Body image classes piloted in primary schools

How can you insulate children from the barrage of images of physical perfection? By age 10, research shows, one in five boys and one in three girls do not like the way they look.

Incredibly, 10 is the average age children start dieting. There are all sorts of theories about why children are becoming dissatisfied with their bodies from a younger age, but in Bristol they’re trying to give them the ammunition to fight back, with body image classes being piloted to some primary school children.

Channel 4 News spoke to some of the youngsters at St Peter’s Church of England school in Bishopsworth, Bristol. After six lessons they had taken on board that what’s on the inside of a person is much more important than what’s on the outside. They were very knowledgeable about airbrushing and how the advertising industry markets unreal images to them.

Pressure to conform

One nine-year-old told me: “I used to buy foundation, mascara, concealer and bronzer to cover up my freckles,” she said.

“After being taught body image and air brushing, they said the ads aren’t always true. Now I’m not spending money on makeup. You look nice anyway. To be honest, you don’t look extra nice with make up.”

It might surprise some people that a nine-year-old would buy make up at all. But the pressures to conform are everywhere and there is a huge emphasis on image with children changing their pictures on social networking sites all the time.

Children as young as five are reported to be talking about diets, and now the government has responded, saying these kinds of classes should be taught in all primary schools.

One of the teachers we met, Chris Calland, put it like this: “It’s our duty as educators to reflect what’s happening in their lives. Unless we do it, they have no chance. By age 14 or 15 it’s too late. If we build resilience early, it has more chance of working. We’re giving them a fighting chance.”

Read more: Children aged five treated for eating disorders