Girls' body confidence - what do you think could improve it?

[KateMumsnet]

Hello everyone!

Lynne Featherstone, the Minister for Equalities, is chairing a Roundtable on Body Confidence at the House of Commons. She wants to get up to speed on the work that various independent groups are doing in this area, in order to champion them within government and get as much support for their work as possible.

One of the topics under consideration is sexualisation, and following our Let Girls Be Girls campaign we've been asked to come up with some proposals. We're going to push for the government to get behind our Lads' Mags campaign - but we also thought it was a good moment to ask for your thoughts more generally about body confidence issues and what, if anything, you'd like to see policy-makers doing.

So do please fire away - what else do you think could be done generally to improve the body confidence of young girls?

Televised women's football.

This thread makes very depressing reading.

I have two boys like Lanceottie and what she said has made me think of something that happened a few weeks ago. My boys age 8 and 10 go to a holiday sports club and one day they came home talking about a girl in pretty disparaging terms. Calling her 'fattie' etc.

They got a bollocking and DW sat them down and made them think about how the girl would feel and that she was a human being. They looked pretty sheepish afterwards.

I have nener heard them talk that way before, more especally as they go to a school which is 80% girls. The reason it happpened though was because they met up with a new group of older boys at the club and I supect 'looking cool' and 'not gay' sparked this sort of talk about girls and further suspect was more or less the tone of the daily conversation along with a lot of 'F' words which have come out as well.

The only possible way to feel confident in your own body is to be fit, slim and healthy.

bonsoir Sod off.

Bonsoir.....Wow, if it's that easy I must just pop round to my local eating disorder meeting.

Probably not a realistic thing to ask for, but I'd love to see a ban on magazines advertising diets, dieting tips, and 'how to get slim' on their front pages. Healthy women shouldn't be constantly exposed to the subtle background message that this is the sort of thing they're supposed to be interested in.

BeenBeta...but at least your boys are being taught the right way at home...I suspect that's a BIG chunk of the battle.

More editorial responsibility in women's and girl's mags.

I do not want to see

OMG look at her cellulite on one page followed by Curvy Katie, followed by Sleb Z lost five stone on the eat a corner of A4 a day diet.

Ban women's magazines. The are the root of all evil IMO (and I used to work on them). They are full of fatuous articles pushing the purveyors of expensive and unnecessary beauty aids, of which the beauty editors and fashion editors have received copious free samples. Bring in some women's magazines that feed the brain instead.

xposts

Wimple - I suspect like many parents I feel like Canute against the rising tide of sexualisation and other inappropriate influences on our children.

Is this kind of thing discussed in PSHE classes - maybe a module there on self esteem and body image would help in raising awareness among children/teens?

One thing that does make DW and I grind our teeth is that female TV presenters often appear scantily clad while the male presenter is in a suit. Its just yet another influence on girls suggesting their body is the only currency that matters.

Tighter regulations on lads mags - I'm thinking the hate speech spouted by Danny Dyer - What consequences were there for that? None as far as I remember.

Also I would like to see similar questions for slebs male or female, in an ideal world we would lose interest in the vacuous identikit slebs, but until we do can we ask Cheryl Cole the same as Justin Timberlake....

Oh yes. The difference between mens and womens magazines is shocking.

I recently bought a copy of Esquire; Middle East. Tagline, "Man at his Best". The articles headlined on the cover included:
Why China will NOT Rule the World.
The Next President of America?
Last Days in Space; the shuttle mission is over - where next for NASA?
Undercover in Southern Lebanon.
2011 - invest well! Get fitter! Look sharp!
Plus a couple of interviews (Sarah Palin and Christian Bale) and fashion.

Why does all this have to be for MEN? Can our feeble female brains not cope with current affairs and interesting debate?

I also bought a magazine marketed at women. Cover headlines include "The new accessory rules: listen up, there are 47 to learn!" and some celeb's bid to be the thinnest she has ever been.

Where are the gender neutral lifestyle magazines? OR the ones aimed at women but not full of materialistic, mysoginist, insane crap?

BeenBeta...I have posted in Secondary Education on the question you asked here...because I don't know.

I don't think it is taught as part of PSHE but am very interested to see what teachers say on the subject in general.

I'm with beenbeta (which is probably a first ) and others. As well as all the pop culture stuff (which I think is probably harder to work on...) I think schools have a massive responsibility to protect gender relations. I have three boys, and they are being brought up in a pretty femmo environment, but the level of 'hegemonic masculinity' in schools (primary and secondary) is horrific.

I really think the Education Dept or whatever it is needs to commission proper specialist research and action-focused policies on this. Chances of this happening under the current govt are about zero.

So, for example, why does everything from reception up have to be 'boys vs girls'? This simply reinforces, constantly, a kind of 'species-like' difference. It's minor, but it should be BANNED, I tell you.

Boys should definitely be the target of action, but as much to provide them with proper, positive and varied masculine role models that aren't just about 'jocks vs geeks'. Female teachers in primary school need to be in a position to educate boys about gender that isn't just about disapproving of them - and this stretches into secondary school.

PSHE needs a strong gender-focused programme, and the school needs to build in evidence-led gender policies into its working practices. And jesus yes, endemic sexual harrassment of girls and young women needs to be addressed urgently.

Someone else said it further down the thread but I really think that although there is lots else that is awful about the programme, Gok Wan's programmes showing real naked bodies was pretty liberating. Somehow this kind of approach needs to be taken with younger women.
And someone needs to revive Shocking Pink...

Thank you for your support WilfShelf...I've not seen any Girls V Boys things in my own DDs primary...what do you mean?

I think it is important to enjoy some kind of physical activity. There such be a much wider range of activities on offer.

My 2 DDs loved sports in primary, where they took part in lots of clubs including football and netball. 6 months into secondary they hated p.e. The teachers were just looking for the people who were good enough to be in the school sports teams. Everyone else spent most of the time sitting on the sidelines.

Girls who are great at competitive sports should be allowed to persue this. Those who aren't, or who don't like them, should be allowed to do things such as dancing, aerobics, yoga etc.

I think perhaps it would be interesting to know "What gave YOU body confidence?"

For me, as others have said, it was a stream of adoring men having peers who actually fell in love with me anyway and sang my praises, even though I was convinced I was a hideous old moose. I think yougn women really need a few admiring comments before they realise that actually they ARE attractive.

I think this is where the Gok Wan approach is good. Maybe he could just be prime minister?

I think it is actually quite a lot to do with women as well as girls. Many of us won't go out without makeup on etc...what sort of message does that send to girls? Nobody wants to look at your face unless you paint it .

I went to the hairdresser last week - I have a simple haircut and I just had it trimmed. The hairdresser had finished cutting it (wet) and was about to dry it when she asked if I would like it straightened. My hair is very straight - not a bit of curl in it - never has been. I said to her - well I have straight hair - do people with straight hair really straighten their hair? She said oh yes and gave some reasons which went over my head. Anyway - point is - women with straight hair are spending loads of time and money straightening their hair for some crazy reason - what does that say to girls - your straight hair must be straightened for you to look really nice .

Plenty more women dye their hair than men as well. Women spent a huge amount of time and money on their appearance.

morning paper...maybe you never were unfortunate enough to have sexual bullying levelled at you. And maybe not all girls need the approval of the opposite sex to have love for their bodies.

I definitely thought I was attractive, but almost all of me was sown up in this idea. It can't just include a narrow view of just the body image but moreso an idea that that is not all that we are. We are intellect, wit, courage, humour, kindness, success, talent and that beauty is something we can all feel.

Reading this thread schools do have a part to play in stopping boys sexually intimidate girls. As parents we need to be doing the same, fathers and mothers need to be making sure how their sons are viewing and treating girls at school.

I love my body, I have a disease but still love the skin I'm in

PS. I had an eating disorder from 17-27 years old. I was six stone for most of those years.