So it’s all over the internet. Amy Childs is so happy because she has curves and she loves them. She used to be size 6 and now she’s size 10 on top and size 8 on bottoms.

I’m sorry, but can we NOT advertise that as a happy, healthy body for girls to aspire to? The average dress size in the UK is 14. I’m all for celebrating curves, but let’s not promote such small sizes that teenage (and older) girls just simply can’t achieve.

I wouldn’t call myself a feminist. Or at least I never would have done until I read ‘How To Be A Woman’ by Caitlin Moran. I realised that I am a member of the fairer sex, and I enjoy privileges such as the right to vote, and the right to be heard… the right to work. I’m not extreme in any way about my rights as a woman, I just enjoy the fact that I do have rights thanks to feminists before me.

One area I do feel strongly about though, is self-image and self-worth and the horrible picture that is given to us in the media for us, as women, to strive towards. I have the lowest self-esteem. I think I’m ugly, weird-looking (I hate so much about the way I look) and I am aware that I’m overweight. Acutely aware. Especially when I have size 6 and smaller celebrities paraded in front of me, being told they are happy and healthy, and that is what I should be. If I do X, Y and Z I can look like them. Usually X, Y and Z are a combination of eating very little and doing an obscene amount of exercise that no normal person can fit into their day.

I’m not saying that those celebrities are not healthy… Of course you can be size 6, get three square meals a day in, with your 5 a day and half an hour of exercise. Every body is different. Two people could follow the same diet and exercise routine but be totally different sizes. I can accept that, but it seems the media cannot.

We need more Adeles. More Liv Tylers. More Kate Winslets. The girls who are size 12+ and are proud of it. Not ashamed. Renée Zellweger looked her best as Bridget Jones, with a bit of weight on her. Celebrities should reflect our society, and what I’m looking at when I look into that mirror is a very distorted picture of reality.

Recently at work, Miley Cyrus’ new video was discussed (who hasn’t discussed that vulgar display?!) and we all agreed that licking the sledgehammer was beyond weird. But the youngest members of staff said they thought Miley’s body was incredible and they wished they could look like that. I for one, have always coveted Miley’s legs. But hearing that from 17/18 year olds… Miley works out a lot, I’m sure. But she is so skinny. A quick Google search tells me Miley weighs around 50kg. I typed her details into a BMI calculator I found online. She’s classified as underweight. This is the role model girls are looking at and striving to look like.

It doesn’t stop with Miley. I used the same BMI calculator and the details Google gave me for Angelina Jolie, Rihanna, Cameron Diaz, Jessica Biel and Kate Middleton. Every single one of them are dramatically underweight.

It’s not a new phenomenon, and it’s probably never going to change. Society looks at the media to see what we should look like, what we should do, how we should behave, and it sickens me. We’re looking in the wrong places for acceptance and fulfilment. We should be healthy and happy, but that doesn’t mean we have to look at others to work out what that means.