Body Image Issues

As I mentioned earlier, women’s concerns about their body image have only recently become apparent to me. Previously, I’ve heard women make fun of each other about their weight but they never seemed to care much about how they looked. It wasn’t until recently, though, that I have talked to women seriously about their weight. Some women have asked me what they should do in order to lose weight because they think they are too fat. I don’t know if this assessment comes from concerns for their health or for ideas of what it means to be attractive. Its usually married women past child bearing age that ask me about this but just the last week a young girl also mentioned her desire to lose weight. Rather than drink the sugary mint tea, she just drank hot water with crushed mint. She told me all about her “regime” (diet). She was only allowing herself two meals per day and had stopped eating all fruit. Obviously, I discouraged her from continuing with this plan and suggested that she just exercise a bit. I don’t know what other crazy diets may be in practice around town. :/
On the opposite end of the spectrum are the many young women who are terrible skinny and want nothing but to gain weight. A few young women have asked me for pills that will help them gain weight. Does such a thing even exist? While some young women are severely skinny, the majority are just slightly underweight or normal weight by our standards. I believe that by local standards, the fuller and voluptuous woman is still the most attractive so hence young unmarried women desire to gain a bit of weight.
I never would have thought that body image would be a big issue here, especially considering how girls are raised. People here bathe in public bathing house (hammam) in which they are exposed to every body type. Women and girls are not squeamish about nakedness and so the message often seems to be that everyone is comfortable in their bodies. So is this concern with body image due to recent international media exposure or a desire for improved health? I’m still trying to figure this out…