27 March 2008

The End of Civilization Part 371

True Confession Time: I used to read the Sweet Valley High books. I have no idea why. I'll pretend it was for ironic purposes.
When the first Sweet Valley High book was published in 1983, Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield, identical twin heroines of the soon-to-be wildly popular teen fiction series (and subsequent TV spinoff), were described as blonde, beautiful, and a "perfect size 6." Now bid welcome to a new, thinner, Sweet Valley High: Random House is reissuing 12 books from the original series with a few small editorial tweaks, one of which involves the slightly awkward issue of the Wakefield waistline. The twins' "perfect size 6" has been reduced to a "perfect size 4." Kudos, Random House, for not only introducing body-image issues to a whole new generation of young fans, but proudly trumpeting this point in the press release.

source

I really want to go throw up now. And not just to get down to that perfect size 4.

1 comment:

Kim said...

I have nothing to say. I am so sad. I just think of my nieces and the pressures that have from Day 1. Why do we think about these little COMPLETELY INSIGNIFICANT things as being important rather than focusing on the REAL issues in life? Status quo, my friends... if we're worried about our waist lines, we're not speaking up against the real issues.