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You are here: Home / SELF LOVE & BODY IMAGE / Body image workshops for teachers and other anti-diet wish-list must-haves

Body image workshops for teachers and other anti-diet wish-list must-haves

December 11, 2019 by Molly Leave a Comment

On a rainy, cold, dark and dreary day two weeks ago in London a team of people met to discuss how to end the marketing of diets and weight loss products around kids. It wasn’t a high profile meeting endorsed by celebrities or featuring #gifted goodie bags and a who’s who of Instagram influencers, but then no one said creating change was glamorous.

When I launched the #FreeFromDiets campaign back in the summer I had no idea how it would go down. It started with a few angry rants on Instagram Stories about diet club reps handing out leaflets at various school gates up and down the country, and then it snowballed into a fully fledged campaign with a petition and a video and a website and a team of ambassadors and a campaign manager.

Every week I get DM after DM after DM from parents all over the UK telling me stories of weight loss brands using schools and kids’ clubs as a recruitment ground for new members.

Aggressive marketing techniques include handing out leaflets in school book bags to take home to parents, hanging huge banners on school gates, putting up posters in kids’ club changing rooms. I even heard from one mum who was shocked to find a rep for a big diet brand dressed up as the Easter Bunny in her local park, handing out balloons and leaflets enticing parents to join her local club.

It seems it’s gone unchallenged for so long that it’s become normalised, a part of every day life for so many.

So while the rates of pre-teens getting treated for anorexia doubles in a decade, the number of mental health issues associated with poor body image rises and many children literally skip school altogether because of low self-esteem linked to how they feel in their body… the big diet brands quietly rumble on, using the very places children should be safest from messaging around weight loss and perfect body ideals as prime marketing locations for new members.

Mums are big business – and never mind if the kids see the ads, many brands offer free membership for kids too! Get the whole family through the door in one go and triple your wins! Everyone’s happy (apart from the kids who go on to develop eating disorders and the mums who hate themselves after regaining the weight, and the children who don’t raise their hand in class for fear of their body being wrong… but we won’t worry about them. You can’t please everyone).

Headlines about obesity epidemics and simplified narratives around health keep the diet brands safe from scrutiny, it seems. They can use the health argument to justify hanging banners on school gates which sell the thin = happy / thin = successful / thin = healthy message. They just want to help people! They just want as many people as possible to know that for a minimal fee they too can lose weight and get their life back on track. Their work is practically charitable, really. (We’ll skim over the fact many of these diet ads show pictures of chips and “junk foods” – photos of the very foods the ASA recently banned from being advertised within 100 metres of a school due to said obesity epidemic.)

And apparently the reality of the problem is too meta to cover in the news, as journalists regularly get in touch saying they’re interested in the campaign and want to cover it, but only if I can get proof of a rep actually handing a leaflet to a child and saying something along the lines of “You’re fat, read this, then come to my club”, before locking them up in a (low calorie) ice cream van Child Catcher style and stealing them away into the diet branded sunset. Of course this isn’t happening, the reality is far more nuanced and less tabloid- shocking, but no less dangerous.

The rates of pre-teens with eating disorders has doubled in the last decade. One in five girls aren’t raising their hand in class for fear of being judged over how they look. Children are under-performing at school and some aren’t attending altogether due to the way they feel about their body. But yes, let’s just blame it all on Instagram and photo editing apps and “the media”, because that’s easier than addressing the fact thousands of our children are walking past huge banners for diet brands on their school railings every single day.

And so I guess it’s no surprise that none of the diet brands agreed to join us for our first round table event, to find a way to work together to market their products in a more responsible way, away from children. Change doesn’t happen overnight and all that.

But what was pretty cool was the fact that Girl Guiding UK joined us for the discussion, offering amazing insight into the point of view of young people, and telling us about the brilliant work they’re doing to counteract negative body image and narrow beauty ideals and promote self esteem amongst young girls. And what was also pretty cool was the fact we had two health professionals – an eating disorder therapist and a GP – at the meeting too, along with an activist who only went and met with London Mayor Sadiq Khan two days afterwards and told him all about the campaign. Pretty cool indeed.

If you’re interested in finding out about what was discussed on the day and some of the key areas we’re working on to counteract diet club messaging around kids (while we simultaneously work to get it eradicated around schools completely) then you can read the full round table report here.

You can also have your say on the specific areas you’d like us to focus on here.

Next month we’ll be announcing big plans for 2020, including some really fun and inspiring events that you can get involved in and fundraising activity to fund brilliant new initiatives to counteract the diet messaging (body image workshops for teachers are top of our list!).

I know it’s a scary time. And the news is often depressing and uncertain. But I feel hopeful for 2020 because I see how many amazing people are working to put good stuff into the world, actively create change, give up their time and their platforms for free to make a difference. And this gives me hope.

We’re only just getting started.

Filed Under: SELF LOVE & BODY IMAGE Tagged With: #FreeFromDiets, body happy kids, body image, diet culture

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Hello and welcome! I'm Molly Forbes - podcaster, presenter and blogger with a passion for positivity, confidence and body image chat. Regularly writing and vlogging about empowering female issues from a motherhood angle, I also cover lifestyle and fashion topics for like-minded mums who want to rediscover themselves after having children. Thanks for stopping by! Read More…

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YOUTUBE

INSTAGRAM

THANK YOU ❤️ I’ve felt a bit flat the last w THANK YOU ❤️ I’ve felt a bit flat the last week, but after steeling myself to take a look at some reviews that flatness is easing. 
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Maybe this feeling is normal? A post-publication day flatness... it’s familiar and kind of expected, I’ve felt it after any big thing. A kind of anti-climax, mixture of exhaustion and overwhelm maybe?
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Publishing in a pandemic is tough and the fact I haven’t even been able to see my book in a bookshop doesn’t help. There’s been no celebration with friends and family, no fun launch event, no way to officially mark it as such - that’s all on hold. And self-promotion always feels a bit cringe, but I know it’s important - not just to get the book out in the world but also to show my daughters that as women we must be proud of our achievements. Particularly when we’re so often told to be quiet. 
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So here I am sharing this bloody wonderful review for Body Happy Kids: How to help children and teens love the skin they’re in. It speaks for itself. And while I’m here I’m going to be super direct and get over myself, to ask YOU to please leave a review if you’ve read the book too. It really does make a difference. Apparently Good Reads is also important (thank you to my buddy and book cheer leader @giraffemilklady for that nugget of advice).
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I’ve got a few cool bits of press coming up about the book but you can’t rely on media coverage of books - particularly when you’re not a celeb or have hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers. So word of mouth really is more important than ever. THANK YOU ✨
#BodyHappyKids 
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#bodyacceptance #bodyimage 
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[Image description: a screenshot of a five star Amazon review of the book Body Happy Kids. Full text in Alt Text.]
Body Happy Kids has been out in the world for just Body Happy Kids has been out in the world for just over a week 🎉 It’s been wonderful and overwhelming to see people reading it all over the world. I’m so grateful for everyone tagging me in their posts and Stories, particularly as I haven’t been able to see the book in a real life book shop yet 😭 (publishing in a pandemic is tough 💔). 
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If you’ve read the book I would be ever so grateful if you could leave it a review on Amazon. I’m told it makes a difference and can help some people decide whether to read it or not!
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This is a tiny thread taken from the chapter about toys. There’s some fascinating research into the impact of toys on body image in kids, showing that what children plays with matters. It’s not a straightforward case of banning Barbie (my 6yo loves her Barbies) but more a case of being mindful of the impact of these toys, talking about them and making sure kids have a range of different types of toys to play with. There’s a toolkit at the end of the chapter to help with this.
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As well as the research you’ll hear about in that chapter you’ll also hear from brilliant academics @christiaspearsbrown and @kopanoratele about the impact that gender stereotypes in toys have on the body image of children.
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In the meantime, swipe through to read a bit more about Barbie (including Slumber Party Barbie from 1960s 😱)
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I want to see more B roll photos. I want to see th I want to see more B roll photos. I want to see the deleted photos, lying forgotten deep at the bottom of the trash folder. The discarded selfies. The ones taken and hastily replaced with ten “better” ones. I want the perfect imperfection, the unglossy, unfiltered, messy, grainy slightly out of focus frazzled photos. 
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Not because we’re making a point about Insta versus reality, or to show that “even the girl in the photo doesn’t look like the girl in the photo”, or as the punchline to a joke about angles and what other people see versus what our phone sees when we swipe up. Just because. 
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I want my daughters (when they’re old enough to have phones), to feel able to show up with a make-up free, unfiltered face without feeling like they need to do so with a caveat or an apology. I want them to be able to exist online just as they are, without being hailed as “so brave” just for putting up an image of them living their life that hasn’t been taken under perfect lighting or with on-fleek brows or posed just-so. 
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We live in an age where we are all judging others and ourselves based on our appearance more than ever. Defining other peoples’ bodies. Deciding who is worthy or not worthy, who gets to speak, who gets our attention, based on what they look like. And looking at ourselves through the glare of a camera phone or zoom filter for hours every day. Living outside of our bodies and our faces. It’s. So. Boring.
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Talk to me about what you saw today, what you read, who you spoke to, what made you laugh, what made you think, that TV show that made you sob, the art that gave you tingles, the chat with your mate that left you aching to hug them. 
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Show me the B roll photos, the messy, accidental, fuzzy, real moments of unposed, unselfconscious LIFE. I’m here for it. Here’s mine.
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Today the Women and Equalities Commission released Today the Women and Equalities Commission released a big report into body image, with a whole raft of recommendations for the government to implement. The report included the findings of a large survey they did last year which found 66% of children suffer with negative feelings about their bodies most of the time. 
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There are a number of recommendations in the report, including scrapping the use of BMI as a measurement of health, getting rid of the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) that sees children being weighed in school, and encouraging the Department of Education to take a whole school approach to body image (as well as regularly reviewing the RSHE curriculum). 
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Doing this job often feels like pushing water up a hill. It’s frustrating, anxiety inducing and regularly leaves me burned out. But there is no alternative because we MUST have change. Our children deserve better. We ALL deserve better. Today’s report is some welcome news and now it’s on all of us to continue the work and show we care about these issues. The more the government realises it’s an issue that people want prioritised, the more seriously they will take the findings and recommendations in the report. 
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They have eight weeks to respond. We mustn’t stop talking about this. 
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Parents, teachers, youth leaders: follow @bodyhappyorg (the social enterprise I founded to promote positive body image in children and teens) for more support in this area. 
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I’m sharing what we offer here on my own account as I know there are some new people following me since the publication of my book last week and I want to let you know what resources and support we can offer in this area. I work with a brilliant team of people at @bodyhappyorg who are all equally committed to these issues. Hopefully this post will be useful - if you’re a parent we have support for you too. Check out the links in my bio or the @bodyhappyorg bio ❤️
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Last night I posted a reel about saying no to diet Last night I posted a reel about saying no to diet culture and someone commented that it wasn’t so dramatic as a straight-sized white woman. They were right, it’s not. Hopefully this post explains why, but I want to make it super clear where I stand because this stuff is important. 
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Also, a gentle reminder: it’s never OK to comment on or define someone else’s body without their consent. Holding people to account is important and appreciated. But piling in with comments about someone’s body as if they’re not there is rude and crosses a boundary I hold for my own body, and the bodies of others. 
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Thank you for being here ❤️
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No you’re crying. Can’t express how much this No you’re crying. Can’t express how much this means to me. 😭 #BodyHappyKids
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[Image description: A yellow square with a screenshot of a DM overlaid which reads “I’ve only read one chapter and I’m finding it so moving. There is not a moment of the day when I don’t worry about my 9 year old and how as a bigger child he may be stigmatised. I feel so empowered to have this book. We did the affirmations this morning and even the 2.5 year old joined in. Both my boys demeanour changed and when discussing ways in which the eldest thought his body was amazing was incredibly empowering. Thank you.”]
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