The UK Parliament’s Women & Equalities Select Committee has launched a call for evidence for their inquiry on Changing the perfect picture: an inquiry into body image.
The call mentions specifically that The Mental Health Foundation reported in a recent study that 40% of LGBT+ adults felt shame because of their body image.
Do you have any contributions to make on the subject of body image and LGBT+ people? Consider making a submission to the inquiry!
More information can be found below:
Awareness of the impact of advertising and media consumption on people’s body image has increased in recent years. Negative body image is widely perceived as solely a young women’s problem. But more recently, research has shown that this is a wider issue:
Recent studies report that over a third of adults feel anxious or depressed about their body image, and nearly half (44%) want to see greater diversity in the mainstream media.
NHS studies have shown that 57% of young men felt pressured by social media to look good, and 23% believed there to be a ‘perfect male body.’
The Mental Health Foundation reported in a recent study that 40% of LGBT+ adults felt shame because of their body image.
80% of disabled people surveyed by Trailblazers said that their body image has a direct impact on their mental well-being.
The Women and Equalities Committee want to hear from a range of people and organisations on what causes poor body image and how people’s body image is impacted by companies, adverts, social media and Government policy.
The committee wants to hear your views. We welcome submissions from anyone with answers to the questions in the call for evidence. You can submit evidence until Friday 26 June 2020.
Email: womeqcom@parliament.uk
Phone: (General enquiries) 020 7219 6123 / (Media enquiries) 020 7219 1708
Address: Committee Office, House of Commons, Palace of Westminster, SW1A 0AA