Body image Keynote Speech

So to kick off our Sunday morning we started with an inspiring 3-part keynote speech focusing on a key issue facing girls across Europe - Body Image.  Our first speaker was Sarah Anderson.  Sarah is a volunteer member of the No More Page 3 Team. The ‘No More Page 3’ campaign is a petition calling for The Sun newspaper to stop printing pictures of topless women on page 3, and has gathered over 90,000 signatures. It was started during the Olympics in summer 2012, when a writer called Lucy-Anne Holmes found that the largest female image in The Sun was of a young woman showing her breasts, even though Jessica Ennis had just won her gold Olympic medal.

Sarah talked to us about the representations that we see in the media in the UK and across Europe. Less than a quarter of political representatives across Europe are women and the majority of mainstream sports coverage is for male sport. In the UK only 5% of national newspapers are edited by women. Whilst that more women editors doesn't guarantee better female representation within the pages, it's got to help, right?

Dr Phillippa Diedrichs is a research health psychologist specialising in body image and eating disorder prevention. She has a PhD in health psychology and is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Appearance Research at the University of the West of England.  She shared her research, and referred to the Girlguiding UK Girls Attitudes research, that shows that how a person thinks about the way they look has a significant impact on their lives.  This is a significant issue for girls but does also affect boys and adults.  When a girl has low body image they are also likely to be impacted by other issues such as poor nutrition and difficulties with their mental wellbeing.

It also impacts on their social interactions and is a huge barrier that girls guiding and girl scouting must tackle as a barrier to empowerment.  Girls who are unhappy with the way they look are less likely to engage in social situations or to take action on social justice issues. Our purpose is to enable girls to fulfil their potential and to be a powerful force for good and so this is an area that we cannot ignore.

The keynote speech was finished off by Bijal Rama from Girlguiding UK's Advocate group. Whilst her family protected her from the kind of images in The Sun they are unavoidable at school and out in the community.  She felt judged by others against the ideal body image that was held up in these papers.  Guiding helped Bijal to develop the confidence to be herself in the safe non-judgemental environment we provide, with strong female role models.

Girlguiding UK signed up to the No More Page 3 campaign after a call from our young members. This was an issue that they felt passionately about and so we got behind the campaign.  Please join us by signing the petition.