Once again, we have weight-sensitive advise for the self-conscious. The BBC reports that French women do come in all shapes and sizes - not all are skinny. But these women feel extra pressure to fit in with their country's ideal of the skinny Parisian. According to a plus-sized woman named Isabelle interviewed by the BBC, being fat can even lead to job discrimination:

"It's how it works for women here," Isabelle explains. "If you are fat, you will not get that job. But if you have the silhouette - chic, ultra-slim, elegant - you are more or less made."

Isabelle is an all-too-rare exception to the rule - she is actually quite fat - but, being self-employed, she can get away with it, she says. Isabelle likes being overweight in a society that is so obsessed with thinness and conformity.

Whoa. What's worse is that the French thinness ideal has become a burden that Gallic women have taken on. According to Sonia Feertchak, editor of L'Encyclo Des Filles:

"Women have come so far in France - we have a political voice, good childcare, access to work - but instead of being more confident we are increasingly obsessed with our weight and shape.

"Coco Chanel freed us from the corset more than 80 years ago - but we have fallen for a mental one instead - a silhouette of supposed perfection that is unattainable and leads to eating disorders and misery," she adds.

Read the full story here.