ANOTHER week, another survey telling women "the truth" about how they feel about their bodies. But the New Woman magazine body idol poll has thrown up some worrying results.

Six out of 10 of us think size zero is attractive and 97 per cent think "size 12 is fat". And apparently we pick our friends according to their dress size - 97 per cent of women in the survey say they want girlfriends who are "fatter than them".

But should we really be so surprised by this apparently shallow behaviour?

Dr Colleen Heenan, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Bolton, says: "That's part and parcel of wanting to feel yourself reflected well in different social groups.

"I think women are very envious. There's so much focus on the importance of the body in terms of women's gender identity and so much competitiveness focussed on body image that it doesn't surprise me at all.

"I don't think it is something that is inbuilt within them but I think it is promoted as part of the culture that we live in which is always about holding up an impossible ideal and then promoting some notion that you could achieve that ideal and that really you ought to be achieving it."

The survey also found that another 97 per cent of the women asked would classify a size 12 woman as "fat".

Colleen said: "The average is 16, so that's actually the norm, and people think that that is too big. So there are a lot more women who are average than who are even size 12, but the difficulty is that psychologically nobody wants to be average, we all want to be better than average. Which goes back to this issue of why go round with friends who are fatter than you because then you stand out."

Helen Johnston, editor of New Woman magazine, says: "For the first time, this survey is evidence of the staggering impact size zero has had on British women with six out of 10 thinking this miniscule size is desirable. It's also deeply disturbing that 97 per cent think size 12 is fat. No wonder so many women say they can't eat normally anymore because they're trying to achieve the unachievable."

Another frightening fact uncovered by the survey is the lengths that woman are willing to go to in order to slim down. New Woman found that women go to extreme lengths to slim down - 13 per cent have taken speed or cocaine to speed up their metabolism and almost half have taken slimming pills or bought "diet drugs" on the internet. One in five has used laxatives to try to shed weight.

A fifth of women say they would have a gastric band fitted to lose weight and 40 per cent would have liposuction.

It seems an awfully long way to go just to fit in, but according to Colleen, the sense that we should look a particular way has eroded women's friendships to such an extent that in the end it is just easier to accept it and start trying to lose weight.

She says: "There'd be a lot more strength to be gained if women just got together and absolutely refused to participate, but we don't.

"I would say that one of the reasons why we do participate in this very oppressive construction of our notions of femininity and our identity are because it is almost impossible not to given that what it means to be a woman in the world we live in is very predicated on body size and shape. So to opt out of that would be very difficult because it means you're completely challenging what it means to be a woman."

Occasionally magazines do feature larger women, but Colleen says it is not enough to show these women as happy despite their size.

She says: "Everybody probably looks at the magazine and thinks, well that's very good for you dear, but I wouldn't like to look like you, I'd rather look like everyone else.' "Women are not stupid, but I think it's much more that we rely on the construction and day-to-day maintenance of our gender identity, and that's so much based in all the things that we do that we don't really think about.

"And I think a lot of this is promoted and exacerbated by living in a world that is driven by consumerism where these ideals are held up as something that we ought to desire and, of course, people do because how could you not when you're surrounded by them? Consumerism tells you that it can give you the tools to get that, but of course it's an impossibility."

The magazine also compiled a list of women's "body idols" - the women we would most like to look like. Topping the list is Elizabeth Hurley, closely followed by Victoria Beckham, who is often maligned for being "too thin".

Helen Johnston says: "Elizabeth Hurley is the British body icon . . . pencil slim but still curvy, the ideal shape most women desperately want. However, ordinary women can comfort themselves with the fact it's a 24 hour a day job, requires iron determination and probably very little food. For most of us, a body like Elizabeth Hurley's would require a lifetime of sacrifice.

"Victoria Beckham is often criticised for her body size, but it seems British women are obsessed with her shape and wouldn't hesitate to swap their body for hers. Women think she looks good."

Yet when The Bolton News spoke to two size zero girls in February it seemed that being so slim was not as desirable as it appears to be.

Laura Bartlett, age 20, told us: "I don't want people to say, size four is OK', because it's not. I really don't want to be this small; I'd love to be a size 10. People look at me and think, Oh you lucky cow,' but I'm really not."