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

[HealthtAtEverySize]

It does seem to be getting worse though and the only difference between when i was young and now is reality tv, my parents didn't diet they didn't binge but ate portions of good home cooked food and I was really insecure as a teen, I am in 23% BMI but just have a bigger build. My body is rarely praised as beautiful in the media or on the magazines why? With out trying to boast Ive always had male attention so why does the media only include the hourglass or skinny models.

[Champagneformyrealfriends]

Tess Holliday is an appalling role model for young people, and "effyourbeautystandards" has become the war cry of people who are dangerously obese and encourage vulnerable young women to continue down a dangerous and unhealthy path. There was a programme on recently about plus size models, Tess was on it posing for a photograph. She was kneeling down, and it took at least 2 other women to haul her back up again. It actually makes me angry remembering it.

[SteviebunsBottrittrundle]

Well, my body type isn't praised in the media either, but neither would my face type. I guess it makes sense that companies use models who the majority of people might aspire to look like. Fwiw I think some of the plus size models look a lot better than me and probably are healthier than me despite being a bigger size. I guess I am old / wise enough now to know that I won't look like a model no matter what size I am or what excercise regime I embark upon. It's just a fact. Might as well try to be as healthy as possible and forget looking like one of the girls in the magazines IMHO.

[SteviebunsBottrittrundle]

I don't actually know who Tess Holiday is btw, so wasn't referring to her when I said "some of the plus size models".

[WorraLiberty]

Also, I think today's kids are getting very mixed messages.

Many parents will teach their kids to value personality and actual achievements over appearance, which is fantastic.

Until their kids realise those same parents have been uploading tons of photos of them on Facebook - which of course attract a string of comments about how lovely they look.

Some kids can't so much as open a Christmas present or take a crap on the potty, without having a mobile phone camera thrust in their face.

Very mixed messages indeed.

[SteviebunsBottrittrundle]

So true worra.

[Champagneformyrealfriends]

Worra i wish there was an applause emoticon. If this was Reddit I'd send you gold, but it's not so

[katemiddletonsnudeheels]

I think as a rule that's just love and pride for the child though worra

I had parents who photographed my every movement, pre-digital cameras. It was annoying but didn't harm me in any way :)

[HealthtAtEverySize]

So true Worra, you are one of the wisest on MN. I also seem to agree with you [Smile]

[Champagneformyrealfriends]

My parents have boxes and boxes of photographs kate, but they didn't put them on a website to get "likes" and comments. I think that's what Worra is getting at-not the actual act of taking the photo but the motive behind it.

[buckingfrolicks]

Tess is on the larger side but she shows to many ladies who are of a larger way that they can be pretty too.

Why is being pretty mandatory? We reached the point where people can't be plain, ugly, normal.

[Champagneformyrealfriends]

bucking you get too

[WorraLiberty]

Oh I'm not particularly wise, but I'll take the cake. Thanks

[PersianCatLady]

"effyourbeautystandards"
That's a lovely attitude for starters.

[katemiddletonsnudeheels]

Parents don't always put them on just for likes, though :)

But in any case, I'm not convinced that teens have any more pressure on them to look a certain way than they did twenty years ago, when I was in my teens.

[chancesareabadthing]

Not quite the point, but in response to a comment upthread, I take offence to freckles being described as an imperfection!!!

Kisses from the sun shining down specifically for you is what I tell little ones.

[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.

[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.

[Champagneformyrealfriends]

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

[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

[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.

[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?

[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 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

[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.