A new online game encouraging young girls to stay thin, get breast implants and visit tanning salons is raising concerns for the health and wellbeing of teenagers.
The website is called www.missbimbo.com and targets girls between the ages of seven to seventeen.
Melinda Tankard-Reist from Women’s Forum Australia joins the show to discuss the dangers of such websites.
The Women's Forum Australia has condemned the MissBimbo game, in which millions of players around the world guide their "bimbo" through a variety of tasks.
"Some of the tasks include starting and ending relationships, constant dieting and constant visits to a tanning salon,” she explains.
"Characters in the game also need to undergo two operations to make themselves more beautiful before reaching the end of the game," she says. “The game suggests girls are just a sum of their body parts.”
"It is ridiculous that girls as young as seven are encouraged to have enhancements so they appeal to boys," she says.
There's even an ideal weight range suggested. "This is really bad because of the emphasis on dieting," she says. "We know one in five 12-year-olds is using fasting and vomiting to lose weight and programs such as this can be very damaging to the health and wellbeing of young girls."
Ms Tankard-Reist says the website promotes being sexy and hot as the ultimate ideal for girls, diminishing their value and worth.
"Research shows that the widespread objectification and sexualisation of girls and young women is contributing to eating disorders, self-harm, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and poor academic performance," she says.
"The game also helps turn girls against each other by competing to be the hottest bimbo who skyrockets to the top of fame and popularity.”
"Ultimately, we're disturbed on so many levels," she says. " The game suggests the girl has to be sexual, available to men and do whatever she can to reach 'bimbo' status."
"At a time when self harm and eating disorders are at such a high rate in society, game makers should be creating games to promote healthy living."
"We are calling for the game to be shut down," she says.
