New Statistics show worrying trend in young people’s body dissatisfaction
By Nick Watts
Statistics recently released following commissioning by the Central YMCA show a worrying trend in the level of body dissatisfaction among young people. With a high number of young people saying they would go as far as plastic surgery to achieve their idea of a perfect image.
The survey, carried out with 810 boys and girls aged 11 to 16 found that one in eight girls would be willing to take diet pills or abuse laxatives in order to lose weight while one in ten boys said they would abuse steroids to achieve a more muscular physique. More than half of all the young people surveyed said they compare themselves to those celebrities they see on television.
More worryingly, nearly a quarter of all the young people interviewed said they would undergo plastic surgery, or other invasive cosmetic procedures, to achieve what they consider to be an ideal image.
These statistics follow a recent study by the Centre for Appearance Research, which found that a third of teenagers would not take part in classroom debate or discussion as a way of avoiding drawing attention to their appearance. They also found that a fifth of the teenagers said they would stay at home from school on days that they felt they were concerned about their appearance.
This debate has raged for a long time now, with many experts blaming various sources for the alarming level of body dissatisfaction seen in young people today. We live in a society where advertising targets people’s insecurities to sell their products, the media show more and more idealised images and the long standing argument of the sexualisation of music videos.
The fact is the dissatisfaction doesn’t come from one source, but is rather the combination of all these external factors, internal insecurities the majority of us experienced growing up and also the way we all talk about bodies, diets and maintain this ideal in people by reinforcing negative stereotypes.
It would be wrong to blame one source, such as the celebrities we see on television and to move forward we need to see the problem as a whole, societal issue that needs to be addressed using many different approaches and methods.
One of these methods is education in school, which I would consider one of the more important ones. Schemes such as Gossip School run by Natasha Devon from Body Gossip are a good example of preventing and lessening the impact of the external factors we are all exposed to. It is all about self-esteem and body confidence sessions in schools, from people who have experience on the topics.
This approach of education is also being discussed in parliament this week, with a full review of the PSHE framework which includes self harm, body confidence, self-esteem and eating disorders. MP Jo Swinson, who is leading the parliamentary enquiry, told the independent;
"In the past 15 years, eating disorders have more than doubled. There is a view that we should tell people they should be really thin because we are getting an obesity problem. But starving ourselves is not a healthy way to lose weight."
So we are left with the same problem, dissatisfaction is at an all-time high, while self-esteem is at an all-time low, do we moderate the media and advertising? Or do we work on teaching people how to self-moderate and healthily deal with the messages we are exposed to?
As someone who is heavily involved in work around eating disorders, body image and youth mental health I would say we need to find a balance between the two. Teaching young people to deal with these messages in a healthy way is one of the more urgent and pressing needs, but we need to be mindful of how advertising is targeted and how it plays on peoples insecurities. I don’t think that having teachers teaching body confidence within PSHE will work, as I think this kind of lesson needs to be delivered by someone who truly understands the nature of body image, which is why services such as Gossip School are so vital.
What do you think about the subject? Please tell me on twitter @nickinoxford
