Welcome to “Civilization”

Traditionally, residents of Fiji prefer a “robust, well-muscled body” for both sexes — what many Westerners would call “large”. But television arrived in Fiji in 1995, bringing such shows as Melrose Place and Xena: Warrior Princess with their depiction of “Western ideals of beauty.” Since then, things have changed radically, say anthropologists from Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass., who are studying the Fijian population. In a 1998 survey, 74 percent of Fijian girls said they felt “too big or fat” and, the Harvard researchers note, there has been a marked increase in eating disorders such as induced vomiting. (Reuters) ...Vomiting is the natural reaction to those shows.