Body image

BY NIKITA 10Q

Perfection is overrated and reality is underrated. Why are we putting ourselves in this position? Nine out of ten British teenage girls are unhappy with their body shape and appearance. It is one of the biggest problems in today’s generation.

One of the key findings from The Good Childhood Report (2017) is that happiness in young people is at is lowest since 2010. Does this have a link to the rise of mobile and digital technology that teenagers have access to? There are so many social media apps that allow people to take selfies and put on filters. Most of our photos are fake! Then we look at celebrities’ photos or our friends and wonder why we don’t look like them. They don’t even look like them!

Image from BBC News

But now it is becoming a problem for both genders as boys are also starting to feel insecure. A study by the National Citizen Service found out that “34% of boys surveyed told us they feel pressured to attain a muscular figure while 55% of girls surveyed have said they feel the pressures of being skinny.”

If someone is healthy then it should not matter what he or she look like to anyone else as long as they are happy with themselves. We need to stop feeling the pressure from the media as lots of those images are not real as they have been edited.

Anyway, what is the perfect body? Any thoughts? No answer, right? One way we can change this is by complimenting each other more to make each other feel more confident.

Rachael Bermingham - “Don’t judge me. I was born to be awesome. Not perfect.”