[Article uses words like “obesity”]

Youth are especially vulnerable to harmful narratives through the media. Unrealistic beauty standards and a lack of diverse body representation contribute to feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt. From social media influencers to advertisements, messages that equate thinness with success and desirability reinforce harmful stereotypes. Without positive representation of all body types, young people may struggle to develop a healthy self-image, leading to long-term consequences on their mental and emotional well-being.

Such bias in the public eye is maintained through two types of media – imagery and the language. Many children’s TV shows and movies reinforce stereotypes, often portraying slim characters as kind and popular, while larger characters are shown as mean, unhealthy, or a joke (1).

Studies show that 70% of recent children’s movies include weight-based stigmatizing content, with most targeting characters with obesity (2). Youth-targeted TV shows also contain more weight-stigmatizing content than shows for general audiences (3). Besides that, commercials by companies excessively promote certain types of beauty, and such imagery is constantly present and visible to children from early childhood.

Only just recently popular media and culture has become more open to portray a broader diversity of bodies – plus size models, narratives of normative bodies and body positivity as a whole. But it is still an exception. Since adolescents spend hours daily consuming media, these negative portrayals can shape their views, making them more likely to express weight bias toward peers (4).

Lack of representation

Lack of representation of relatable body types, shapes and sizes both creates an unhealthy image of what human bodies are like, as well as creates unrealistic expectations for young people of their own bodies.

One of the most common misconceptions is that reminding a person to work harder on their body is going to help them. The effects of such doing are actually contrary. Being teased or receiving comments about weight during adolescence can lead to greater weight gain and a higher chance of overweight in adulthood, creating a harmful cycle where weight gain increases the risk of more teasing and bullying (4). Meanwhile, people who are considered to have weight above the norm, are 3 times less likely to lose excess weight if they are experiencing weight stigma (5).

As a continuation of narratives about certain bodies being better than others, information around obesity epidemic, diets and different aesthetic procedures (from minor to especially severe) (6) form the perception of the body itself – as something to be constantly changed and improved.

In public awareness very little information is available on health at every size (7) and body neutrality – concepts that allow more room for authentic and human existence in any body.

It is a complicated task for families, youth workers and other people involved in shaping the world of young people – to teach viewing media and other external imagery critically while also instilling strong self-awareness and self-confidence.

Meanwhile, discussion about this is still emerging in the European youth work arena, and mindful language on bodies is something to be acquired by the masses as common stereotypes continue.

References

1. Robinson T, Callister M, Jankoski T. Portrayal of body weight on children’s television sitcoms: a content analysis. Body Image. 2008;5(2):141–151
2. Throop EM, Skinner AC, Perrin AJ, Steiner MJ, Odulana A, Perrin EM. Pass the popcorn: “obesogenic” behaviors and stigma in children’s movies. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2014;22(7):1694–1700
3. Eisenberg ME, CarlsonMcGuire A, Gollust SE, NeumarkSztainer D. A content analysis of weight stigmatization in popular television programming for adolescents. Int J Eat Disord. 2015;48(6):759–766
4. Pont, S. J., Puhl, R., Cook, S. R., & Slusser, W. (2017). Stigma experienced by children and adolescents with obesity. Pediatrics, 140(6).
5. Sutin, A. R., & Terracciano, A. (2013). Perceived weight discrimination and obesity. PloS one, 8(7), e70048.
6. Due to limited space in this manual we will not discuss this in much detail, but many body liberation and fat activists broadly expose the ways how such narratives feed the harmful bias and discrimination.
7. https://asdah.org/haes/ 

Photo by Kim Menikh on Unsplash

This article was created within an Erasmus+ funded project Microlearning for Body Liberation, contract No. 2024-1-LV02-KA210-YOU-000247374. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or The Agency For International Programs For Youth in Latvia (JSPA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.