Skinny Skinny Skinny

I remember ages ago you used to read about people wanting to be a perfect "ten." And not in the Bo Derek running on a bench sans bra kinda way (Has anyone else seen that movie? Dudley Moore married to Julie "Fraulin Maria" Andrews whilst perving incessantly at Bo...Soooo badddd) but in a size ten kinda way. Size ten was what you wanted to be. The size mentioned as a goal for those dieting and the benchmark of knowing you were healthy and slim. Slim has been replaced by thin. Size Eight anyone? And now with the over-exposure of increasingly tiny celebs and models everywhere you look, the target appears to be size six. Now don't get me wrong; I know some people are naturally skinnier than others, the same as some people have blue eyes and some green. But we live in a society where acceptance is not really desirable. We are meant to strive for something...Something that maybe isn't really a goal, but is more of a trap.
I don't think the issue is that size ten is not necessarily the target anymore. People are exercising more, perhaps have better ideas in terms of diet...Or do we? Does smaller necessarily mean healthier? You see some people who shift a few kilos, exercise more, eat better and look really good. Feel good and that, to me, is a positive; a reason to step away from that second helping. But then what about that person who's a size twelve and looks good, eats well, exercises and can't find anything to wear in her size? We live in a society where I believe 80% are size twelve or over yet the racks in stores are filled with sixes and eights. Does Sportsgirl really think Posh Spice is coming to go on a mass shopping spree thus justifying stocking all these teeny clothes?
I don't really have any answers. I don't know where it all stemmed from but I don't know anyone who doesn't know their size and hasn't at one time expressed a wish to be skinnier. Not healthier, but skinnier. People seem to equate them as one and the same. But when you hear stories - true stories - of five year old girls worrying that if they eat their lunch, "they'll get fat" I think the problem is not going to shrink away like the ideal size...