Fat people are so rarely included in visual culture that fat is perceived as a blot on the landscape of sleek and slim.

Skinny is only one body type.

Beauty has been democratised. No longer the preserve of movie stars and models but available to all. But while the invitation to beauty is welcomed, it has become not so much an option as an imperative.

There are so many young women who tip over into being a facsimile: they don't really inhabit their lives or their bodies.

We accept there's an emotional aspect to life. But we're not very developed in our ways of understanding it.

Fat is a social disease, and fat is a feminist issue.

Consumer society tantalises us. We then try within ourselves to control the needs that are being constantly stimulated.