Was Kate Beckinsdale right to blame parents for their children's anorexia?

[AB Asks]

Actress Kate Beckinsdale suffered from anorexia when she was younger. She doesn't believe pictures of skinny actresses and models are to blame for the rise in anorexia which is being reported in children as young as seven. Instead she believes family problems are to blame. Do you think this was a fair claim to make? Or is Kate way off the mark, and are ultra-slim celebrities to blame for our children's unhealthy obsession with body image?

[natalie_1982]

I think it is more to do with families than magazines, as somebody who has always struggled with their weight and self-image I know mine is / was down to lack of self-confidence and self-awareness.

I think it is parent's to make the child feel loved any how they look, and to support them in any way they need to make them love themselves, which in my mind is where eating disorders begin.

I can honestly say I have never looked in a magazine and thought "I would do anything to look like X".

[tiny e.a]

I think the causes of eating disorders have changed over the years but I also believe that ultimitaly it s a psychological problem wth the indivaidual.

I believe that images of stunning celebrities do inspire children to want to achieve the image but there have been stunning celebrities for many eras, if anything concerning magazines is causing the problem it is not photos of these skinny celebs in magazines, it is the magazines criticism of anyone who has either put on weight or is heavy anyway. These magazines are ridiculous, in the same issue they will preach about size zero celebs and anorexia while doing an 8 page spread laughing at the 'horror' of Britney Spears's belly in a bikini and Denise van outen having a builders bum.

Ultimately though I don't think Kate Beckinsdale was wrong to suggest the problem may start at home. It is a psychological problem. If children still in Primary school are developing eating disorders there must be something wrong at home. They shouldn't even be conscious of image, unless they are really overweight. As for secondary school children and adults, yes, they probably do have insecurities that parents could have helped try to overcome, and the monitoring of their situation should have been paid more attention to by the parents. However, it is ultimately down to the individual. They choose to do this to themselves.

[msemma]

I had anorexia as a teenager. I was the least celebrity obsessed person you could imagine at the time. My eating disorder was caused by a number of factors, not because I wanted to be a skinny as Kate Moss / Jodie Kidd (most noted skinny celebrites of the moment back then). I had been bullied, I stood out at school for being clever, I hated myself, had serious issues relating to my father, and generally hated myself for being alive. I hate the fact that people at the time, and now, presume that I just wated to be a celebrity.

A large number of anorexia (and other eating disorder) sufferers have been physically or mentally abused. I find the whole size-zero 'debate' offensive to these individuals. These are people who have severe psychological scarring which manifests itself in an eating disorder, but it's much more glamorous to write it off as celebrity related isn't it?Another excuse for a Victoria Beckham pic that'll sell magazines eh? Never mind the image that the whole issue portrays.