Supermodels: Belsenistas at Bath

Just when it seems the Belsenistas maybe fattened up for the catwalks, here comes the University of Bath - probably the most publicity-seeking educational establishment in the UK - with a report that concludes "women prefer thin models to those with fuller figures."

The poor conformist Vogue-reading twats who preferred thinner models thought Belsenistas were "more elegant, interesting, likeable and pleasant". Less than a third of the 470 female undergraduates questioned reacted favourably to adverts featuring larger models.

The survey's results come after the organisers of last week's Madrid Fashion Week imposed regulations banning "super-skinny" models from the catwalks. Professor Brett Martin, from the university's marketing group in the School of Management, says: "Women who believe that weight can be controlled by taking exercise and dieting believe that a thin model has succeeded in controlling her own weight and is someone they can relate to. These women tended to be thinner."

The fault line in this "poll" lies in the narrow sample - female undergraduates. Would it be presumptuous to suggest that most of these women are under 21? Why does Bath imagine that such a sample is representative of women in general? Or does it suppose that the least cash-rich segment of society - after children - is now the sole focus of the greedy and exploitative fashion and cosmetics industries?

In an earlier post I reviewed Charlotte Church's new show and referred to the new heat-generation of body-bitches who delight in the mockery of fatties, porkies or orange peelies - the celeb ones, as a starting point. It seems a harmless pursuit, a bit of a bonding exercise among the Thin Nazis, but in truth it hard-wires an obsession with physical perfection as defined by the gargoyle designers who hang their unwearable clobber on a herd of anorexic, neurotic matchsticks we call supermodels.

We all know how they stay emaciated. They eat fucking coke for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Supper darling? I'll have some charlie with the Heidsieck.

Female undergraduates - probably more attuned to the career benefits of template conformism - are perfect fodder for the Thin Nazi propaganda of the glossy mags they've gobbled up through their teens. It's the only gobbling up they dare dream about.