By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
Many women might labor on the treadmill or starve themselves to live up to the image of a beautiful, thin, fit woman with glowing skin and bright white teeth that flash in street ads and television commercials.
In order not to be left behind, girls are going on crash diets to lose those extra pounds.
But the mental picture that the ideal female figure conjures up is formed by society and if women fail to resemble any of these images, they are often regarded as a loser at least in this image-conscious society.
What does a diet mean for women and why do they go on them? ``Queen of Diet,'' a new novel written by Baek Young-ok, a renowned chick lit author, delves into the dark side of diets and women's fanatical obsession with the slim bodies.