Former ballerina'sBATTLE with BODY IMAGE

Auckland author Sacha Jones reveals how dancing led her to develop an eating disorder and why she's now on a mission to educate other women.

- JUDY BAILEY

Women are the fatter sex – embrace it. This is just one of the stark messages in Auckland author Sacha Jones’ new book, The Fatter Sex. But this is not the message we are constantly bombarded with and it’s one that the former ballerina herself has struggled against for much of her life.

Slim is the beauty standard. Yet as Sacha will tell you, females are genetically programmed to store 50 per cent more body fat than men in order to replace what periods deplete through blood loss, and to summon enough energy to reproduce and rear children. In other words, we’re meant to be fatter. But try telling that to your daughters and granddaughters!

Too thin or too fat, no matter how you look at it, body issues are a burgeoning problem. Sacha tells me, “Mothers don’t know what to say to their daughters about weight and eating issues. They’re constantly facing contradictory messages, like, ‘Slim down – you’re overweight!’ and, ‘Be fat, be positive and love the skin you’re in!’”

What’s more, she says, white women in particular are often stereotyped as being bitchy, body-shaming and problematic. “Mothers and daughters need serious help,” she adds, calling for public funding to train mums and grandmothers to help counsel those struggling with eating disorders.

“We need to be able to draw on case studies that are different to our own experiences.”

Sacha cites the heartbreaking case of a 13-year-old California girl who overate her way to an early grave. “She was a strong-willed child – she overpowered me,” said the mother, clearly overwhelmed by the situation.

Sacha insists, “Puberty is largely a time for laying down fat stores in young girls, but then, equally, telling your daughter she’s beautiful at any weight is a short-term strategy.”

Sacha has struggled with her own eating disorders since she was young.