Obesity Epidemic Spreads to Inanimate Objects

The Spanish government knows what its people need: fat mannequins. The health ministry says all shop window dummies will henceforth be size 38 or above (very roughly equivalent to a size 6 stateside), and officials plan to measure 8,500 Spanish women "to determine the true shape of Spanish women's bodies." It gets better.

Retailers have also pledged to stop putting clients through the nightmare of having to work out exactly what their size is in each shop they visit. With different retailers deciding for themselves exactly what, for example, a size 38 really is, consumers are confused.

Now retailers are to agree a common sizing policy that will be "truthful, homogenous and comprehensible".

Isn't this just obviously counterproductive? Sorry boys and girls, but you have to pick one: truth or flattery. Standardizing sizes will slow the delightful spread of vanity sizing, in which the numbers only get smaller as our trans-fat stuffed bodies get bigger. Telling adolescent girls how fat they really are seems unlikely to curb anyone's pro-ana enthusiasm.