To feel really sorry for teenagers today and the pressures and poor body image they face.

[HealthtAtEverySize]

I have always tried to teach my children to value personality and actual achievements over appearance, this thread is not about my children as such but it's about how teenagers are facing such pressure in terms of appearance.

Teenage girls are pressured to be slim yet since the emergence of the Kartrashians and other celebs like them to have figures that are completely unrealistic without surgery. Many of DD's friends go on diets etc to lose weight when they are all perfectly healthy and normal.

Teenage boys are shown men that have huge muscles and very little fat, this has led to huge problems with the rise of steroids.

The media for too long has been presenting unrealistic unattainable figures on young people and we as parents should do something. Teenagers face enough exam pressure without this adding to it.

As a body rights campaigner I think the media should promote health at every side and show a wider range of models in magazines. Its great to see pretty plus size models like Tess Holiday gaining attention. Kim kardashian is just as unattainable as the herione chic look yet she is called a hero for real women.

As a mother we should fight these standards so future children aren't made to feel bad for how they look.

#EffYourBeautyStandards

[HuckleberryQuinn]

I don't think it's just teenagers, I think it's becoming increasingly rare to see pictures on fb without a filter or that have been smoothed. I've seen pictures of 50 year old women with flawless skin that don't even have a suggestion of a wrinkle or freckle but also they appear to not have a nose!

It's all just smoke and mirrors

[ghostyslovesheep]

Maybe stop saying models are role models

[GetAHaircutCarl]

I think lots of teens are less concerned about body image and more concerned about life style image.

The most successful people on social media present their lives as perfect/fun/creative etc. An endless round of parties in great clothes.

Many adults emulate this too on FB.

This is something I have never engaged in and have made it my mission to show my DC the importance of authenticity.

[FlyingElbows]

Their.

[FlyingElbows]

I firmly believe "as a mother" it is my responsibility to instill self worth and standards in my own children. I am 39, my eldest is 18. I had the original Supermodels and Pamela Anderson / Jordan types to contend with. My daughter has an Internet full of pornography, every shade of vacuous "celebrity" you can think of and the new trend for the Tumblr generation that is gender fluidity and transgenderism. I'm my day (lol) it was just a straightforward "oh I don't look like pammy and her mega norks". Today's kids are fighting so much more and they're value of self absolutely has to be the responsibility of their patents. I feel desperately sorry for kids whose mother's buy in to this celebrity culture bollocks. My mother is batshit crazy but the one thing she did right way grasp the essential crux of feminism and refuse to throw herself or her daughters to the dogs.

[SteviebunsBottrittrundle]

Me too lucy, but I don't tend to put them on FB personally which I think was what worra was talking about.

[LucyBabs]

Sad..I take pics of my dc to remember and capture moments of their childhood. I don't care about fb likes..

[Kiwiinkits]

There is also a MissRepresentation FB page.

[Kiwiinkits]

I watched a doco on Netflix last night about this. Worth watching. It is called MissRepresentation. It outlines why this commodification of womens' body image has happened.

[HelenaDove]

This gives me the rage though.


www.the-pool.com/news-views/fashion-news/2016/31/a-nine-year-old-should-not-know-what-a-cheat-day-is

[HelenaDove]

Most ppl know my story here OP so i wont bang on about it. Ive lost 10 stone going from a size 28 down to a 12/14 Bra size is a 32HH down from a 46G.


Im going to admit to something im not proud of now........... Ive been asked out by a few men since the weight loss but i dont think its just the weight loss on its own .......i think it could also be because i carry myself more confidently now.........and im really not proud of this bit..........it gives me a sense of power. i feel better in my 40s than i ever did in my 20s.

OP what bothers me is the way overweight ppl are abused in the street. I had it in the past. And i still see it happen to other people now.

Sorry if ive rambled a bit. Ive still got a stinking cold.

[WorraLiberty]

To be fair, Tess is just as airbrushed and photoshopped as all the other models.

So her image is probably just as unobtainable for anyone wanting to look like her 'naturally' IYSWIM.

[manicinsomniac]

I think parents are their children's biggest role models. Over the years, I've lost count of how many teenage girls I've heard saying they don't want to get fat like their Mums.

Very much agree with this. My grandma is anorexic. My aunt was bulimic. My mum is morbidly obese. I am anorexic (I remember being terrified of ending up like my mum). I would love to break the awful cycle with my kids but, already, my 13 year old is underweight, won't eat 'junk' food for love nor money and thinks carbohydrates are bad. She's still almost pre pubescent but she thinks that very skinny is the beautiful, 'right' way to be. I haven't told her any of this, nor have I condoned it. But I must have passed it on subconsciously. We don't have a tv but she watches stuff online (has just discovered the early seasons of 90210 and those actresses are really thin).

Definitely agree that teenagers are under a huge amount of pressure. I think it comes from a variety of sources and I don't think it's new but it's definitely a concern.

Also agree that Tess Holiday isn't the answer though!

[myownprivateidaho]

It's not good to be obsessed with looks, but the way of getting past this imo is just to encourage young people to be interested, ambitious, independently-minded, confident, etc. There's no point splitting hairs about which celebrity it's best to look like and which body shape one should aspire to. Try to move the focus to something other than bodies. Any number of teens might want to Kim K, but the one who has a range of interests/career ambitions/hasn't been brought up to fantasise about a white wedding/realises that she is more than her looks is going to be less harmed by that ambition than one who can't see any attractive path for herself apart from looking good.

[Lurkedforever1]

You're hardly living up to your own standards though are you op with your references to 'heroine chic' and 'skinny' are you?

[Champagneformyrealfriends]

I never said she shouldn't be a model, but she shouldn't be a role model. Imo though neither should Cara Delevigne.

[Champagneformyrealfriends]

I never said she shouldn't be a model but she is dangerously overweight and encouraging young people to overweight is as dangerous and encouraging them to be underweight.

[Sugarlightly]

I went off on a bit of a tangent then sorry.

Everyone should be encourage to be healthy, and shaming celebrities for their image doesn't help that

[BackforGood]

I have 3 teens (ok, I lied, eldest just turned 20) and none of them 'feel pressures about poor body image' any more than I did growing up. We've all got lots of things to do in our lives, and do not bother following the kardashians or anybody else who is just famous for being famous. They are all out doing stuff.
I reckon it was always the same - there were iconic film stars in the 40s (and probably before), for whom image was everything. Some people bought all the magazines and watched all the films, for many others, they just weren't important. It's the same now.

[Sugarlightly]

I think that it's very hard to get away from media influence, but actual celebrities themselves didn't ask to be role models - Teas Holliday is inspiring for people like me: I spent years on ridiculous diet and exercise programs throughtout my teenage life and into adulthood, and basically never lost a pound. Why should I not get to feel good about myself sometimes when I work hard and eat healthily? I have a beautiful body, I may be obese but I'm healthier than when I was dieting (and I was still obese then). Why should Teas Holliday not get to be a model? She can wear clothes, surely that's the only actual requirement for modelling?

[chancesareabadthing]

The overuse of the word stunning drives me nuts on fb, not sure if it's a local thing but it definitely pops up too often.

[WorraLiberty]

They put the photos on, to show their kids off to people though.

People then comment (always complimentary obviously) and hit 'like'.

If everyone ignored the images being uploaded by the parents, why would they continue to do it?

People will often claim it's so family who live in Outer Mongolia can see how the kids are growing up, but in truth they could just whack out a 'text all' to family every couple of months.

Teenagers know this. They're very wise to it all

[Champagneformyrealfriends]

kate apologies if my post comes across as rude, it's a pretty sensitive subject for me with family and my dd' photos

[Champagneformyrealfriends]

Perhaps not kate but the monitory of people I know loading photos of their children onto the Internet are doing it for attention. I know occasionally people have family they rarely see and I understand that however.

[NotNob]

Unsure about how things have changed, am assuming you think pressures have increased.

I was a teenager during the heroin-chic phase and felt the pressure to be thin. I had an eating disorder for 5 years. This wasn't entirely a body image issue but it did contribute undoubtedly.

Tess Holliday is morbidly obese and an equally scary role model to Kate Moss in the early nineties.

We need balance and less fixation. I also agree that children learn from their parents. I do loads of exercise and encourage my DC to do the same. We talk about the food we are eating, the nutritional benefits and how it fuels our bodies to bed the best and healthiest they can be.