The Mission Australia survey of Australian young people consistently indicates that body image more is more troubling to them than issues such as the environment and discrimination.

We are now seeing primary school aged children dieting in order to bring their appearance more in line with expectations set by the media. Below is an example of how sexualisation, social approval, unatainable appearance and extreme eating behaviours are presented as aspirational goals:

When the show is nine days away she’ll only consume protein shakes “no solids”, then two days before she’ll drink just a normal amount of water.

She’ll have no liquid at all from 12 hours before she’ll take to the runway.

“No liquids at all so you dry out, sometimes you can lose up to eight pounds just from that,” she explained.

via Adriana Lima’s Victoria’s Secret diet.

We need to develop strategies to assist our young people to properly contextualise this kind of media content. Even better, we could strive to shift our cultural values toward a healthier and more balanced concept of beauty and accomlishment.