Australian Governement - Youth.gov.auFOREWORD BY MIA FREEDMAN, CHAIR OF THE NATIONAL BODY IMAGE ADVISORY GROUP
Body image is a large and complex issue, and it’s tough to find a place to start. Perhaps the easiest starting point is to say what it isn’t: body image is not how you look. Plenty of beautiful, slim people have a poor body image.
The crux of body image is what you think and how you feel about your body. It’s how your body impacts on your sense of self-worth.
Maybe part of the reason why it is such a complex and difficult issue to respond to is because it deals with the emotional, the intellectual and the physical. And that’s just within one person. Body image doesn’t stop there - it is also about the environment where we get our ideas about how we think our body should look, and how our interactions with other people reinforce or counter these ideas.
Because the issue is so complex and difficult, it is going to need a response that covers all the different angles. We need to address the cultural and social influences, as well as supporting people whose personal characteristics mean they are more susceptible to developing body dissatisfaction.
Everyone on the Advisory Group knows it's a big job. No one doubts that. In the first meeting of the group we talked about how it took years to turn around public attitudes to smoking and sun-baking. And we recognised that we're not going to change things in one meeting or even in ten. This is the beginning of a long process, but if we throw up our hands and say 'too hard' and 'too long' then nothing will change. We have to start somewhere.
And, this consultation process is where we are starting. Most people have been impacted by body image and have something valuable to contribute. By giving people the chance to have their say we can consider as many ideas and programs as possible.
Personally, I think the current extent of the body image problem is a sad reflection on not just our culture, but also the society that has allowed this issue to get so out of hand. Really looking at the body image issue has brought home to me just how subtly these messages can be passed on. How many of us look at ourselves in the mirror and make a derogatory comment about our appearance? Or how someone else looks? How many of us state out loud that we’re not going to eat another piece of cake because “I’ll get fat”? And how many of us have children who are watching and listening? More broadly, why don’t we culturally and personally place even more emphasis and importance on who we are as people instead of how we look?
Don’t get me wrong, fashion is great – I love it and have spent a good part of my life in and around it. But surely fashion, advertising and the media don’t need to exist at the expense of positive body image. When did so much of our value become invested in how we look, not what we can do and who we are? This is the challenge we’re facing as individuals, as parents and as members of the National Body Image Advisory Group. And it’s a challenge we must all embrace.
Mia Freedman
