How can I help my son's anxiety with Body Image
Anjula hears from Vanessa, a mother of three boys living in South London who's anxious about how they're coping with the our increasingly idealised version of male body image.
Vanessa is concerned that her teenage sons are facing a barrage of images and ideas about what constitutes the perfect male body. Ideals of male physique are as old as the ancient Greeks but today, boys are faced with a bombardment of images suggesting that the only figure worth having involves a ripped torso and massive biceps. The pressures to conform to an 'idea' of beauty are familiar to women but now its men and boys who are feeling the gaze.
Anjula speaks to Psychologist Dr Matthew Hall of Arden University about Vanessa's concerns and hears figures that suggest she's very far from alone. He talks about some of the impacts of body image anxiety, ranging from mental health issues to the misuse of steroid's and dietary illness.
And she seeks for advice from Julie Cameron of the Mental Health Foundation who co-authored a report for the Scottish government on Body Image. She also hears from Ella Guest of the Centre for Appearance Research at the University of the West of England where they're encouraging interventions in schools to equip boys to be aware of media exaggeration and manipulation.
And finally she talks to Rachel Barber-Mack of MediaSmart about efforts being made to help boys navigate the images that they're bombarded with on social media and the internet.
Producer: Tom Alban
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Broadcasts
- Tue 27 Oct 2020 09:00±«Óãtv Radio 4
- Tue 27 Oct 2020 21:30±«Óãtv Radio 4