BODY IMAGE FICTION QUOTES - Jacqueline Wilson on body size, not eating and dressing like 'a tart'

I wish I was made out of plasticine. Then I'd roll myself out, long and very very thin. I'd stretch my stubby fingers into elegant manicured hands, I'd narrow my neck and my ankles, I'd scrape huge great chunks off my bottom, I'd pull of all my brown wiry hair and make myself a new long blond hairstyle … (Wilson, 1998, p.14).

“You girls! You're all brain-washed. They're big women, they're strong, they've got sturdy thighs, real muscles in their arms and legs … Beauty is just fashion. Male artists have used beautiful women throughout the centuries but their sizes and proportions keep changing. If you were Giovanni Arnolfini in the Middle Ages then your ideal pin-up girl had a high forehead and a tiny bosom and a great big tummy. A century later Titian liked large firm women with big bottoms. Rubens liked his women large too, but wobbly. Goya's women were white and slender, then Renoir liked them very big and and salmon pink!” (Wilson, 1998, p.187).

It's easier to skip a meal altogether rather than discipline myself to nibble just a tiny amount. (Wilson, 1998, p.103).

I go to bed early and try to sleep late because it's one way of avoiding eating times. (Wilson, 1998, p.109).

I find it helps me stop wanting to nibble all the time as you can't really eat and sew. (Wilson, 1998, p.126).

“He said I was asking for it. He said why did I dress like a tart if I wasn't willing to act like one.” (Wilson, 1998, p.116).