How to stress less? Wouldn't these students like to know...

Seeking help is the key for greater productivity amongst stressed students

Lisa Branigan typifies the dynamic aesthetic of the modern Australian woman; an independent individual supportive of her surrounding friends and family, with burgeoning career aspirations who is constantly overwhelmed by life. Her filled with a variety of personal and professional roles and responsibilities she expected herself to fulfil, including doting wife, supportive friend and successful career woman. And like many women in Australia, the surmounting demands placed on Lisa overwhelmed her to a point where she could no longer function.

“How do you eat an elephant?” Branigan laughs, reciting her own personal philosophy on the looming presence in the room every time anxiety hits, “If you have too much stress or trauma it can overwhelm you” Branigan says, “I then didn’t have the physical or capabilities to be able to deal with day to day living, or to handle stress. This is a common habit in women.”

Rather than ask for assistance, Lisa dealt with the elephant in the room as she always had; by ignoring it. Despite having fostered an avid interest in self-help and development, Lisa rationalized that by compartmentalising her emotions and dealing with business as usual, the world could continue to revolve. Ignorance was bliss until a routine health check with her local physician revealed that the consequences of her stress-filled lifestyle could be far more serious than a wayward headache or spontaneous panic attack.

“I was always stressed, and became sick from that” Branigan says, “My doctor [sat me down] and told me that at 30, if I didn’t address [my] stress, I would have a heart attack. I was always good at goal setting, but I was always stressed. I needed to address that.”

The management of stress is not only a scenario unique to Lisa, but an issue that needs to be dealt with by young women all across Australia. Findings at the 4^th Australian Women’s Health Conference in 2001 found that young Australian women aged 18-23 are currently experiencing more intense levels of stress and anxiety than their mothers’ and grandmothers’ generations before them as their roles in society have shifted.

“Women’s liberation has done a total disservice to women” Branigan says, “Whilst the majority if of women now bring in 50 percent of the income, the majority of men are not doing 50 percent of the housework or child rearing. Now women try to know it all and do it all [themselves] as asking for help is seen as a weakness.”

Times have changed and women are suffering through a lack of support. They have just added another ball to the ones they are already juggling.

Though women’s roles in society have shifted, existing health care facilities are failing to target women’s needs as effectively as they have in the past. Heather Gridley, a trained clinical psychologist and member of the Australian Psychology Society, was present during the shift towards women’s health treatment through her work in community health centres in Melbourne in the 1980s. Married women had only just begun emerging from the role of dormant house wife and began returning to secondary education institutions like the community centres to further their professional abilities.

The acceptance of women into the higher education system coincided with an acceptance of their health issues. The women’s community health care centres were established within the colleges to specifically deal with women’s individual needs, as stressed and frightened women faced with the pressure to excel of in their new found studies looked for an outlet for their emotional needs.  Gridley admits that whilst the exposure of women’s health needs was exciting and terrifying for an untrained counsellor, women received greater health care support when the first issues came to light than they do today.

“I don’t see a need to separate men and women’s health, but I started to learn more about how women are ignored in the health system. It’s taken us a while to realise that we need to have specific programs for women and that they need to be different. ”

Gridley says that as women have come to play a more actively role both in higher education institutions and in the workforce, societal expectations placed upon young women, and the stress experienced as a result, have not been lessened.

“We expect women to carry a lot of emotional responsibilities. When women are stressed it is seen as some kind of weakness or it is just put down to hormones or menopause, but I think that is the least of the [women’s] problems.” Gridley says.

“We can predict when we get distressed during the monthly cycle when you are more likely to lose it but it doesn’t explain where the distress comes from. I wanted to do something about it, to prevent it from happening rather than picking up the pieces all the time.”

It is the overwhelming standards set for and by today’s young women, pushing themselves to excel in both their personal and professional lives that have resulted in more and more women like Gridley becoming involved in the specialist areas of women’s health to improve the services available to young women in Australia today.

Approaches to women’s mental health are slowly shifting with women’s needs, shifting from traditional reactionary methods such as counselling to a focus on alternative therapies driven more by interaction, self-healing, and the interaction between the mind, body and soul. Holistic therapist Melinda Smith believes holistic therapies are beneficial to young women as clinical assessment fails to acknowledge the emotional root of stress, and what the client is feeling in the moment.

“Young people are very stressed [in attempting] to work out their life’s path and need to learn to talk about their experiences in order to understand them”, Smith says, “Mainstream [approaches] use more cognitive disciplines [in changing] you thoughts [will] change your behaviours. We use more sentient, feeling orientated approaches.”

“Our approach is not finding answers but looking at techniques to allow one to better see, feel and sense the world around them, and [discover] how that impacts on their life.”

The Sydney-based holistic therapist’s work derives itself from anthroposophy, a philosophy based on the teachings of Rudolf Steiner that suggests that self-growth can be achieved through meditation, objective perception and a connection with the spiritual world. The health benefits are not only in the reduction of stress, but the discipline even claims that meditation and self growth are essential in order for the evolutionary process to occur.

Melinda uses a combination of meditative methods, therapist style discussions, hypnotherapy, and massage to assist her clients in unburdening themselves and lightening their load. Reflection on the cause of stress is a significant part of the process, and Melinda suggests that confronting these issues is paramount to relieving stress.

“I use meditation and visualisation to allow my female clients to see their own truths. They can start to visually see the lump of concrete [crushing them], and why their chest pains. Working together we can look at what is needed to shift this weight” Melinda says.

Smith says that reflection on past causes of stress is important to ensure that the same mental health problems don’t affect women in the future.

“Every seven years we go through different phases of our lives and what we fail to learn often returns during the next phase. It is paramount to learn ways of coping, not running away or ignoring as you start to understand [yourself] on a deeper level.”

It was this same refusal to run from the source of her stress any longer that lead anxiety ridden Lisa Branigan to reach out to other women in need of a helping hand, developing her natural helpful disposition and tough personal experiences into a profession.

“I feel I have a really good understanding of where [women] are coming from, and I would like to support them in making changes in their lives so they can be happy.”

Branigan, who is based in Margaret River, WA, is now a certified Life Coach with the International Coach Association and has opened her own business, Quantum Coaching. Life coaching is one of the latest trends in personal self-development, assisting women in achieving their goals in life through communication. Branigan says that the same proactive tools used to help her clients achieve their dreams and eliminate fear can be applied to the reduction of stress, techniques she has used in her own life and recommends to others.

The key, Branigan denotes, is goal setting.

“If I feel overwhelmed and figure out exactly what I have to do. Drop everything that isn’t urgent and delegate everything else” Branigan says, “The same applies for university students”.

Branigan learnt through her own experiences that the best way to confront stress is to attack it head on by prioritising and avoiding procrastination.

“Deadlines is the same as a goal. You need to complete the goal by breaking it down into manageable pieces. It is really about breaking the tasks down. Most students generally [procrastinate] because they don’t know where to start.”

The work of mental health professionals like Branigan, Gridley and Smith are assisting women in overcoming anxiety and furthering their productivity in their professional and social lives. The most important factor, Branigan has learnt from personal experiences is taking that first crucial step to stress relief and a happier existence.

“Everything that was suggested to me I did, and I got well really quickly.” Branigan says, “Take advantage of any student support, of everything. Learning to take time for you and to get support [is] a lifesaver.”

See also related articles The Benefits of Laughter and The Road Less Taken.

 Recent studies show that Generation Y are having more sexual partners than any other generation. Is this just a part of the 21st Century- are we living amongst prudes, or is there more to casual sex than meets the eye?

 Kate* accepts his awkward embrace and shares one last kiss before stepping outside, shutting the door behind her. She sighs, shielding her eyes from the light, it feels like every shot she had last night is pounding against her skull. High heels in one hand she potters down the street, self-consciously pulling at her little black dress. She keeps her head down, walking as quickly as possible. She feels that everyone is looking at her- her hot black dress doesn’t look that hot at eight ‘o’clock on a Sunday morning. Images from last night blur her mind: a montage of drinks, dancing, and what-his name…Matt? Finally she reaches her front door, shakes her head at her house-mates knowing smirk and locks herself in her bedroom to sleep it off.

Sound familiar? Maybe it was your Sunday morning? Something you did when you were younger? Something you avoid at all costs?

Recent studies from the La Trobe University say that there has been a growing trend in young people in participating in casual sex with one or more partners. Although casual sex isn’t a new concept (60’s flower children anyone?), Generation Y is enjoying and accepting it a lot younger and more frequently.

“Casual sex is like having a toss with company, its’ sole purpose is to get you off,” says 20 year old student, Jared Black.

Although Jared says he’s never had a one night stand, he is currently is a casual sexual relationship.

“It works well for me at the moment, because I just got out of a serious relationship and didn’t want to get involved with anyone. We both know where we stand so no one gets hurt. I’m really busy with uni and work that I don’t really have the time for a serious girlfriend and my mates- so this way I get the best of both worlds,” said Jared Black.

Lack of time may be one of the biggest reasons casual sex is so prevalent amongst Generation Y. Characterised as being multi-taskers and more busy than previous generations, Generation Y is finding it hard to make time for serious relationships, shows a survey taken of people aged 18-25.

But is casual sex a problem or is it a solution?

“It’s hard to say. On one hand I’m all for the sexual revolution, free love ideals of the 1960′s. Then on the other hand no one wants a bunch of sluts running around demoralising our society. So I think in that way casual sex is bad for society because it’s just reinforcing the cycle of low self-esteem and you can even say it perpetuates the degrading of women. Guys can be quite dense so if one girl gives it up easy because she believes casual sex is the way to go, it ruins it for the rest of us,” said 21 year old student Kordey Clottey.

Kordey doesn’t believe in casual sex, and doesn’t understand why people engage in it.

“Of course you get sex but like it’s with someone you don’t even know who doesn’t know you from a bar or soap or doesn’t really care about you or anything you have to say. All that matters is what’s between your legs pretty much. It’s weird, I don’t understand it. I could never do it. I’d feel like a prostitute who just didn’t get paid,” said Kordey, flicking her long dark hair over her shoulder.

Although he says he feels he has to be in a serious relationship to have a sexual relationship with someone, Jacob Barnes says he doesn’t judge his friends that do have casual sex and one night stands.

“I know my friends support casual sex. After all, sex is sex to them. I don’t judge them, it’s their choice. When we were all in High School together it felt like everyone was doing it, but while I never judged them, I knew it just wasn’t for me,” said 20 year old projectionist Jacob Barnes.

So maybe not everyone is doing it, though you’d have to guess they are the minority. All anyone has to do is go to Glasshouse on a Wednesday night and no one would doubt that Generation Y is “putting out” more than any other generation.

 But why?

“It could be said that because we are often brought up to see sex outside of a long term, serious relationship as wrong, we develop a sense of casual sex being more exciting, a feeling that it is naughty or an act of rebellion that can be very appealing,” says AID’s awareness organisation Avert.

So if sex is just sex to us then why is casual sex still seen as the dirty laundry you hide from everyone?

One word: chlamydia.

STI’s such as chlamydia have been described as a “mini epidemic” by doctors. Nearly every type of STI has increased in prevalence, with the most common chlamydia, increasing in number by 300 per cent in the last nine years. Doctors estimate that Generation Y is the highest group infected, with one in ten having a sexual infection.

Sexual health professionals have said that the dramatic increase in STI’s is largely because young people are having sex earlier, and with more partners that any previous generation.

Although waking up from a drunken one night stand with a side of chlamydia is something to think about, there is a lot more too casual sex then a possible rash.

Through High School Kate was known for her partying and was well known for getting on better with the boys.

“I never really had many girl friends at High School, I think they were jealous of the attention the guys gave me,” she says.

If only they knew the truth. For years Kate struggled with depression and self esteem issues, and used alcohol and sex as a way to feel good about herself.

“I’d feel so good when I was lying there in his arms, and then morning would come and so would the awkwardness or the rumours or the silent treatment. So I’d drink to make myself feel better and the cycle would start again. I was in self destruct mode, it took me a long time to get out of the cycle,” she says.

Avert says this is common, especially in women who have casual sex.

“People often think that as casual sex doesn’t have the emotional ties that a long term relationship does, there is less chance of getting hurt emotionally. Casual sex offers only a moment of emotional intimacy. It has been seen in various studies that not having close emotional bonds and only pursuing causal encounters with various partners can lead to signs of depression and low self-esteem, especially amongst young women,” says Avert.

Casual sex, friends with benefits, lovers- whatever you want to call it, it is just sex. Purely physical, void of emotion- sex. Although a lot of the judgment from society seems to be gone, the judgment we impose on ourselves is what we really have to listen to and respect.

“It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt,” giggles Kate.

*Name has been changed.

For more information on sexual health visit sexual health clinics and the sexual heath network. 

On more information on casual sex see How to Have Casual Sex.

The Benefits of Laughter

With laughter therapy and yoga extolling a worldwide trend, spreading from its origins in India to the Western world, having a bit of a giggle has become a popular method of releasing stress and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. But does it really work? We asked female students at the University of Wollongong about their thoughts on the benefits of laughter.

For related articles see: The Road Less Taken and Stress Less.

For more on motivation by happiness see the related article: The Happiness Diet.

Oh What a Feeling! Image by Sarah Hamilton.

When Leah Summers was 14-years-old, a girl at her school called her ‘fat’. It was the first time Leah had heard someone use this word in the context of her body, but it wouldn’t be the last. This f-word followed her around for many years, plaguing her with a terrible body image and low self-esteem, sending her spiralling into a cycle of binge eating and unhappiness. Her ‘fat’ self grew to an attitude of hatred toward the mirror, and reflections of herself existed only within her family members, who, likewise, portrayed to her a deep-seated weight problem. Leah tried dieting and exercise with yo-yoing results and picked apart meals with the precision of a magnifying glass, trying for the perfect balance of foods she loved and foods that would make her thin. Yet, it wasn’t until her dad, aged only 50-years-old, suffered a heart attack and stroke, killing him instantly; that she knew something had to change.
“I turned dissatisfaction with myself and fear of my life ending into motivation,” the now 22-year-old student says triumphantly.

“In a way I gave up my old, unhappy, fat life to take on a new, slim happier one. I knew that if I didn’t do anything I’d end up like my father. In the end he was alone, overweight and miserable, and I could see that happening to me. I didn’t want my children to lose me as early as I lost him because I couldn’t be bothered to do anything about the way I was.

“I wanted to be healthy, and the only way I knew how was to change the way I felt about myself. Once I did that, my body shape changed as well,” she says.

This act of using negative energy to create a positive outlook has become popular in Australia in recent years. Just as Leah experienced, the act of shifting a negative mind-set of losing weight into action, has proven to have lasting results. In fact, psychologists worldwide are discovering the importance of the intersection between state of mind and weight loss, where taking the weight off your shoulders is necessary to taking the weight off your waist.

Such a phenomenon has become known as “the happiness diet.” In which optimism is the secret to weight-loss, and the dieting is more of a loss of emotional binge eating and education about stress fasting (the skipping of meals due to external pressures).

While ‘happiness’ and ‘diet’ are not two words that normally appear in the same sentence, let alone in succession, the weight-loss technique has been skyrocketing since founder of the United States Happiness Club, Dr Lionel Ketchian, recorded first instances in 2003. However, it has never been more accepted than in Australia, where the label “the world’s fattest nation” has pushed “the happiness diet” into a new level of relevance for today’s society.

In fact, as disheartening as it is, Leah’s days of name-calling and depression are not a standalone event. The Daily Telegraph’s Tamara McLean recently reported that over nine million Australians have been called overweight, chubby or obese at least once in their lifetime.

This, as personal trainer at Southern Sydney Curves, a women’s fitness franchise, Jane Ellis says has created a culture that is obsessed with being thin.

“Amazon sells over 350,000 diet books annually, while billboards, music videos, newspapers, magazines and advertisements daily force upon us this notion that thin is in and even slightly overweight is a failure of the most terrible kind.”

And, as Ms. Ellis explains: “obsession is often a detrimental factor to weight-loss.”

A recent poll found that some women fear gaining weight more than cancer and yet many studies show that fear, among other psychological factors, are in fact linked to weight-gain.  Martin Seligman, author of What You Can Change & What You Can’t, even goes as far as to say that “all thin-ideal cultures have roughly twice as much depression in women as men [and] without this thin ideal, the amount of depression in men and women are the same. This suggests that the thin ideal and dieting cause women to be more depressed than men.” Here, he points out that failure and helplessness are causes of depression, and mostly, dieting makes you feel both.

So, how can one change their body when a diet culture has been formed that is so intense and adverse, it makes weight-loss the epitome of success? And, how is it possible to overcome the psychological problems and emotional eating that is created with the stress of weight gain and dieting?

Psychologist Julie A. Evans, who studies the science of happiness, recently wrote about her findings in Diane Magazine, divulging that the secret is happiness.

“There is definitely a link between health and happiness,” she says.

“By being happy you have a better grasp on how to take care of yourself and, by doing so, you may have an easier time in losing weight.”

In this, she also explored the concept that when women are happy they are able to make clearly defined goals to achieve and believe they have the resources and willpower to accomplish these, particularly when related to weight-loss and dieting.

Come on Get Happy! Image by Sarah Hamilton

Ms. Ellis agrees. She defines the happiness diet as taking a series of steps toward a better state of mind, revealing that many women think they’ll be happier once they lose a few kilograms, but actually, the reverse is true.

“As you become more engaged with other people and activities and your joy increases, food takes a smaller place in your life,” Ms Ellis says.
“The extra weight no longer seems to belong on your body. That’s one reason women should start creating joy in their lives right now, and not in the future, thinking once they are thin they’ll be happy.”

However, the act of becoming happy in order to lose weight is not always going to be the easiest task. For starters, Cynthia Barnett, a former teacher and counselor, who has become a kind of international advocate for Dr Ketchian’s global happiness endeavor, doesn’t believe that happiness just happens.

“I’m happy because I work at it. You need to experience happiness, to learn to enjoy the moment and stop worrying, it won’t come naturally all the time, but once you learn to help it along a little, then you begin to grin from ear to ear daily,” she says.

“It’s a deliberate choice to change your attitude. You will never live your life without problems, but if you are happy, you can deal with them because you see the solutions.”

Gretchin Rubin, author of the best-selling book The Happiness Project continues, stating that happiness comes when you accept yourself the way you are and stop worrying about weight-loss.

“It’s the act of making a resolution. Almost no diet works for long. Most of the weight comes back,” she says in a recent blog post on her website.

“So… the [solution] is to change your attitude. If I accept my body as it is, I won’t fret about it…. By trying to be more grateful for being healthy and close to my ideal weight… I should be happy about my body.”

A recent study published by Special K Researchers found that more than 43 per cent of women who didn’t worry about their dress size were happier when compared to those who did. It also found that almost a quarter of larger sized women were extremely happy and more able to maintain their ideal shape due to overall mood.

Yet, Ms. Ellis says in order to do this you need to move your body toward the goals you’ve set.

“Once you’ve changed your attitude toward happiness and stopped worrying about weight-loss, you are so empowered and so close to achieving those goals that you once set, all you have to do is move,” she explains.

“Exercise is nature’s antidepressant. It releases brain chemicals that help you to feel happier and less stressed. If you are no longer thinking ‘I need to lose weight,’ or ‘I need to go to the gym to work off that junk food’, you begin to use exercise to make you happy and you begin to value it as more than a weight-loss workout. It gives your overall health, energy and mood a boost.”

This is something that Leah Summers knows well.

“When I lost weight, I think I lost an entire mind-set of negativity. It’s as though I replaced every depressing thought with a positive one. I no longer think of weight loss as weight that can be put back on, rather I think of health gain, and I don’t think of exercise as having a temporary place in my life only to shed those kilos. I think of exercise as my happiness boost,” she says.

“The happiness diet has changed the entire way I look at life. In fact, now, I don’t even think twice about the “fat” word, I prefer to think of the f-word as fierce, fun and fearless. And, certainly that’s something to smile about.”

For related stories to motivate you to lose weight visit What’s the Big Idea?

Laura Wells with sister Courtney and brother Ryan. Taken by Tim Wells. Used with permission.When will the measuring stop and thin no longer be in? Image by Sarah Hamilton.

Some people are terrified of baring all; scared of others seeing their scars and scales, yet even those with a perfect body are often afraid of showing too much skin. Take Sarah Jessica Parker for example; despite her lead role on the award-winning and promiscuous Sex and the City, she was never once captured completely naked in her role as Carrie Bradshaw. Or, Lily Allen’s recent comments in Cosmopolitan Magazine: “I do [care] deep down. When I see something horrible about myself on the Internet, I get upset… I struggle with body issues daily.”

However, plus-size model, Laura Wells has no problem with the skin she’s in, well at least not anymore. Once considered “the fat one in the family”, cutting the labels out of her size-14 clothes and chaperoning her 13-year-old “skinny” sister on modeling tours of New York and Milan, the now 24-year-old made history last August, as the face of Big Gal Modeling (BGM) Agency in the first Rosemount Sydney Fashion Festival that showcased a range from plus-size label City Chic.

This was the first step beyond what has been labeled the “skinny mind-set” and one Wells took with leaps and bounds, a feat that has received high praise from women internationally, sparking a trend in many to do the same.

Singer Beth Ditto recently appeared on Love, a magazine devoted to celebrating women of all shapes and sizes, while the winner of Australia’s next top model in 2009 was the curvaceous Tahnee Atkinson; and, up there with City Chic’s size 14 to 22 clothing, Myer also launched a plus-sized clothing range, to feature next to Jennifer Hawkins on the catwalk. It seems that the fashion industry is finally welcoming women beyond the size eight and onto publicly celebrating the size-eighteen.

Wells describes this as “acceptance of the different”.

“A few years ago you could go into a mainstream clothing store and clothing would stop at a size 14 or size 14 was too small and unfashionable. Now, there are companies like City Chic and others that are creating clothes for women who are larger than a size 14,” Miss Wells says.

“This caters for a whole new range of women, keeping sizes in line and making them feel better about themselves as well. And, rightly so, there’s so much positive feedback for this now.”

In fact, positive responses have spread further than simply for retailers. The audiences of magazines and television have also commended recent series such as Drop Dead Diva, a dramatic-comedy series about a model who is reincarnated as a plump lawyer, shown through skyrocketing ratings in the US and UK since 2007; as well as, The Biggest Loser, with the show rating in the top 10 Australian shows during every season. Yet, perhaps what is most astounding is the overwhelming positive reception to the nude photograph of plus-size model Lizzie Miller in the September 2009 issue of Glamour Magazine, which stimulated so much attention, both good and bad, that the publication has now dedicated entire spreads to larger models.
Such results have changed the way many see the fashion industry in general. More so, in 2008, the first empirical research into the central tenet of advertising, that is, that thin models sell more products, was undertaken, with controversial results.

The research by Phillippa Diedrichs from the University of Queensland’s Health Psychology Research Unit, which created mock advertisements to compare the selling power of typical, size 8 models and those generally label “plus size” models; found that mostly, there was no difference. It also found that body satisfaction of those women viewing the advertisements increased immediately after viewing the images of the larger models when compared with those who saw the slim models.

Kate Ellis, the federal Minister for Youth, proposed a code of conduct for magazines to mark the occasion of this study, as reported in The Sydney Morning Herald. In this, she suggested the requirement for publications, particularly of the fashion industry, to show models who were not abnormally thin and to disclose the use of digitally altered images.

However, many are worried about what the plus-sized industry says to today’s health conscious society.

“These women are not making those who are technically overweight step outside of their comfort zones and lose the weight they need to,” Personal Trainer and Fitness Coach, Ian Hammond says.

“Larger women will see plus-sized women on the catwalk and think, hey, it’s acceptable to be the way I am, I don’t need to be any different,

When will the measuring stop and thin no longer be in? Image by Sarah Hamilton.

but, really, it’s unhealthy to be that way, and plus sized models are promoting an unhealthy lifestyle.”

Indeed Karl Lagerfeld, German fashion designer, recently highlighted this opinion in his comments to Brigitte Magazine.

“No one wants to see curvy women [on the catwalk],” Lagerfeld was quoted as saying.

“You’ve got fat mothers with their bags of chips sitting in front of the television and saying that thin models are ugly.”

“The world of fashion is about dreams and illusions and it is absurd to think that women like this can embody what fashion is supposed to promote to the world,” he adds.

But such views expressed by society are on the steep decline due to the obviously well received notion of what Wells describes as ‘healthy looking’ women on the catwalk.

“It took me a long time to feel good about myself, and only recently did I start to accept my body the way it is and be happy with who I am. Health concerns are one thing, but body image and self-esteem is another. Yes you should be healthy, but you should also see yourself as beautiful, and big is beautiful.”

For related stories and to find out more about how to be happy and healthy see The Happiness Diet. Or for motivation see the multimedia piece What’s the Big Idea?

CURVY women have no place on the catwalk, iconic German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld was quoted as saying, after a magazine said it was banning skinny models in favour of “real women”.

“No one wants to see curvy women,” Lagerfeld was quoted as saying on the website of news magazine Focus yesterday.

“You’ve got fat mothers with their bags of chips sitting in front of the television and saying that thin models are ugly,” he said.

The world of fashion is about “dreams and illusions”, he said, dismissing as “absurd” the debate prompted by Brigitte magazine which said it would no longer feature professional models on its pages.

Brigitte, one of Germany’s top women’s magazines, said last week it would only publish photographs of “real women” after readers complained they could not identify with the models depicted.

This issue also made global news, journalist Kate Connolly of the United Kingdom newspaper The Guardian, recently published this article:

Karl Lagerfeld, the eccentric German fashion designer, has waded into the debate about size-zero models by stating that people prefer to look at “skinny models”, and those who do not are “fat mummies”.

Lagerfeld, 71, was reacting to the magazine Brigitte’s announcement last week that it will in future use “ordinary, realistic” women rather than professional models in its photoshoots. He said the decision by Germany’s most popular women’s magazine was “absurd” and driven by overweight women who did not like to be reminded of their weight issues.

“These are fat mummies sitting with their bags of crisps in front of the television, saying that thin models are ugly,” Lagerfeld said in an interview with Focus magazine. The creative director of the fashion house Chanel added that the world of fashion was all to do “with dreams and illusions, and no one wants to see round women”.

Lagerfeld, who is known in the trade as a designer with a particular penchant for skinny models, adopted an almost emaciated look himself a few years ago, losing a lot of weight when he went on a strict low-carbohydrate diet. He has continued to share his diet tips over the years, stating: “I only like the things that I’m allowed to eat, so it’s not like I have to avoid anything, which is how I don’t put on weight.”

He has also repeatedly defended the fashion world against claims that it encourages anorexia.

Three years ago in Berlin, the designer, known in the trade as King Karl and who sports a trademark upturned white collar and black leather gloves, created a stir by saying that it was psychological problems that caused models to be underweight, not pressure from the fashion industry.

“They aren’t deliberately skinny because they want to be models, they’ve probably had family problems or suffered from other traumas,” he said, adding that he had never seen any anorexic models himself, “only extremely slim ones”.

The Hamburg fashion designer John Ribbe joined the debate, saying the row over underweight models had become hysterical. “It’s just as much a cliché as saying that all models take drugs and get drunk at sex orgies,” he said.

“Ninety per cent of them are quite normal, properly proportioned girls with less fat and more muscles who also eat pizzas and burgers.”

Brigitte’s editor, Andreas Lebert, said that after years of having to “fatten up” pictures of underweight models “with Photoshop”, the magazine will produce its first edition with non-professional models on 2 January.

“We will show women that have their own identity – the 18-year-old A-level student, the company chairwoman, the musician, the footballer,” he said. Lebert, who said the average weight of a model was “23% less” than that of a non-model, is calling for readers to sign up for photo sessions.

Brigitte’s decision follows a recent appeal by British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman to major fashion houses to end the “size-zero” culture, and a scandal over a Ralph Lauren advertising campaign in which a model was “thinned down” using computer graphics.

MISS W Photo taken by Jordan Tredinnick

MISS X Photo taken by Jordan Tredinnick

Miss X       

Miss X, 20, has had 10 sexual partners in the four years she has been sexually active. She has been in a serious relationship for just over a year. Known for her partying ways in High School, Miss X has changed her view on sex since being in a serious relationship. She is content with her number of sexual partners, but says it has been a large issue in her relationship.

What do you think about the number of people you have slept with?

It doesn’t really bother me, I can’t change it. Now I’m in a serious relationship I don’t really think about it. It’s not like the number is growing or anything.

Has the number of people you have slept with ever been an issue in your relationship?

Yes!! We have the same friends from high school, and a lot of them are old flames of mine. When we first got together, whenever we went to parties or anything like that we would have a massive fight about it. In my gap year I went overseas for a year, and slept with a few people, as you do.  When my boyfriend and I got together I told him everything, and he blew up about it. He dumped me over it in a rage, but we got back together. Whenever I talked about my trip he would get so angry and abuse me calling me a slut and stuff. In the end we just agreed to not talk about my trip at all, because when we did it would just cause a massive fight. It was a huge issue at the beginning of our relationship, but after a year it’s not so much of an issue anymore.

Have you ever had a one night stand?

Yeah, I’ve had one night stands, and afterwards I felt hung over. When it happened I didn’t care and I didn’t feel ashamed. It was fun, and at that time in my life I had no ties and no responsibilities, so I figured why not?

How do you feel about one night stands?

I honestly have never really thought about it. I think after being in a long term relationship my feelings towards one night stands are different. I don’t think I would ever be able to have one again.

Do you judge people based on the number of people they have had sex with?

I wouldn’t judge someone; I mean each to their own. And in all honesty some people do it for a living which is their choice- not mine. It’s just sex after all.

 

Miss Y

Miss Y is a gold star- that is she has slept with only women. Her first sexual experience was at the age of 16, and at 26 years of age she has accumulated approximately 20 sexual partners. Miss Y sees sex in a more relaxed way, and says there is a very big difference between homosexuals and heterosexuals in this respect. Miss Y is currently in a serious relationship, for which she left her home country of England for.

What do you think about the number of sexual partners you have had?

I think it’s rather low. In the whole scale of things compared to who I hung out with back in England it’s pretty low. But I’ve had a lot more partners than my current partner so it’s all relative.

What do you think other people think about your number?

I don’t really go around broadcasting it, but if I told people they’d probably think I was a dirty stopout. I don’t really care though, I’m quite proud of the fact that I’ve slept with that amount of people- it’s their problem not mine.

How do you see sex as a part of our society?

I think maybe it’s different between heterosexuals and homosexuals. All the lesbians I knew back home, we all slept with everyone because you could all just be friends and hook up- it wasn’t a big deal. It was just something that you just did and it was a bit of fun and it was harmless. But I think maybe with straight people, women who sleep with a lot of men are seen as sluts whereas if the men sleep with a lot of women then their like “the man”. So I think it’s more of a casual thing in the gay scene where it’s all a bit of fun.

Do you ever judge someone based on the number of people they have slept with?

No, I don’t think so because I suppose you could say a women that has slept with a lot of people is a slut, but then you could also see her as a women of experience who knows what she’s doing- and that’s how I like to look at it.

MISS Z Photo taken by Jordan Tredinnick

Miss Z

Miss Z, 21, has never had a one night stand, but thinks that men would judge her harshly if they knew that she had slept with 12 people. She says that she judges people harshly based on what she hears about their sexual history, and thinks it’s sad that women think that sex is the only thing they have to offer to men. She is uncomfortable with her number, choosing to never share her number of sexual partners with any of her partners in fear that they will judge her.

How do you feel about the number of people you have slept with?

I don’t have one night stands or anything. It’s all been with people I’ve been in a relationship with. So yeah I’m pretty confident with myself and I stay true to myself and have self respect, so I feel ok about my number.

Do you care what other people think about the number of people you have slept with?

Maybe, I don’t know. I’d say yes, but then it’s not too many people, but other people may think it is too many and think I’m a slut- which is not who I am. Some people who have different morals might think I’m a different person to what I really am.

Have you ever discussed the number of people you have slept with in a relationship?

Not in detail. People always ask and I always say “I’m not telling”, because with guys no matter what number it is they always think it is too much. So it could be two and they would be like “oh my god”! So I think it’s safer to just say nothing.

Have you ever judged someone based on the number of their sexual partners?

Yes. I’m a judgemental person anyway, and if that’s the first thing I hear about someone before I meet them then I’ll judge them. I judge them how society sees them; like I see them as a slut. I feel so bad when I judge them and I just want to say to them, “you don’t have to do that”. I just wish girls would think a bit more and think that that they could use their brains and not just use sex to get what they want, because I think that backfires a lot.

Do you believe a person is defined by the number of sexual partners they’ve had?

It does in our society. If it’s known about a person then it does, because you go “oh that’s so and so and she’s a slut,” or “she slept with this person last week”. But it doesn’t really define someone; it’s just how society sees it. The number of people you’ve slept with really has nothing to do with how good you are as a person.

How do you see sex as part of our society?

I think young girls think that’s all they have to offer, and I think that’s really changed from previous generations. I think it might have to do with the sort of celebrities we have, where a lot of them have become famous because of sex video’s and stuff. I think self-esteem issues are a part of it too. I think it’s changed for the worst because girl’s think, “well if I want a guy to talk to me or like me, I have to give it up or at least look like I will”.

 

To see what guys really think see How Many is Too Many?