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heat Body Survey 2010

The results of heat magazine’s first-ever body survey are in, and it shows that South African women are really hard on themselves… and with reason, it turns out. A separate section of the poll targeted men, and answers like "I will never date a girl with a fat ass" may go some way to explaining why 56% of women polled would consider plastic surgery.

"Considering we're such a outdoor-loving nation, I was surprised that as much as 28% of readers said that they would never wear a bikini," says heat Editor in Chief Melinda Shaw. "Almost half – 40% of the respondents – said they’re confident enough for a bikini, but only if they can also wrap up in a sarong – it seems we South African girls haven’t totally made peace with our bums and our tums! Are our menfolk to blame?"

The body shape coveted by most women, and coincidentally also by the majority of the male respondents, is "curvy like Scarlett Johansson", added Shaw. "Ironically we all like the idea of curves even more than the athletic Cameron Diaz body type – until we have them, it seems!" However, only 6% of respondents wants a model-thin body like that of Agyness Deyn, and 26% will never consider any plastic surgery.

"We know that the surgery trend is huge in Hollywood, although it's not always openly spoken of, so we were interested to see what our readers really thought of nip/tuck. We got a lot of reader reaction to our recent story about The Hills star Heidi Montag who had 10 procedures done in one day at the age of only 23,"says Shaw. "It turns out only 6% of them have already had some form of procedure, most commonly Botox. And 15% percent of them would want a tummy tuck if they had the means!"

No wonder, considering that 17% of respondents had been at the receiving end of the question "How far along are you?" when they weren't pregnant at all! A total of 31% swear by exercise to keep their stomachs flat.

And while cellulite top the list of most-hated body flaws – 41% of respondents would do anything to get rid of their cellulite – Shaw says, "the good news is that 37% of the guys polled don't even notice cellulite and think that women should worry less about the old orange-peel effect!"

It also turns out that celebrities are no different from ordinary girls when it comes to body issues, according to Shaw. "When we told them they would have to strip off for the shoot, a number of stars pulled out! In the end we have five brave stars, including Survivor’s Hanna Grobler and 5fm’s Elana Afrika, who shared their body issues… and stripped off for pictures!"

Check out the behind the scenes video on the heat Body Survey 2010 celebrity shoot.

A total of 507 female respondents and over 100 men completed the online survey, and the full results are published in this week’s issue of heat, on sale now.

(Heat Magazine, March 2010) 

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