Beauty Demands

With recent discussions about potential harms of Instagram , particularly for teenagers, we revisit this 2019 post highlighting the need for relevant adults to become more digitally literate.  It is well established that young people make extensive use of social media. In the UK, 83% of 12-15 year olds have a smartphone, 99% go online for over 20 hours per week, and 69% have a social media profile . It is certainly apparent that social media is a key resource in the lives of contemporary young people and is a central space for the development of identities and relationships, as well as emotional regulation, self-expression, learning and much more. At the same time, many adults find young people’s uses of social media concerning. The dominant narratives that surround young people and social media tend to be associated with risk, and the potential for negative impacts, in areas including body image and body dissatisfaction. The key challenge is that the contemporary digital ...

Bullying has been in the news, not least because it was Anti Bullying Week in the UK last week, so it's a good time to revisit this great post from Kirsty Lee from 2018 (and check out  https://everydaylookism.bham.ac.uk/ )  Do you feel dissatisfied with one or more parts of your body or appearance? If so, you are not alone. In fact, body dissatisfaction is so widespread that it has been given the label of normative discontent . Although girls and women are most affected by body image issues, boys and men are increasingly dissatisfied with their body . Negative feelings about our bodies are therefore common, which is a problem in itself and raises important questions about why this is so prevalent across society. However, for some people, normative discontent turns into abnormal preoccupation. By abnormal, I mean negative beliefs, thoughts, and behaviour that affect the ability to function on a daily basis, significantly reduce quality of life, and increase the risk of early m...

With millions of adolescents across the world currently in lockdown and more reliant on social media for interactions than ever, we revisit this post from Victoria Goodyear in 2018 on how social media plays into young people's self-perceptions, and the importance of adults understanding this. Social media is often referred to as a ‘toxic’ or ‘dangerous’ environment for young people, particularly in the case of body image . Celebrity and/or advertising cultures, and increased exposure to vast amounts of unregulated content are commonly identified as ‘risky’ online practices (see Fardouly and Vartanian, 2016). Yet, the extent to which social media impacts on young people’s perceptions of their bodies is relatively unknown. There is little understanding of the types of content young people engage with, and how and why their knowledge and behaviours are influenced.  To better understand how to support young people’s body image-related knowledge and behaviours, we need to learn...