ISSUES
: Body Confidence
Chapter 1: Body Image
4
Women’s body confidence is a “critical
issue” worldwide, warns Dove’s largest
ever report
Almost 70% women feel the media drives their appearance anxiety.
By Rachel Moss, Lifestyle Writer at The Huffington Post UK
W
omen’s body confidence
has become a “critical
issue” around the world
and pressure from the media is
largely to blame for our low self-
esteem, a new report warns.
The
Dove Global Beauty and
Confidence
Report
,
given
exclusively to The Huffington
Post UK, has been created using
interviews with 10,500 women
and girls across 13 countries and
is the largest the brand has ever
commissioned.
It found that women in the UK have
one of the lowest body confidence
scores in the world, with only 20%
of us saying we like the way that
we look.
Globally, more than two-thirds
of women (69%) and girls (65%)
say increasing pressures from
advertising and media to reach
an unrealistic standard of beauty
is the key force in driving their
appearance anxiety.
Meanwhile, 56% of all women
recognise the impact of an “always
on” social media culture in driving
the pressure for perfection and
negative body image.
The report reveals that low body
esteem is causing the majority of
women (85%) and girls (79%) to
opt out of important life activities
– such as trying out for a team or
club, and engaging with family or
loved ones – when they don’t feel
good about the way they look.
Additionally, seven in ten girls with
low body esteem say they won’t be
assertive in their opinion or stick to
their decision if they aren’t happy
with the way they look, while nine
out of ten (87%) women will stop
themselves from eating or will
otherwise put their health at risk.
What’s more, nearly eight in 10
(78%) of both women and girls
feel some pressure to never make
mistakes or show weakness.
“This latest research shows that
low body confidence is a global
issue,” says Dr Nancy Etcoff of
Harvard Medical School.
“Though troubling, these results
are also unsurprising, given the
increasing pressures women and
girls face today.
“We need to help empower women
and girls in many ways, including
increasing
body-confidence
education, driving meaningful
conversations
around
the
pressures women and girls face,
and advocating for change in how
females and their appearance are
talked about and portrayed in the
media.”
The report found that beauty and
appearance anxiety is a global
issue, but one that women are
experiencing differently by culture
and country.
While women in South Africa are
the most body confident with
64% saying they have “high body
esteem”, women in the UK come in
12th out of 13 countries, with only
20% of us saying we feel good
about the way we look.
But it’s not all bad news for women
and girls when it comes to body
image.
The report reveals there is a
proactive desire among females to
challenge existing beauty norms.
A total of 71% of women and 67%
of girls want to call on the media to
do a better job portraying women
of diverse physical appearance,
age, race, shape and size.
Additionally, while 60% of women
believe they need to meet certain
beauty standards, at the same
time, 77% agree it is important to
be their own person and not copy
anyone else.
For many women and girls, the
key to breaking a cycle of beauty
and appearance anxiety seems to
be the experience of taking time
to care for their minds, body and
appearance.
In fact, seven in ten women and
eight in ten girls report feeling
more confident or positive when
they invest time in caring for
themselves.
“Taking time for care – whether
it’s body or mind – is an important
step in improving the confidence
of women and girls,” says Victoria
Sjardin, senior global director of
Dove Masterbrand.
“For over 50 years, Dove has
been committed to creating a
world where beauty is a source of
confidence, not anxiety.
“With this new research, we
hope to inspire women and girls
everywhere to develop a positive
relationship with the way they
look.”
21 June 2016
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The above information is
reprinted with kind permission
from The Huffington Post
UK.
Please
visit
www.
huffingtonpost.co.uk for further
information.
© 2016 AOL (UK) Limited
