I read somewhere that the average UK woman is a size 16. And most women I see in the street don’t look overweight. Which suggests that size 16 isn’t ‘fat’. Yet most women think they are too large.

Want proof of this?

Take the Miraclesuit phenomenon, for example. The idea is that this swimsuit will make you “look 10lbs lighter in 10 seconds.” Although the range goes up to a size 24, most suits sold are in sizes 14-16. Not plus sizes at all. Average sizes, in fact.

So why do average-sized women feel that they are too big? The easy answer is to blame size zero models. But I don’t think that’s the whole truth.

I’m thin. I wear size 6 clothes, but I frequently feel that I’d look better if I had bigger breasts and smaller thighs. I have countless friends who are thinner than me and they all wish they looked different in some way.

Maybe the point is that women are naturally prone to be negative about themselves, to question their self-worth. What can be done about this? Unfortunately, I don’t know. But I think that having ‘real’ women as models is a good start. Don’t get rid of skinny models, though – skinny girls need to be represented too!

It may be a more comforting world for women if supermodels were voted for by men as then women might realize that many men like cuddly girls in preference to skinny girls. What women currently believe guys like in a girl is what is fed to them by the fashion industry and it's ideas and requirements.

By Paul Bowers, I write for Mio Destino and for it's blog site MioBlog writing articles of interest to their international clients. The company sells internationally, high end, designer lingerie, swimwear, corsets, pyjamas and mens underwear predominantly from Italy and France but also from the US, Canada and other parts of Europe. You can sign up for a FREE Newsletter and FREE to enter competitions if you visit the Mio Destino website.

If you like my articles then why not sign up to my the MioBlog. The company is currently working on a high end designer collection called Hypnotique which will be launched in the next month.