In a survey of 65 Fijian girls presented last week to the American Psychiatric Association, Dr. Anne Becker reported that teen girls who watched TV three or more nights per week were 50 percent more likely than others to feel “too big or fat.” Almost two thirds had dieted in the past month. “That’s unbelievably high,” says Becker, research director at the Harvard Eating Disorders Center. (American numbers are closer to half.) Most disturbing, 15 percent of the girls, average age 17, said they had vomited to control their weight in 1998, compared with just 3 percent in 1995 (when TV arrived).
The teens cited characters like “Melrose’s” Amanda (Heather Locklear) as inspiration for changing their bodies. “We… try to lose a lot of weight to become more like them,” said one. Another said she’s “depressed’’ about her size. Becker is reluctant to blame TV alone, citing other social factors. A spokesman for Spelling TV, which produces “Melrose’’ and “90210,’’ says: “We’re sorry this seems to be happening… [the shows’] intention is to entertain… It’s fantasy.’’ But in Fiji and elsewhere, girls can take those fantasies to heart.
