A body image Christmas
By Nick Watts
Some of you will hopefully remember me for my articles on Mental Healthy, which have all been about body image, eating disorders and everything in between. 
As some of you might know I am one of the people behind the UK charity Men Get Eating Disorders Too and I am generally a little bit of a mental health and body image campaigner and work with youths who have difficulties including mental health issues in my local area.
Well this one is really to shout about our new scheme, which is between me and Sarah Fullagar, from the organisation Body Gossip. We are putting together a video advent calendar to showcase body image, hopefully bringing it to the forefront of people’s mind in a positive way, while also highlighted some of the common issues faced when looking at self-esteem.
So we will be out in our home towns of Oxford and Bristol, getting lots of videos in the run up to Christmas, hitting the streets to get your opinions on the day’s topic. This will then be uploaded into a countdown to Christmas Advent calendar so you can follow our little scheme as the weeks pass.
Each day from December 1st will be a different topic concerning body image, which will look a little something like this;
- Media and Body Image / Media and Eating Disorders
- What’s your opinion on airbrushing
- Doing it for the kids, what do the under 16’s have to say?
- A guy’s perspective
- A Girl’s perspective
- Fad Diets, would you?
- Fat Talk, how does it affect you?
- How does fashion fit into body image?
- Your body growing up, what was it like in school?
- Pregnancy
- Your perception of eating disorders
- Scars, eyesore or a story?
- Older people, do you think about your body image?
- Plastic Surgery, for or against?
- How would you define beauty / good looks
- Bad Hair day! How important is your hair to you?
- Sport, is there more pressure?
- Piercing and Tattoos – love hate or regret the day? Would you have them?
- Advertising, too much?
- Ethnicity, different ideals?
- Disability, how does it change your outlook on image?
- Teens, body image hell, or learning to love it?
- All I want for Christmas, if you could see one thing changed what would it be?
- Nick and Sarah talk about their December adventure
But while we are out getting the public’s views we want your opinions too, if you like a topic and would like to give us your views on it, then please submit your videos via the advent calendar blog set up specifically for it (http://bodyimageadvent.tumblr.com/) where you will also find the first introductory videos from Sarah and I.
Will you Join us in our Body Image Christmas?
