Tim Abbott

Girls and body image

Half of secondary school girls considering cosmetic surgery, Guides study finds.

This new study for Girl Guides found that 46 per cent of girls aged 11 to 16, and 50 per cent of girls aged 16 to 21 would consider cosmetic surgery to make themselves thinner or prettier. And 42 per cent of girls aged 11 to 16 were controlling to excess what they eat to stay slim.

What was particularly concerning was that the impact of negative body image seemed to be happening even before puberty. While 60 per cent of 7 to 9-year-old girls said that they were very happy with their appearance, the figure dropped to 27 per cent for 10 and 11-year-old girls. Which suggests that by the time we first meet them in secondary school at Year 7, about three quarters of girls are already uncomfortable about the way they look.

Just to explain the apparent mild fixation with body image on this blog, we're working on a new project for schools that addresses this area. More news soon.

Body Image - 1

By now you've probably seen this image and the story behind it circulating on the web.

It is, allegedly, a Ralph Lauren ad featuring a ridiculously photoshopped model, Fillippa Hamilton. (Here she is on the Ralph Lauren web site looking relatively normal) As the image started circulating Lauren started issuing DMCA takedown notices to offenders (will they be calling here I wonder?)

Boing Boing has a full rundown of events.

Going after companies who posted the image inevitably invokes the Streisand Effect whereby an attempt to censor stimulates the multiplication of the information across the internet. Lauren subsequently admitted that they were indeed responsible for the "poor imaging and retouching" and that they have "addressed the problem".

There are a whole lot of unanswered questions, like, Who did the original artwork? and, Who signed off this image for publication? Surely no fashion house with the resources of RL would allow an image like this out by mistake. And no one seems to have been able to come up with the original ad in print or on the web. All of which makes me wonder what's really going on...


UPDATE, 15 Oct
Well, it seems the original of this ad was a display poster for a Japanese department store. But no matter, Fillippa Hamilton has now been sacked by Ralph Lauren "as a result of her inability to meet the obligations under her contract with us" which apparently means she was too fat. Hamilton is a UK size 8. More details from The Times

Teenagers and sex - what's love got to do with it?

Generation YouTube talks about sex.

I worry about where this will lead and what we're storing up for the future of relationships. I'm not optimistic. Mostly I just feel very sad.

Dove - "Onslaught"

There's a new video from the Dove campaignforrealbeauty called onslaught here. It depicts the barrage of unreal images and stereotypes that influence young girls' self image with the simple message, "Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does".

The Dove campaignforrealbeauty web site contains a range of ideas and resources for mothers, daughters and mentors working with young girls. There's a lot there, even though finding some of it (or remembering how to get back to it) can be a bit of a challenge.

Many of us have used the previous Dove video, evolution which depicted the transformation of the image of a model. There's also a downloadable video here which revolves around the image of a boy and a girl and  takes a slightly more documentary view, spelling out the techniques used in a bit more detail. Well worth a look.

[ via: ypulse]
 

Journey into Wholeness

On Saturday I was at the Journey into Wholeness stall at the Mind, Body Soul Exhibition in Colchester. This is the sixth year that JiW, an inter-church group, has run a stall at this annual weekend supermarket of beliefs, therapies and health products.

Centrepiece of stall was a giant 8' x 4' image of Christ painted over the course of the event by artist David Hollingsworth. People stopping to chat were invited to contribute their thoughts about, or experiences of, faith, belief or God or to record their own responses to the image of Christ on an A7 size piece of paper. These contributions were later incorporated physically into the painting.

The painting, and the fact that it was all happening right before your eyes, drew attention in a way that I don't think anything we've done before has managed.

As with last year, my overall impression was that most people were not particularly seeking, just lost, or confused. Some I spoke to weren't even very sure why they had really come or what they were looking for. One lady I spoke with had lost her son to a misdiagnosed ulcer, had a daughter with a new and constantly screaming baby and was looking after her mother with Alzheimer's. Although she had the memory of a faith, shortly after the death of her son she consulted a medium who she believes was able to connect her to her dead son.

How could I stand in judgement over her decision when, as far as I could tell, the church had been absent when she needed God's presence and God's people most. I offered to pray for her, which she gladly accepted and we stood there in the aisle for a few seconds as I asked God to draw near to her in a way that she would be able to recognise. I hope he does.

Generation Anxiety

An article today in The Times, Young and desperate, takes a wide ranging look at the experience of depression and anxiety that affects many British young people.
It quotes Alexandra Massey, author of Happy Kids, a new book on childhood depression,

The figures on child mental health demonstrate that children are unhappy more than ever before, but no one organisation or authority can pinpoint the reasons why. It's mystifying and worrying because these children are the next generation of adults who will lead the world into a new age.

Among the various pressures identified are the regular suspects of family breakdown, changes of school or moving to a new area, but new stresses have emerged, including the almost relentless academic demands that young people now face, and pressure from the media about the way they look. As Anna, 15, said,

There is a lot of emphasis in youth culture on having a great time, partying, everything being 'wicked'. It sounds like a very liberal, anything goes culture but it's not. You are expected to conform and to have that 'great time', or you're nowhere."

The article reveals no simple formula to attempt to identify a root cause, and no simple solutions either. The main underlying theme is the suspicion that childhood anxiety has been with us for a long time, it's that now we have more pressures triggering depression in young people and we're better at acknowledging it
It's clear that in the last few years approaches to diagnosis and support have changed dramatically, and for the better. And there are a few "buffers" that can help protect young people from potential pressures including a functional family, friends, recreation, adventure, creativity and sleep. Recreation, adventure and creativity would seem to be obvious areas where we could perhaps make a little difference. I hope we can.

Useful Link: Young Minds - a charity committed to improving the mental health of children and young people.