Minister tells parents not to
tell their daughters they’re beautiful
Parents should stop telling their children they are beautiful as
this places too much emphasis on appearance, women’s minister Jo Swinson has
said. The minister said parents could be storing up problems for later in their
children’s lives by sending a message that looks are the most important thing
needed to succeed.
Ms Swinson, 33, who is childless, said in an interview with
the Daily Telegraph praising children for skills such ‘doing a jigsaw’ or
‘curiosity in asking questions’ was more appropriate. The Liberal Democrat
minister was speaking ahead of the government’s ‘body
confidence’ campaign. This aims to raise awareness of the positive
and negative portrayals of bodies in the media and find ways of building
self-esteem among young people.
According to statistics quoted by the minister, one in four children
aged 10 to 15 is unhappy about their appearance. And 72 per cent of girls feel
that too much attention is paid to the way female celebrities look.
Earlier this year Ms Swinson urged editors of women’s magazines
‘to shed the fad diets and fitness myths’. She said: ‘I know as an aunt, you
fall into the trap of turning to your niece and saying, “you look beautiful” —
because of course all children do look beautiful — but if the message they get
is that is what’s important and that is what gets praise, then that’s not
necessarily the most positive message you want them to hear.’ Praising someone
for their appearance wasn’t ‘bad in itself – we don’t say you can’t like
someone else’s dress’. But she urged parents to put comments about looks in
their ‘appropriate place’.
‘Research shows that when children have no body confidence at school
they’re less likely to put their hand up in class and ask a question.
‘In extreme cases you’ll have people suffering from body
dysmorphia, a psychiatric disorder, where people might not feel happy to go to
school and you get truancy as a result of this.’
The minister said appearance
was important in certain circumstances, such as a job interview, but ‘it’s just
the level to which this becomes the ultimate focus of everything’. It can
become an obsession ‘where you have people who won’t go to school unless
they’ve put their make-up on, or won’t leave the house unless they’ve spent two
hours getting ready’.
She also said fathers have a
role in ensuring their daughters don’t develop a problem with body image.
‘Perhaps they can consider
what they say about women in front of their daughters, how they’re being judged
and whether they’re saying any inappropriate comments suggesting that women’s
value is in how they look.’
Ms Swinson said the new
campaign was about raising awareness but argued it would be difficult given the
some industries ‘make money out of people feeling bad about themselves’. She
claimed young boys were also under pressure to look buff and muscular or to be
skinny like the singer Pete Doherty.
Article from
Metro.uk - Tuesday 28 May 2013
Related articles:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/10083124/Dont-tell-your-daughter-she-is-beautiful-parents-told.html
Discussion
Questions
With your partner, discuss the following questions.
Feel free to ask any follow-on questions you like.
1. What
do you think about Ms Swinton’s comments?
Does she have a point?
2. Do you compliment your kids/nephews/nieces etc
on their appearance?
Will this article
make you think twice about doing so in future?
3. Do you worry about your appearance? Do you feel pressure to look good?
4. How long do you spend getting ready before you leave the house? Why? Is it
really necessary?
5. Do you think other people really care what you
look like? Do you judge other people on
their appearances? Do you often comment
on other people’s appearance? Why?
6. In what situations is your appearance important
and when is it not important?
7. How do you feel about the way that magazines
and other media talk about beauty and body image? Is it irresponsible? Is it harmful? Should it be regulated?
8. We could all use a little positive
reinforcement. Pay everyone in your group a compliment that is not related to
their physical appearance so they can leave the class feeling good about
themselves.
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