Documentary director and leader of the Body Image Movement Taryn Brumfitt has urged Australians to break the cycle of body image negativity for future generations.
The 2023 Australian of the Year addressed the National Press Club on Tuesday, busting the four big myths around body image.
“Let’s do the work as adults, so that we can help our children,” Brumfitt said in her speech.
“If you’re a parent, role model or carer to a young person, the most powerful thing that you can do is to stop saying anything negative about your body, or appearance, or anyone else’s.
“If you’re a teacher, after parents and caregivers, school-aged kids spend the most time with educators. So your role is pivotal.”
Director of the Netflix documentary Embrace and Embrace Kids, Brumfitt noted that resources from the Body Image Movement are free and readily available for adults to access and distribute to children.
“If you’re a sports coach or a dance teacher, we must start to focus on the fun and the functionality of our kids’ bodies,” Brumfitt said.
“Do not talk about what their bodies look like. Let’s talk about all the things our bodies can do.”
Brumfitt’s work as a body positivity advocate addresses the “epidemic” of people being “at war” with their bodies.
According to Brumfitt, data from 2012 revealed eating disorders in Australia, mental health illnesses that often stem from body image issues, cost the nation $69.7 billion, with health expenditure costs adding another $99.9 million every year. The data, she said, did not include the “personal costs of hating your body”.
“You get 28,000 days on the planet, if you’re really lucky,” she said.
“Life is short, life is fleeing, so please don’t waste it being at war with your body.”
In order to prevent body negative messaging, images and narratives impacting future generations, Brumfitt busted four major myths that Australian adults tend to believe.
#1 You can judge a person’s health by their appearance
“This is absolutely categorically untrue,” Brumfitt said.
“Just as you cannot gauge a person’s mental health by their appearance, you cannot gauge a person’s physical health by their appearance.
“And while it’s not our place to judge the health of others, to an extent, it’s not our fault that we have collectively come to associate the ways bodies look with a particular level of health. We’ve been bombarded with messages from a very young age, telling us what healthy looks like.”
The story of Brumfitt’s brother, Jason, further solidified the falseness of this belief.
“If I put Jason here, and then a man in a larger body next to him, and asked 100 people: ‘Who do you think’s healthier out of these two men?’ They all would have said Jason is healthier.
“And yet Jason was a heroin addict. He died from his addiction on a park bench in Sydney across from Central Station.
“You just do not know what’s going on in someone’s life. And you most definitely can’t judge someone’s health by their appearance.”
#2 Other people’s bodies are your business
In the “heyday” of tabloid magazines, headlines like “You won’t believe what they really look like” were all too common, featuring pictures of stars without makeup, dressed in comfortable clothes, walking down the street.
“Why was it any of our business?” Brumfitt asked.
“The problem here is it doesn’t just happen on the newsstand. It happens in our own lives too.”
Brumfitt recalled several conversations she has had with people who remembered being teased by relatives over their weight, or questioned by colleagues for what they ate on their lunch breaks.
“We have been taught that other people’s bodies and what they do with them for lunch belong to the public domain,” she said.
“If we normalise this type of judgement, our young young ones will go on to think that their bodies should be subject to public scrutiny.
“It’s harmful, unhelpful and quite simply not about business.”
#3 We have to punish, weigh and shame our bodies to achieve better health
Brumfitt reminded the National Press Club that it wasn’t so long ago Australians would tune into shows like The Biggest Loser, or would be bombarded with advertisements like Norm on the couch from the Life. Be in it campaign.
“We now have evidence that confirms that these types of campaigns lead to an increase in disordered eating. Telling people that they are overweight and making them feel bad is not helpful and guess what? It leads to weight gain,” Brumfitt said.
“So what’s the goal here? Is it actually better? I’m not sure.”
A study in the US found teenagers who were not aware they were in a higher weight category were more likely to look after themselves by eating fruit and vegetables, exercising and sleeping for eight hours a night, than those who were told they were overweight or obese.
However, almost ten years ago, 24 states in the US implemented policies enforcing students to take home body mass index (BMI) report cards home.
“Economic analysis revealed that $210 million was spent on these processes, and it did not change anything,” Brumfitt said.
“It didn’t reduce weight, and it didn’t help people engage in better health behaviours. In fact, this process has caused harm and it’s lead to disordered eating, depression and psychological distress.
“Making people feel good about their bodies help them to engage in more positive behaviours, to be physically active, to look after their bodies. You don’t need to feel bad about yourself to be healthy.”
#4 Social media is to blame for the epidemic of body image distress
Although social media is partly to blame, Brumfitt said it isn’t the whole problem.
“The science is showing this body neutral content and body positive content on social media is helpful,” she said.
“It’s the overly altered images, weight loss content and appearance commentary that is most harmful.”
Although there are some who think positive body images on social media is a “fictional utopia”, Brumfitt said it actually already exists, with companies like Pinterest leading the way.
“Earlier this year, I had a meeting with the managing director of Pinterest, and she explained to me how Pinterest had altered the algorithm,” she said.
“So when someone to search for wedding dresses, or date night outfits, they were served images of a range of different bodies, and shapes and sizes.
“So when people are quick to throw up their hands and say it’s the algorithm sorry, it doesn’t have to be they can do better, and we can demand better.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Hilary Wardhaugh @hilarywardhaugh