It’s online and in the pages of magazines where girls find out about the latest fashion, celebrity trends and hot-off- the-press news. However, these are also the places where they are told about deeper issues, such as how to act in their relationships, what size is ‘acceptable’ and what beauty is (not to mention adverts such as the ‘Are you beach body ready’ campaign). Websites and magazines bombard readers with super thin models, blemish-free skin and articles telling of how they should be living a glossier, more fashionable life. I read an article online recently which said ‘from cocaine to eating cotton wool, how models stay thin.’ The effect of these articles concerns me deeply. We live in a world obsessed with image, status, celebrity and fame, it seems like society is conditioning us to only care about the external.
So what should our response be? As youth workers you have an incredible opportunity to encourage and empower the girls and young women in your care. You can enable them to become aware of the negativity that surrounds them. We need to be bold and proactive, if we aren’t then they’re going to find answers online and in the pages of these magazines which are distorting their identity, their perception of beauty and destroying their self-esteem. This research, while heart-breaking, is a wake-up call. Let it ring alarm bells in you and stir you to action. How should we respond?
Find out more, do your research and read girl’s magazines! I challenge you to buy some and check out what the content is.
Seek wholesome resources to explore current issues with girls.The Guardian ran a piece recently called ‘The 10 conversations to have with your daughter’. They were: pornography, sex, grades, body image, selfies, self-harm, sexting, the cool crowd, feminism and self-worth. These aren’t the definitive list of subjects girls are facing but they’re a good place to start.
Keep your eyes open for behavioural changes in the girls and young women in your care. Is their behaviour impacting the quality of their lives? Provide a safe environment where you can have honest conversations, where girls can hear truth and spend time getting to know themselves better.
Pray for the girls and young women not just in your youth groups but in your schools, towns and around the world. Let’s pray for a rediscovery of their identity and a realisation of their incredible value and worth.
The statistics suggest that there will be girls in your youth groups who are experiencing emotional difficulties and we have a responsibility to do all that we can to support these girls."
Meg Cannon, director of koko, a Girls’ Brigade initiative
