BODY IMAGE. WHAT’S THEIR SECRET?
You want to talk about young women and body image?
Well here’s a real conversation starter!
What do the women who make up Australia’s multi-cultural mix have to teach each other about the increasing rates body anxiety our girls?
Is your ethnicity and culture liable to make you more or less prone to negative body image and eating disorders?
This thorny question has been raised today by Mission Australia.
They find that young women from Anglo, Greek, Italian and Spanish-speaking homes are the most worried about their bodies. Those from Asian and Arabic backgrounds are the least concerned.
The latest survey results from their 2011 Youth Survey are in:
“Young women from English-speaking and Southern European backgrounds are more concerned about body image than those from Asian and Arabic cultures, according to analysis of results from Mission Australia’s 2011 national youth survey.
Last year’s survey identified significant growth in concern around body image among young females with 42.5% ranking it as their major concern – a growth of more than 15% in two years.
Further analysis of the 2011 results showed a distinct difference in the level of body image concern between English and non-English speaking young women.
Of young women who speak English at home, 44.2% listed body image as one of their leading concerns compared to 34.7% in non-English speaking households.
However, on closer inspection, the true story is more complex with concern particularly acute among young women who speak Greek (44.6%), Italian (45.2%), English (42.5%) and Spanish (41.2%) at home, compared to Cantonese (33.8%), Arabic (33.7%), Chinese (31.5%), Vietnamese (30.6%), Mandarin (29.6%) and Filipino (29.8%).”
What is it that the girls who come from Asian and Arabic homes know about body image that others don’t?
Mission Australia’s National Manager of Research, Dr Bronwen Dalton, said the results raise the question – should we be tailoring campaigns and messages about body image to reflect the concerns of particular cultural or ethnic groups?
“Over the past three years, there has been a significant increase in concern about body image among young people taking part in the survey – particularly young women,” Dr Dalton said.
“We need to consider why body image ranks as a greater concern among certain cultural groups than it does others, and whether we need to develop different approaches for supporting and educating young women of different ethnic backgrounds?”
CEO of the Butterfly Foundation, Christine Morgan, added: “ It would appear that a greater exposure to images, popular culture and lifestyle choices by some young people is pushing them to adopt body image anxiety, and possibly putting them on a road to disordered eating.”
Is she saying that Australian culture is bad for our young women? That it causes anorexia, bulimia and the rest….
An ask around at the Hoopla office came up with the following questions…
Could it be that Asian parents place a greater emphasis on intellectual achievement? And that’s good for girls?
Could it be that Arabic families, with their cultural traditions on separating boys and girls, frees young women from body anxiety? And that’s good too?
Is it about diet? Family expectation? Or something else, entirely?
Is it that the prevailing “Western” culture in this country makes young women anxious about their appearance?
These are all intriguing questions. Over to you…
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18 Responses to this article
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Christopher August 10, 2012
It’s simple – Australia’s whitebread media ignores Australia’s asian and arabic women. These two groups are wholly invisible to the predominantly anglo personnel within the magazine and publishing industry.
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JacH August 10, 2012
Well, after living in Vietnam for two and half years, I have to laugh. The Vietnamese women I met were all preoccupied for their bodies and openly remarked if they thought you were fat. It was the same in China.
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Beth August 10, 2012
When we say body image are we really, truely talking mostly about our scale weight and feeling fat? Maybe coming from a culture where it can be hard to put food (good food, bad food, a varied diet) on the table, and knowing what it feels like to go to sleep hungry affects how you feel about getting a little belly on you when you can afford to buy/choose pretty much anything your tummy desires in Australia.
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Frances August 10, 2012
The survey asked participants to list the three issues that are of greatest concern. While the data is broken down by ge and gender, it would be interesting to see what issues were of greatest concern to these cultural groups.
Anecdotally, the pressure to be thin is alive and well in Asian communities.
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sami August 10, 2012
Maybe they have less to worry about. Generally the majority of asian and arabic women are small, thin and attractive. I wouldn’t worry very much either if I looked like them instead of an awkward giant with large feet.
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Dirty Pierre August 10, 2012
“The self is now the sacred cow of [our] culture, self- esteem is sacrosanct, and so we labour to turn education into a system in which no one can fail. In the same spirit, tennis could be shorn of its elitist overtones: you just get rid of the net.”
Robert Hughes
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Rebourne August 10, 2012
Most Asians are genetically blessed. Also helps that Arabic women dress less revealingly.
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Stella Burnell August 11, 2012
I agree – Asian women are blessed with “petite” genes, and Arabic women normally wear concealing clothing which means they don’t have to be concerned with body image. I don’t think any of your ” suggested reasons” are valid .
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Christine August 11, 2012
Obviously its you can not see there body because of all the material covering them. And if there fine with that then so am I. But, are they not demeaned in other ways by the male of the species?? The sooner we “don’t give a shit” about what other people think the better we will ALL be!
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Serin August 11, 2012
Maybe the media in these Asian/Muslim/Arabic countries is behind the eight ball in its commercialism in comparison to the Western wold, and not tied into flogging a gazillion products and programs- that are designed to make us all feel sub-standard and to makes us feel in perpetual need of improving ourselves. Circles are vicious and results remain the same- if you keep perpetuating the myth for the all mighty dollar.
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Toni August 11, 2012
In many asian cultures, being “fat” is considered to be a sign of wealth and comfort (as it used to be in ours), could these girls be benefiting from a home culture that balances the messages they are getting from the media? A western mum (I am one) can tell her daughters that she is beautiful any size, but can it really be believed when the same mother spends 3 hours at the gym and watches what she eats to control her weight?
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Carol Huish from the Valley August 11, 2012
What a beautiful photograph, a true celebration of sisterhood!
Honestly I think this all boils down to the fact that their culture is steeped in the value of the family and education. We are the poorer. I have many female friends of varying generations and I am constantly asking them not to complain about their own body image in front of my 2 young daughters. Where do I go to source this photograph? -
Sally August 11, 2012
My teenage daughter has grown up on the Gold Coast where young women are skimpily dressed all year round. She went on exchange for 12 months to northern Europe. When she returned she told me how liberating it was to be covered up in jeans and thick jumpers all year round. She felt no pressure to be a perfect shape and being well endowed she was able to hide her curves and therefore attract less unwanted attention from guys. She also talks wistfully about the joy of shopping for a stylish well tailored coat each season something she has no need of in Queensland.
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Amacamchumps Sarah August 13, 2012
Hahahahaha yeah no, being thin is so important in Asia – there’s even an ad campaign for London Weight Management that’s currently being nominated for Singapore’s ‘Alamak Award’ for sexist behviour: http://vimeo.com/29768499 Yes, they believed women would buy their thinning product once they see weight is linked to post-partum depression, suicide, marriage and employment – sigh.
Being thin is a really big deal in Asia, and you will be told candidly by friends, family and colleagues if you’ve put on weight .
I currently live in Asia, so am pretty used to easily being the largest girl in the room!
And that’s my hypothesis for why Asian girls, at least, feel less preoccupation with body image in Australia. They are easily blessed with the petite-est genes, and can often maintain bodies that comply with the publicised body ideal. Whereas the Mediterranean princesses who may have once inspired Botticelli, are now at constant odds with the current body ideal. It’s all about comparison, and where you stand with the other girls in the room. If you’re easily the slimmest, there’s not too much to be worried about…
When I come back to Oz to visit family, that is one of the first impressions I get also – “oh my God, everyone is so fat here! I feel so skinny!”
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Nic August 14, 2012
I agree, if the people these girls regard as their peers, their jones’, are larger they’re less likely to worry and vice versa. Doesn’t mean they’re not obsessing about something else in an unhealthy way though!
We humans generally find ourselves cursed with the need to compare ourselves to those around us. For young girls weight and looks are often important in defining who they are. For those who tend to be more petite than their peers, they’re probably less inclined to worry. Makes sense to me. Or maybe they just have other things to worry about! -
N November 5, 2012
I don’t think genetic stereotypes are the main issue here, for example:
Maybe more Asian girls have ‘petite’ genes and this causes them to worry less about the part of the body image issue revolving around body weight. BUT this also means smaller breasts – a separate body issue, this time an ‘undesirable’ one.
Every racial stereotype has its so-called positives and negatives. Whether these features are viewed as such is based on what the media and family and society are telling them. I think Arabs and Asians have less body issues because most of the girls gracing the front pages look Anglo/European. They look different enough that they are not a point of comparison. When you aren’t constantly comparing yourself to what you ‘should be,’ then you focus more on just who you are.
