'I never felt like I was good enough': Panel of young people open up about poor body image as part of government inquiry

Poor body image is on the rise, but what is contributing to it and can anything be done? Sarah Young reflects on the powerful experiences of young people as part of a new government inquiry

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“Scrolling through images on social media platforms had a really detrimental effect on the way I saw my body. I started to scrutinise the way I looked and, unfortunately, I reached a critical crisis and developed body dysmorphia.” These are the words of Danny Bowman, a 25-year-old man who, earlier today, gave evidence in a government inquiry into negative body image.

Danny was joined by three other young panellists – Tatyana, Kate and Cassiane – who each opened up about their personal experiences to a group of MPs leading an official investigation into what can be done to prevent young people feeling negatively about the way they look.  

The inquiry, titled “Changing the perfect picture”, was launched by the House of Commons’ Women and Equalities Committee earlier this year, and aims to discover what causes poor body image as well as how it is impacted by companies, adverts, social media and even government policy.

On Wednesday 21 October, the committee undertook its second oral evidence hearing for the inquiry, which was chaired by Conservative MP Caroline Nokes.

During the hour-long discussion, the panel of young people spoke candidly with the MPs about what influences young people’s perceptions of body image, with a particular focus on social media and image editing.

“It comes from things you see in the media, mainly adverts, influencers and reality TV,” says Kate. “They help to not only set but also reinforce this idea of a certain standard, and type of body image, which then gets passed onto younger people.”

Danny agreed, adding that editing apps, such as FaceTune, play an important role in how social media negatively impacts a person’s image. “They give a perception to young people of an idealised body type that’s not necessarily real but because social media has become central to all of our realities, and especially young people, they are looking at these body images and saying ‘why don’t Iook like that?’”

They give a perception to young people of an idealised body type that’s not necessarily real 

The panellists were in agreement with the findings of the committee’s recent report, which stated that the impact of unrealistic or narrowly defined appearance ideals can cause a range of problems from: low self-esteem; to mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety and BDD; disordered eating, and development of eating disorders; reluctance to visit the doctor or exercise; reluctance to progress academic and career aspirations; use of medication such as diet pills, laxatives and steroids.

They also touched upon how poor body image is a growing problem not only among teenage girls and young women, but also Bame women, trans people, men, and disabled people.

In the committee’s report, Bame respondents said their body image was negatively impacted by lack of representation across media and advertising especially “plus size” Bame women, natural hair and people with dark skin.

On the panel, Tatyana and Cassiane both agreed, citing colourism as a key factor in the pressures they felt to conform. “It’s not seeing enough representation, like different skin tones and hair textures that aren’t represented in everyday things like movies and adverts,” Cassiane says.

“We need more adverts with black women with different body types so young people can see them and know it’s okay to be different, but it’s important for influencers to also be honest. Social media gives us a platform but it’s up to us how we use it.”

Danny also spoke of the pressures he felt as a man to conform to masculine stereotype, such as being tall and muscular, that are seen on social media. He says that while there is more awareness among boys and young men of body image pressures, we are currently at a tipping point.

“When I was experiencing body image issues one of the hardest things was being a male and opening up about it because no one understood,” he explains. “Back then it wasn’t as intense as it is now, and I think that’s why there should be so much urgency.  The technological advances that have come forward allow people to edit their appearance and put forward an edited version of themselves on social media platforms, and that’s only going to have a negative impact on young people’s mental health.”

As for what can be done – if anything – to prevent negative body image, the panellists put forward a host of ideas to the MPs, from demanding that influencers and advertisements mark images that have been edited, to ensuring social media companies remove negative imagery that can be triggering.

Social media gives us a platform but it’s up to us how we use it

“I think it’s a moral responsibility of social media companies to label these images and to bring back a sense of reality,” Danny says. “We’re in a situation where a lot of bodies on social media have been heavily edited and young people looking at them have no idea.”

It has been long known that poor body image is a problem: there has been a 50 per cent increase in children accessing services for eating disorders since 2016/17; a study by the Mental Health Foundation found over a third of adults feel anxious or depressed about their body image; and 44 per cent want greater diversity of bodies in the media.

Meanwhile, NHS figures show that, although men have higher self-esteem than women, 57 per cent still feel pressured by social media to look a certain way and 23 per cent believe there is a “perfect male body” to aspire to.

However, little has been done to investigate what contributes to these problems, what should be done and by whom, and the role the government has to play in addressing it.

This committee will continue to consider the evidence it ascertains and produce a White Paper of recommendations for publishing next year. The role of the Women and Equalities committee is to scrutinise the work of the government on equality issues. It was established in 2015 following the general election.