Policy into practice - Body image
Anne Longfield
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
THE ISSUE: Teenagers these days face great pressure to look "sexy" and have the right image. This is driven partly by a celebrity culture in which airbrushing and plastic surgery have become increasingly the norm.
Girls are particularly susceptible to these pressures. A recent Girlguiding UK study found that half of 11to 16-year-old girls wanted to be thinner. Cases of bulimia and anorexia among girls under 18 admitted for treatment have increased by 47 per cent, from 562 in 2004 to 825 in 2008. Of even more concern is the 25 per cent rise in girls under nine being treated for eating disorders. Helping young people to overcome fixations on unrealistic body image will help to improve the mental and physical wellbeing of young people.
CASE STUDY 1
Beat is a campaign and support organisation for young people with eating disorders. It was formed in 1989 as the UK's first national organisation devoted to eating disorders. The organisation runs a project called Educate Too, which aims to provide a whole school hub of information to secondary schools to prevent eating disorders. The project has created classroom resources to aid discussion on all areas related to eating disorders.
The Beat website has factsheets, publications and live chat to help young people overcome their eating disorders. The charity also has a youth helpline, provides training for professionals and runs an annual Eating Disorders Awareness Week.
CASE STUDY 2
Shona Collins, winner of Channel 4's Miss Naked Beauty, is championing a body confidence campaign, which has included presenting a petition to Downing Street and on the Number 10 website. The petition calls for a compulsory hour per year to be added to the National Curriculum, which will seek to alleviate the rising body image problems in the UK's 12-to 20-year-olds. It has received more than 48,394 signatures.
Shona won the Channel 4 competition with a dramatic speech in the final, where she promised to help all women feel beautiful, regardless of their shape or size. She is now running a Teenage Body Confidence campaign. She has her own Facebook campaign, has written in Glamour magazine and has joined Gok Wan's TV show How to Look Good Naked.