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August 15, 2008

Mag campaign against ‘fatism’

By Press Gazette

Sarah Hedley, editor of saucy women’s monthly Scarlet has gathered 580 signatories in a campaign to Ofcom against ‘fatism’in the media.

Hedley became annoyed at the media’s willingness to laugh at fat people, and launched the campaign in April after watching a TV quiz where a team were asked what was bigger, Posh Spice’s waist or obese woman Tracey’s arm, with Tracey brought on set and measured.

Hedley called Ofcom to find out what she could do, and invited readers to register their complaints with the watchdog or sign the Scarlet petition on the magazine’s website.

Hedley said: ‘So many women complain to each other about self-esteem, and about feeling pressure from the media to look a certain way – I wanted to direct their complaints at the people who need to hear them, and I will be sending the petition to Ofcom in the hope that it will force them to rethink their policies – small changes can lead to a big difference.”

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