Girls as young as 7 feel pressure to be pretty – body confidence study

A third of seven- to 10-year-old girls believe that they are judged on their appearance and a quarter feel the need to be perfect, according to a study by Girlguiding UK.

The charity’s annual girls’ attitudes survey, published on Tuesday, found that girls were suffering from a crisis in body confidence, with 61% of those aged seven to 21 feeling happy with how they look, down from 73% in 2011.

The study – the largest annual research of its kind – suggests that girls as young as seven feel under pressure to be pretty.

More than a third (35%) of seven- to 10 year-old girls agreed that women were rated more on their appearance than their abilities, and 36% said they were made to feel their looks were their most important attribute.

Campaigners said the findings showed the need to combat the “objectification and harassment … ruining girls’ lives”.

The survey also revealed low levels of body confidence among girls. Almost two-fifths (38%) of the same age group think they are not pretty enough, while a similar number feel they are judged more on their appearance than their ability. Almost a quarter (23%) said they felt they needed to be perfect, while 15% said they felt embarrassed or ashamed by the way they looked.

The majority of seven- to 10-year-olds said that what would most improve their lives would be if people would stop judging girls and women on the way they look.

The survey questioned 1,627 girls and young women aged between seven and 21 about a range of issues from health and wellbeing to relationships and careers.

Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said women and girls were “persistently judged on what they look like” and suffered “significantly higher” rates of depressions and mental illness. “This is serious. As a society we need to face up to the fact that objectification and harassment is ruining girls’ lives and we are letting it happen,” she said.

Dr Carole Easton, chief executive of the Young Women’s Trust, said the survey revealed the presence of “gender inequality” from a young age. “If we are serious about ensuring that everyone has an equal opportunity to get on in life, then much more must be done to ensure a level playing field – starting from childhood and into young adulthood, not least by challenging gender stereotypes,” she said.

Becky Hewitt, Girlguiding director said: “This year’s girls’ attitudes survey demonstrates the shocking impact that focusing on girls’ appearance is having on the youngest girls in society.”

“Girls have told us to stop judging them on how they look. Every day in guiding, girls inspire us with their bravery, sense of adventure and their kindness. We are calling on everyone to show girls that they are valued for who they are – not what they look like.”

Lyra, 10, a Brownie from south London, said: “I think more girls are judged on their appearance than boys. I don’t think it’s fair that men get treated differently to women. You have to treat everyone the same.”

Liddy Buswell, 18, Girlguiding advocate and Brownie leader, said she was shocked but not surprised by the findings. “I’ve experienced these issues first-hand. I’ve witnessed girls unwilling to speak to groups because of how they look, I’ve heard girls saying they’ve been called names at school and aren’t confident trying new activities as a result.

“No girl should have to worry about the way she looks – she should be having fun and enjoying herself. This year’s survey is a damning indication that something needs to be done to tackle this growing issue.”

Girlguiding UK launched its first “body confidence” badge in 2014 in response to what it described as a crisis in how girls perceive themselves. It is now launching a new social media campaign to make the public think about how they compliment or praise girls, asking them to praise young women for their achievements or attributes, rather than the way they look, using the hashtag #YouAreAmazing.

Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England, said: “Children I speak to tell me they sometimes feel enormous pressure to behave and look a certain way. It’s disturbing that so many young girls think their appearance is the most important thing about them and large numbers feel they have to be perfect. Concerns about body shape can spiral out of control into eating disorders or mental health problems without the right support.

“Girls, and increasingly boys, are bombarded with images in the media and the 24/7 availability of social media can put additional pressure on children. It can be really helpful if parents are able to discuss and challenge unhealthy attitudes children may have and don’t ignore warning signs. Schools also have a huge role to play in building resilience to the negative pressures and attitudes girls may face, and lessons that do this need to be a priority in all school timetables.”

Girls as young as 7 feel pressure to be pretty – body confidence study

Research exhibits you pretty significantly what ever you want

I do not know whether or not it is late-blooming hay fever, which they tell me is rampant, or much more probably the sinus infection that drops unerringly to my chest each and every yr, but every single cloud, as they say it appears that my refusal to resort to the final-chance alternative of a program of antibiotics may possibly pay out off. Great outdated “research shows” has come up with the irrefutable evidence (which, of course, will be dismissed within the week by new “research evidence”) that antibiotics make you body fat. So I might carry on to wheeze and cough, but at least I’ll be preserving my racing-snake figure. I can image my headstone even now: “Here lies the fittest man in the graveyard.”

I’ve ranted on about the healthcare profession’s obsession with the parlous health results of obesity prior to, so I’ll spare you, except to say that if getting obese is doing this kind of injury, how is it that we’re all living longer?

More “research shows” that if you go through even though you are sitting, you’ll reasonably burn up off the calories. Just sitting there, mumchance, hunting vacantly out the window, wondering if you must get up and make a cup of tea, will do you no very good at all, but it seems that people who sit with a excellent book for 75 minutes get rid of a hundred calories. Disappointingly, this calorie-burning is not due to eyeball motion but the vitality needed in the fingers to hold a guide and flip the pages. On the basis of this very good news, if you sit and wiggle your ears for a couple of minutes, it is as good as a stroll in the park.

Really do not just sit there, do one thing – something – but don’t go away on holiday or, in accordance to the latest Dutch study, you will uncover your self with a cold or infection as soon as you hit your favourite costa. As quickly as the stress of function eases and you start the chilling process, that’s when the actual chill strikes at chest or kidneys. “Leisure sickness” they contact it.

Of course, you could have presently caught it on the plane, the place (additional “research shows”) you are a hundred occasions more probably to catch a cold than in your regular existence on land. That’s if you haven’t got a toothache, which can be triggered by air travel. Modify in altitude, you see.

So, if you want a filling, really don’t go skiing, or up the Himalayas either.

The excellent news is that the effects of a holiday fade away in significantly less than a week.

A lot of many years in the past, a buddy of mine posited the concept, without having the help of any analysis, that most of the difficulties in the world was caused by people crossing the street. If everyone just caught to their very own side of the street, we’d all be a great deal happier. I would go additional don’t get out of bed, and if you need to, in no way go outside the front door. It is a minefield out there.

Research exhibits you pretty significantly what ever you want