ABSTRACT
Historical analysis has also shown that many women, over the centuries, have gone to great lengths to achieve the body beautiful of the time and this continues today. From Chinese footbinding that hindered walking to corsets that hindered breathing, today’s diet industry continues to boom with a host of foods, drinks and drugs that purport to aid weight loss. Cosmetic surgery also appears to be on the increase (Thomas, 1990). Once reserved for the rich and
middle aged, it has now extended to the young and the not so rich. According to a recent article in the American magazine Newsweek, cosmetic surgery has increased 153% since 1992, with 10 times more women than men undergoing these procedures (Kalb, 1999).
