2013-05-22T05:03:14-04:00 Jo Swinson http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=jo-swinson Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Jo Swinson Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2376661 2012-12-28T19:00:00-05:00 2013-02-27T05:12:02-05:00

Jo Swinson http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jo-swinson/ government agenda.

Looking back, it has been quite a journey to get to this point. Following the publication of that policy paper, Lynne and I resolved to turn it into a campaign rather than gather dust on a shelf in Lib Dem HQ. We ignited the debate about retouching in the media through high-profile complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority that saw adverts featuring Julia Roberts, Rachel Weisz, Christy Turlington and Twiggy banned. In 2010 we co-founded the Campaign for Body Confidence, bringing together partners in the media, fashion and fitness industries, as well as those who spend their days trying to heal the damage caused by low self-esteem and distorted views of eating and exercise. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image followed in 2011, and gave the campaign a parliamentary focus with cross-party support from MPs Caroline Nokes, Mary Glindon, Caroline Dinenage, Stephen Williams and Sharon Hogdson.

2012 has been a vintage year for body confidence. It kicked off with a special Parliamentary screening of Jennifer Siebel Newsom's documentary MissRepresentation which explores how media misrepresentations of women have led to their under-representation in positions of power and influence. In April we held the first ever Body Confidence Awards presented in association with bareMinerals - an electric celebration of inspirational and deserving efforts to promote body confidence, diversity and the acceptance of broader beauty ideals. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image Inquiry into the causes and consequences of body image anxiety heard evidence from a wide range of organisations, and published its report in June. In government, we're particularly proud of our work this year to improve young people's understanding of how the media and celebrity culture affect us through the Media Smart teacher and parent packs - if you want to discuss these issues with your child or teenager do download the free online resources. And of course we had a fantastic summer of Olympic and Paralympic sport, showcasing diverse role models who value their bodies for what they can do, rather than how they look.

So I was absolutely delighted in the reshuffle to take on the role of Minister for Women and Equalities, and pick up the baton on the government's body confidence campaign from my fellow campaigner Lynne Featherstone. Building on a brilliant 2012, I'm excited about what we can do in 2013.

We need to develop a better understanding of the full mix of causes and effects. We will soon publish a short review of evidence on body image, which points to some interesting areas for further investigation. Although body image debates often focus on young women, there is evidence to suggest that women over 40 also experience high levels of dissatisfaction with their weight and bodies in comparison to their younger years. That's a huge, and largely hidden, reservoir of distress that we need to understand more fully and take action on more effectively.

We need to open the debate up further and to talk more openly. We already understand how low body confidence can affect 15 year old girls. But what happens when those 15 year old girls reach 25, 35, and 45? How does their low body confidence translate into social confidence? How does it affect their performance in the workplace? How does it affect their families? The government is already doing a lot to support women, but we also need to ensure that we can nurture and support the aspirations of women and girls. Women are at the heart of the country's economic growth strategy and we need to do everything possible to harness their talents and skills.

In the aftermath of the Leveson Inquiry, there is understandably a lot of talk about his findings on the representation of women and minorities in the media. Our work with media partners is made much easier when both sides accept that the old polarised debate about whether media images cause eating disorders is redundant. The evidence supports what common sense suggests: that body image is formed at the interplay of a number of influences, including individual resilience, family relationships, peer norms and - yes - social messages about desirability.

Body confidence is not all about women. While men are, generally, less likely to suffer from negative body image, they are far from immune. And I think that they are also part of the solution. So, one of my personal commitments for the coming year is to recruit men in positions of influence (as fathers, designers, CEOs and ministers) to play their part in reducing the devastating waste of human energy, confidence and contribution that is the result of our social epidemic of low body confidence. I feel like we're really starting to make a difference now and I am eagerly looking forward to the next chapter.

It is exciting work. Be part of it.

This is the final post in the government's blog series on body confidence which ran
throughout 2012.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1586406 2012-06-11T10:16:35-04:00 2012-08-11T05:12:07-04:00

Jo Swinson http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jo-swinson/ Campaign for Body Confidence has been bit of a rollercoaster. Along with the All Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image, we've fought to begin to change our looks-obsessed culture and different campaign members have achieved success in their fields. We've started a debate about retouching in the media through high-profile complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority resulting in several adverts being banned for misleading consumers. Last year All Walks Beyond the Catwalk launched a Centre for Diversity to embed diversity within the syllabus for fashion students and the Central YMCA sponsored groundbreaking research along with the Succeed Foundation into how idealised imagery is affecting men. Girlguiding UK presented a petition to the Prime Minister asking for compulsory labelling of airbrushed images and AnyBody has been campaigning in this country and beyond, with conferences last year in London, New York, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Melbourne.

But those successes are swimming against the current of the tidal wave of idealised images that we see daily. It's hard to escape advertising, and nowadays it's simple and inexpensive to digitally manipulate pictures. We see so many videos, photos and images that all portray the same unattainable body "ideal", despite the fact that these pictures are often heavily retouched. The message is that there is only one narrow standard of beauty to aspire to and body confidence becomes very tied to self-esteem. Not many of us could name the last time we saw an image where the models and celebrities weren't digitally manipulated and altered to look taller, lighter, and ultra-thin.

Ultimately everyone who produces images should think twice about the visuals they're putting out there and what a lack of diversity and excessively retouched images do to us all us a society. Just because you can keep altering an image, doesn't mean you should. There is a point where we need to say stop. Different people will draw the line in different places, and for different audiences. The bottom line is that people want a bit more authenticity and honesty in advertising.

It's too easy to simply blame the media though. We are all so fixated on appearances. Every day so many of us perpetuate negative messages - when we say to a friend "You look great, have you lost weight?" or look in the mirror and find fault with ourselves. We need less criticism and more celebration of the beauty that comes from diversity in body shape, skin colour, size and age. We need to give ourselves a break and be a bit more positive. We need to help young people develop the skills to fight this pressure that we're all under.
So what's next for the campaign?

We're currently planning a retailer roundtable on diversity and retouching to deepen the debate on the use and prevalence of retouching and the lack of diversity - whether shape, age or colour - in the media. We want to get all sides talking to come to a shared idea of what responsible retouching and real diversity looks like.

We're still basking in the positive energy created by the first ever Body Confidence Awards presented in association with bareMinerals that were held in April. The awards were presented during an electric celebration of the winners' inspirational and deserving efforts to promote body confidence, diversity and the acceptance of broader beauty ideals. All who were there agreed it was a game-changing event where key influencers came together to share their passion for change.

At the end of last month, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Body Image published the report into the causes and consequences of body image anxiety. After three months of evidence sessions with members of different industries and hundreds of responses from the public the authoritative report outlined dozens of recommendations, from evidence-based body image education in schools to action from fashion retailers and tighter controls on cosmetic surgery adverts.

We'll keep pushing the issue at various levels but there's something that each and every one of you reading this article can do. Spend time focusing on the things that make people truly beautiful; qualities like kindness, integrity, humility and humour. Give yourself a break and resolve with friends, families and colleagues to challenge the default setting of self-criticism, and help each other to do so. And join the campaign at www.bodyimage.org.uk]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.902290 2011-07-19T04:43:39-04:00 2011-09-17T05:12:01-04:00

Jo Swinson http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jo-swinson/ [1] have been on a diet in an attempt to change the way they look, and with over half of 14-16 year olds citing media influence as the main reason for dieting^[2], there is an urgent need to address this problem before it consumes a whole generation.

That is why today in Parliament I will be asking the Government to incorporate body image education into the classroom. School years are formative to children's intellectual development, equipping them for further study, work and adult life; but they have an equally important role to play in developing young people's confidence and self-esteem.

Introducing the issue of body confidence to the classroom is vital if we want to break the destructive cycle of thought our looks-obsessed culture is imposing on young people. On a daily basis the media bombards us with bodies airbrushed to biologically impossible proportions, and young people have responded to this by taking increasingly drastic measures. More and more of them are resorting to extreme dieting, and the incidence of eating disorders among young people is sharply rising. Children are growing up with the idea that body dissatisfaction is a rite of passage, and this needs to stop.

The work of individuals and organisations across the country has already demonstrated the breadth of information and advice schools could provide to help young people to rationalise insecurities, question media stereotypes and increase their self-confidence. Gok Wan has continued to rally support for bringing an hour of body image education to the classroom per term, recently staging a mass body image education lesson outside Parliament. Body Gossip, a national campaign seeking to improve body image, developed a 'Gossip School', which tours the country teaching body confidence and self-esteem in schools and colleges. The scheme has been met with overwhelmingly positive feedback; in one testimonial a young girl commented that the programme 'made me accept my own body how it is'. This is the key objective of body image lessons.

As a society, we need to open up a conversation about our bodies. We need to ensure that body image and media literacy education remain high up on the political agenda by encouraging initiatives like those organised by Body Gossip. The Centre for Appearance Research at the University of the West of England is conducting research into the most effective interventions to increase body confidence. We should learn from that academic research and share its findings widely in the educational community, and equip our teachers with the tools to help young people develop their own body confidence.

<sup>1. YMCA survey with Centre for Appearance Research; 'The Body of Public Opinion: Attitudes to body image in the UK' 2011
2. Girl Guiding UK Girls' Attitudes Survey 2010</sup> ]]>