Every once in a while, someone writes a book that's crying out to be written - but even more, crying out to be read... Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters - The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body, by young American journalist Courtney E Martin, is one of those books.

You might wonder at the title, and think it's not for you - but it's a must-read for all women, and several men out there too --everyone with a sister, aunt, cousin, girlfriend, mother, anyone who's ever felt inadequate when it comes to weight...anyone who's crossed that grey area of mild obsession.

The book is mainly about young girls, young women in the US ...perfectionists, mostly, who have managed to absorb much of an earlier generation's never-say-die, over-achieving spirit, but have also turned that inwards...with often disastrous results.

Disastrous, even if it doesn't lead to prolonged illness and death... But eating disorders, whether we acknowledge them or not, are as much a disease of the mind as they are physically manifest in various forms...in numerous young girls (and increasingly, we're told young boys) worldwide.

As the pressure to buy into that ONE standard of beauty, builds, this is a problem that's creating its own vortex, sucking in our youth and their creative spirit...and what we're left with is the husk of a "regular" adulthood.

Courtney writes about young women -- she's met hundreds of them, ever since she started working on this book - young women in the US...from all strata of society. And you will find the anecdotes telling, whether it's the "Manhattan princesses" judging each other and their friends, trying to conform to harsh standards... or their more downmarket cousins or those in smaller towns, or those who've seemingly outgrown their issues, to those who just don't acknowledge there's anything wrong with obsessing about diet.

But as Courtney mentions as well, she's had enough correspondence with people from far-flung places to demonstrate that this is truly a global problem.

Ignoring it isn't helping. Talking about it or talking around it, rather, doesn't help either. There aren't enough words to describe how tragic it is, that so much time is spent worrying about calories... worrying about what to eat, worrying about how to fit into someone else's ironclad system of values, that leave no room for comfort food.

Judging people based on what they look, sure, we've been that superficial for ages... but judging people based on what they eat? Now that's a revelation. And it's not some twist in a Hollywood tale - but more real than that - high school cafeterias and college canteens, as Courtney heartbreakingly documents...

This might have started as an essentially "white girl" problem -this might have started out as a primarily US-based reality...but the truth is, on the ground here in India, it has translated into twisted realities here for more than just a few privileged kids... ask ANY mental health experts.

Child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr Amit Sen has seen his share of troubled youth..and every once in while says he notices the tell-tale signs of bulimia (skeletal, fuzz on skin) as he walks by people at malls in the Capital.

"In our society today, the slimmer, the fitter you are, people look at you, think you're more attractive. (There's a) lot of preoccupation with keeping yourself fit and beautiful. In some ways, it influences lifestyle in a positive way - when it comes to exercise or eating healthy food..." says Dr Sen.

But there is a negative side, he adds. "But on the other hand, the other extreme, is the constant preoccupation with it, when that becomes too much, it can go out of hand and become pathological. You see anorexia or bulimia, increasing at an alarming rate...With teenagers, those in their 20s..."

What can you do?

Start the debate in your family now -- talk to your teens, to your tweens... about unhealthy body image issues...about airbrushed models. About fighting the need to conform. And avoid the urge to call your child fat or constantly comment on their weight - maybe you could look at encouraging healthy exercise-oriented behaviour, instead.

In the interim, you can certainly give yourself an amount of insight, by picking up Perfect Girls. The only hitch, as of now, it's not available in the country!

(Courtney E. Martin is a freelance writer and teacher, based in the US. Her book Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters - The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body has been published by Free Press in April 2007. For an exclusive interview with the author, visit the Books section of ibnlive.com)