Half of women 'would think of having plastic surgery'

Manchester Evening News
Feb. 21, 2007

HALF of British women - including some as young as 17 - would consider plastic surgery, says a new survey.

Almost a third (31 per cent) of women who are size 12 also think they are overweight or fat, according to the poll of almost 25,000 people.

Among those who are a size 14 - still below the average of a size 16 - 66 per cent think they are overweight or fat.

And almost half (43 per cent) of all women questioned said they had skipped a meal to try and lose weight, while eight per cent had made themselves sick.

Most people responding to the survey for BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat and 1xtra TXU were aged 17 to 35, with 37 per cent male and 63 per cent female.

Half the women said there was `lots they would change' about their body, while more than one in 10 said they `hated' it. In contrast, half of men (49 per cent) said they were `okay' with how they look, and one in 10 were `very happy'.

Body image

More than half (53 per cent) of girls aged 12 to 16 felt their body image either stopped them from getting a boyfriend or meant they could not relax in a relationship.

Less than a quarter of men said they would opt for cosmetic surgery, but of those women who would consider it, 36 per cent were thinking of a boob job and 32 per cent liposuction.

Despite the recent debate, less than one per cent said they were `size zero' - real size 4.

However, more than one in five women were on a diet, compared to fewer than one in 10 of the men.