Girls aged five complain of being fat

Senior features writer

Wednesday 30 May 2012

GIRLS as young as five complain of being overweight, and most people dislike the way they look, a high-profile group of MPs has found.

JO SWINSON: Said dieting could act as trigger for eating disorder.

Custom byline text:

Rebecca McQuillan

Poor body image causes low self-esteem and is regarded by experts as a major cause of problems such as depression and eating disorders, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image found.

While the issue affects all sections of society regardless of age, gender or ethnicity, children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable, with half of girls and a quarter of boys believing their peers have body image anxieties.

The group's report, published today, makes a series of recommendations to the Scottish and Westminster governments, including mandatory lessons on body image in schools and mandatory psychological screening of patients prior to them having cosmetic surgery.It also calls on advertisers to use more realistic and diverse models in their campaigns, following the likes of the makers of Dove toiletries who have earned praise for using women of different dress sizes. Jo Swinson, the LibDem MP for East Dunbartonshire and co-founder of the Campaign for Body Confidence, chairs the MPs' group. She said that, despite campaigning on the issue for more than three years, she was taken aback by some of the evidence presented to the committee. She said: "When parents tell you their five-year-old has said 'I feel fat', that is just shocking. "Body image dissatisfaction in the UK has reached an all-time high and the pressure to conform to an unattainable body ideal is wreaking havoc on the self-esteem of many people."While body image issues were often seen as a problem of women and girls, there were worrying signs the gap between males and females was closing, Ms Swinson said, citing one survey suggesting one-third of men would sacrifice a year of their life to achieve the perfect body.Dieting, especially quick-fix fad diets, came in for heavy criticism. The inquiry heard that by the age of 14, half of girls and one-third of boys had been on a diet to lose weight. The report found "getting rid of dieting could wipe out 70% of eating disorders", which affect 1.6 million people in the UK.Ms Swinson drew a distinction between dieting and taking healthy eating advice, saying: "The problem with the mindset of dieting is that it's about severe calorie restriction to reach a particular goal. There is a particular type of person who is susceptible to eating disorders. Going on a diet could act as a trigger for an eating disorder for those who are predisposed."Media, advertising and the cult of celebrity were regarded by three-quarters of respondents as the biggest influences on public ideas about body image. Advertisers came under fire for manipulating images and using models whose body shape was unattainable to 95% of people. Ms Swinson said there was nothing wrong in advertisers using size eight models, but added: "The problem is when the vast majority of adverts have women like that in them."Among its other recommendations, the report calls for support for new mothers, both to boost body confidence and encourage parents to understand the risk of inadvertently passing on body anxieties to their children.The report was put together with the charity Central YMCA, which will now take forward the report's recommendations in a UK-wide campaign.

Commenting & Moderation

We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules, which are available here.

Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.

Girls aged five complain of being fat

Commenting & Moderation

MOST READ

SPONSORED LINKS

MOST COMMENTED