The perceived personal responsibility for controlling the body contrasted in the analysis with the difficulty experienced by women in their attempts to attain control. This suggests a clash between women’s personal experiences and the promotion within contemporary western society of the body as malleable. Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe and Tantleff-Dunn suggest that the sociocultural ideal for thinness erroneously implies that ‘body weight and shape are infinitely malleable’ (1999, p. 87). Featherstone notes that although the body: incorporates fixed capacities such as height and bone structure, the tendency within consumer culture is for ascribed bodily qualities to become regarded as plastic—with effort and ‘body work’ individuals are persuaded that they can achieve a certain desired appearance. (1982, pp. 177–178) The concept of the body as controllable remains popular in our society despite the unattainability of culturally idealized body shapes. Brownell and Napolitano (1995) found that the changes necessary for a young healthy adult woman to attain the same body proportions as Barbie would include a 24 inch increase in height, a 5 inch increase in the chest and a 6 inch decrease in the waist. Different perceptions of the controllability of the body carry different implications for the correction of bodily deviance, the responsibility held by the individual in relation to controlling the body, and the self-esteem and perceived character of those with imperfect bodies. The data reflect Natalie Allon’s analysis of the stigmatization of fatness as sin, disease, crime and ugliness (see Sobal, 1984).