This document discusses body image issues faced by girls and young women. It provides statistics showing that many engage in unhealthy behaviors like fasting, vomiting, or using laxatives to lose weight. It also discusses the increase in cosmetic procedures among teenagers and explores the role of media and marketing in creating anxiety around physical appearance from a young age. Experts quoted believe this obsession with looks leaves girls less able to value themselves for who they are.
1. Body Image: Who’s to blame? “ Although this may be the most affluent generation to walk the planet, it also has the dubious distinction of being the most insecure and depressed . ” – Marketing guru Martin Lindstrom
10. Expert opinion on Psychological Impacts When life’s all about appearance, there’s no incentive for girls to value themselves or their unique talents. Maggie Hamilton Girls of twelve or thirteen…say that while they don’t want to conform, they feel they must, to have some chance of surviving at high school. We need to work with kids to let them know it’s okay to be unique, to have your own ideas, as that’s how you have a much happier, healthier future. Gina, child psychologist, in an interview with Maggie Hamilton, 2008. Neuroscientist Susan Greenfield is seeing 11 year olds who are two to three years behind in cognitive development than 11 years old were fifteen years ago. Girls are spending more time in their bedrooms, worrying about how they look and what to wear, and are less directly engaged in life. BBC News, September 2006 Girls are coming of age in a more dangerous, sexualized and media-saturated culture...as they navigate a more dangerous world, they are less protected. Mary Pipher (Psychologist)
11.
12.
13.
14.
Notas del editor
Psychological impact of overt sexualised images is that it increases negative body image in vulnerable and impressionable young girls. Many young girls feel they have to be slim to be popular. Concerns about looks intensify as girls grow. Marketers know this, they use experts such as cultural anthropologists and child psychologists. They know girls’ lives intimately and which buttons to press. Anxiety is good for business, because it keeps girls purchasing. Frequent exposure to unrealistic media representations of female bodies has produced a massive market for beauty products, diet and weight-loss products and programs, as well as appearance pre-occupation. Increasing numbers of adolescent girls are seeking plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures such as botox injections.
Sarah: Notes: There is widespread concern that children are often forced to psychologically and cognitively deal with sex and sexuality, long before they are developmentally ready. Research by the American Psychological Association, 2007, finds young women are negatively impacted by sexualised images in several ways: Increased anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, body image problems, eating disorders, self harm, and sexually transmitted infections. Kids are also becoming sexually active at younger and younger ages.
Sarah: Notes: There is widespread concern that children are often forced to psychologically and cognitively deal with sex and sexuality, long before they are developmentally ready. Research by the American Psychological Association, 2007, finds young women are negatively impacted by sexualised images in several ways: Increased anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, body image problems, eating disorders, self harm, and sexually transmitted infections. Kids are also becoming sexually active at younger and younger ages.