Today's lesson - body image

Fairfax

TOO THIN: Fewer than one in six Australians teens are happy with how they look, fueling calls for the lessons about body image to be taught in schools.

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Lessons about body image should be as widely taught in schools as sex and drug education programs, an Australian eating disorders group has advised.

Concerns about appearance and weight are now so acute among girls aged 10 to 14, that fewer than one in six in Australian said they thought they looked "good".

An Australian Newspoll survey commissioned last year by the beauty brand Dove, found that 66 of the 100 girls polled wanted to change something about their appearance.

Of the 537 females aged 10 to 64 surveyed, just 1 percent said they thought they were beautiful.

Butterfly Foundation general manager Julie Thomson said the findings were not surprising.

"We are certainly becoming more aware that girls and boys are increasingly more concerned with their appearance and their body image," Ms Thomson said.

"The more concerned a child is with their appearance, if those sorts of issues are not addressed, the more likely they are of growing into a teenager or adult and having severe body image problems.

"It can go on to have a devastating impact on their lives. We know that those people who suffer eating disorders in general [also] suffer extremely low self-esteem.

"We know there is a connection between these things."

The organisation conducted their BodyThink training session for 50 Sydney teachers.

Since its launch in 2006, the program has reached more than 28,000 young people, mostly in the Australian state of Victoria, where the Victorian Government last month committed A$100,000 to the implementation of the workshop in schools.

Ms Thomson said it was important for children to be educated in media literacy, particularly the way in which images are manipulated, with schools playing an important role in helping young people feel good about themselves.

"We would love for this to be taken as seriously in schools as sex education and drug education," she said.

"These images are almost to a point where they are unavoidable.

"We know that kids are not going to stop reading magazines and watching telly. That is part of pop culture and growing up."

She also said it was important for parents to be mindful of the language they use when they are describing themselves, and the sorts of magazines and television shows their children are being exposed to.

Television programs such as Australia's Next Top Model and Make Me A Supermodel may be inspiring for some young people, but for many they could be harmful.

"There are certainly some young people that may watch those programs and they could contribute to making them feel inadequate and upset about their appearance because they feel as if they cannot match up," Ms Thomson said.

Dove marketing manager Lauren Nye said the BodyThink program hoped to reach 40,000 young Australians by the end of the year and 5million girls by 2010. 

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