I've commented here before that I'm a US citizen in Italy.

I'd say Milan is the absolute worst city in Italy in terms of the ideal thin body image.

I can honestly say that I have the most meat on my bones of all my friends in the 25-35 age group here. For the record I'm 5'7 and 134#. Yeah.

Being in a "thin" culture where everybody dresses well can be a little alienating sometimes; but I just suck it up with the wine.

I applaud any campaign that aims to raise awareness about eating disorders and/or acceptance of human beauty in ALL its shapes and sizes.
But, 1) It's not at all clear that there actually is an increase in the incidence of eating disorders. Better diagnosis, more recognition of the different kinds of EDs, etc may be what's going on. 2) More importantly, there is absolutely no evidence that the fashion industry, or super-thin actresses, or any of that *cause* EDs. They may contribute to people having unhealthy body image or feed poor self-esteem, or yes, potentially trigger ED in someone who was at risk already. But a trigger is NOT a cause.
EDs are neuro-biological, physiological, organic diseases. Anyone interested in more info should research the work of Drs. Walter Kay, Locke & LaGrange, Julie O'Toole, Sloane Madden, the Maudsley Method/Family Based Therapy etc.
Blaming the Fashion Industry won't help ED suffers very much. Well, execpt for the poor women and men already caught by EDs being expoited by the industry; since ED estimates are around 4/100 people in general, that's not likely to be the majority of patients. But getting the industry to be more representative of all of us will be helpful anyway.

Good. But just tackling eating disorders isn't enough.

There are plenty of people out there who have disordered eating that aren't classifiable as anorexic or bulimic.

We need to address the mentality that thin=ideal and promote the concept that someone can be beautiful and healthy at any size. They just need to take care of themselves and let their body naturally do what it does.

dagnymeetsassisi,

There is evidence that cultures that aren't exposed to western media don't have an epidemic of women with eating disorders. There is definitely evidence that the western standard of beauty causes an increase in eating disorders. I don't know how that can be disputed.

I think this is wonderful. As a recovering anorexic I think its stupendous that people are actually doing something and not sweeping the issue under the rug anymore. It does irk me though how much blame is put on the nameless and faceless "media". It does have influence, but not as much as we're blaming it. People need to face the facts that’s its everyone, just normal people, that are pushing the idea that thin is what you need to be in order to be 'good' and fat is almost a sin. The fashion industry and the media just support it. If they were the only ones saying that thin was the only way to go, not many people would listen. Everyone still thinks leopard print is tacky, even though its all over the runway and TV. If your mom and girl friends were all going crazy for it too, and your boyfriend or guy friends were telling you all the girls in leopard print were hot, *then* we’d listen to the media.

dagnymeetsassisi,
I totally agree. The concept of an eating disorder should be redefined, since in theory, bad diets can be equated to disordered eating. It is definitely a western ideal of beauty to be thin, just like the ideal in Southern Africa is to be well-fed and light-skinned. A re-think of how we eat, how we promote food and diets should all be assessed rather than only the fashion industry and media. The former could have been argued to start the trend, since clothing looks better on a tall, willowy figure. The latter could be said to have fed into this and fueled the obsession. However, what about those people able to resist the pressure, who have healthy eating habits in place from birth who generally are able to maintain a good lifestyle. That is taught young and at home..that is where the action should begin.