Thin is in for Singapore youth
SINGAPORE (AFP) - - Fauzi Rassull is a slim 20-year-old
blogger, popular among Singapore's fashionable youngsters, who
flaunts his 1.73-metre (5-foot 8-inch), 60-kilogram (132-pound)
frame in glamour shots splashed on his sites.
Followers share tips on eating and Fauzi himself swears by his
regimen of two meals a day consisting of bread, instant noodles and
salad.
Thanks in part to anti-fat advocates like Fauzi, thin is in
among Singapore teens and young adults, but experts warn that the
fad is behind a worrying spike in the number of people developing
eating disorders.
"I don't see myself as thin, I don't think I'm thin now," he
insisted, saying he was aiming to cut his weight down to 53
kilograms.
Fauzi's dream weight would put him below the healthy range of
the Body Mass Index (BMI) system used in many countries to measure
fat.
At that weight, Fauzi, who does not hold a regular job and sells
ads on his blog, would be risking "nutritional deficiency diseases
and osteoporosis" based on the BMI scale of the Singapore Health
Promotion Board, a government agency.
Fauzi, whose blog "The Male Bitch" was voted Singapore's most
popular blog for four consecutive weeks in 2009, denies he is
encouraging anorexia, which afflicts many Asian youngsters.
"I just want to be skinny and people misinterpret skinny and
anorexic," he said, referring to hate mail he had been receiving
from outraged people accusing him of promoting the eating
disorder.
Medical studies show anorexia has become an endemic problem in
Asian countries, whether in industrial powerhouses such as Japan
and South Korea or emerging economies like India.
Singapore is no exception, with the Eating Disorders Programme
of the Singapore General Hospital reporting five new cases a month.
Many other cases are handled by private clinics.
Singapore has a resident population of just 3.64 million, of
whom 13.4 percent belong to the 15 to 24 age category, the
demographic most susceptible to the disorder, according to
psychiatrist Ken Ung.
"I think that the eating disorders are sort of a novelty,
curiosity, so they are fairly popular to young people," said Ung,
who has studied anorexia for years.
He disapproves of websites and blogs such as Fauzi's due to
their influence among the young.
"These sites should be taken down, definitely it is harmful to
that small vulnerable minority that will be influenced," he
said.
Popular social networking site Facebook apparently shared the
same sentiments.
Fauzi said his 900-strong Facebook group -- "Get Thin or Die
Trying" -- saw a spike in membership before it was taken down by
site administrators in April this year.
He was also issued a warning and refused permission to start a
new Facebook group after repeated attempts.
In a copy of the warning sent to Fauzi, Facebook said the site
does not allow "groups that are hateful, threatening or
obscene."
But Fauzi, who is also the creator of "The Thinspo Club" on
Facebook's rival social networking site Friendster, said all he was
trying to do was gather like-minded individuals to share slimming
tips.
"I just want Singaporeans to lead a healthy lifestyle as well,"
he said.
Lee Huei Yen, the director of the Eating Disorders Programme,
was sceptical of Fauzi's diet.
"The diet does not sound healthy and balanced and this person
may possibly have an eating disorder," she said.
A freelance model, Braberry Paula Elizabeth, also expressed
concern over Fauzi's slimming obsession.
"To me he's really slim, but I don't know why he wants to be
thinner," said the svelte 19-year-old contestant in a beauty
competition organised by bikini magazine FHM Singapore.
"Slimming is one thing, but there's a limit to everything," she
said.
Fauzi brushes aside such concerns and is single-mindedly
pursuing his dream of being as fashionably thin as American
socialite Paris Hilton.
"She's my idol, she's very pretty, that's why I want to go to
the extent of trying to be as thin as possible," he gushed.
"It's all about glamour."
