Does anyone else agree that actresses should be scrutinized about their weight just as much as models? If we are going to put regulations on the weight of models, then it should most certainly apply to actresses who have the same effect on society.

Take Lindsay Lohan and Mary-Kate Olsen for example. They both withered away into skin and bones and no one was doing anything about it. I think they have more persuasion on our younger generations then models do. I just think it's very sad.

I know that they have lots of influence on the younger generation, but in my opinion I really don't think that society should really have any say in what these people do to themselves and their body. I mean, let's say you have a 13 year old daughter... She likes some anorexic model or actress... That model/actress has no more influence on your daughter than the teens she goes to school with every day. It's also determined by the parenting. I know kids will do what they do, but their morals and what's been taught to them will stick inside them no matter what they see other people doing. Unfortunately, they do some of what they see, but all kids do that and depending what they're taught early in life, determines whether it will be a phase or a life long thing.

It just bothers me how so much of the media talk so much about the negative things going on and the people in the entertainment industry that are as human as us. The paparazzi and such choose to put all this negativity about these people on the news and those people did not choose to get put there. I know by taking a career in acting/modeling/etc. they know they'll be a role model. But they're human just like us and it just sucks they have to be "perfect" for us... It's a hard thing to take on.

There's as many obese and other unhealthy related people on TV that can have the same effects, yet people only pay attention to the ones that are publicized. Take Oprah for example, she lost weight because she CHOSE to, not because the public forced her and said she was being a bad influence on women or children's weight...

Anyway, I just don't think people should really pay too much attention to the media and people on TV. I mean, there's more violence on the local news than there is on the entertainment media that we should be more worried about our kids watching. And there's plenty more role models in our kids lives that can influence them, not just actresses and models... Their teachers, us (their parents!), their school mates, neighbors... One anorexic actress won't ruin our children.

I agree with Mercedes. Yet HealthNutt's point of view too. However, I just wanted to point one thing out. Have you attended a high school lately? Or even a middle school? Actually my little brother has a girlfriend now and he is in 5th grade! So even an elementary school! All the popular girls are skinny. And I'm not talking just thin, I am talking size 00, 0, and 2. I'm a size 4 and I was not skinny enough to be one of the "cool" kids. I graduated high school May 06. So I want to point out that peers definitely do NOT help show teens that being skinny isn't a necessity. I believe that movie stars like teen icons Lohan and Olsen do have an affect on how we think. I have idolized the Olsen twins since I grew up watching them on full house. And stars like Jessica Biel from Seventh Heaven. But all these actresses have one thing in common; they're skinny.
As far as parents go, personally, I still don't get along with my parents, do most teens? I'm in college now and with my overweight father and size 12 mother, I do not take their opinion of how I look very highly. My mother was a size 2 until she had me, and never bigger than a size 6 til she had my brother. Society teaches girls to be skinny. I would still kill to look like my mother did at my age or how Lohan looks now. It is something that is ingrained in girls today: you must be skinny to be attractive.
People pay attention to the media whether they should or shouldn't. And peers do nothing but intensify what the media says. Parents, that's a ball park I won't get into, but you understand my point. Whether its good or bad, people do pay attention to stars like Lohan and Olsen and try to mimic them. Actresses should have to maintain a certain weight, it would help themselves and in turn help society.