserve to be taken care of.

Overall, I've probably also absorbed this fat-phobic nonsense from society, where losing 3D weight is good. If you say you've lost weight, people say “well done”, even if you weren't overweight to begin with. At least until you're too underweight.).