3 in 10 self harming

Today I have been doing some reading about self harm and have come across this statistic

‘3 in 10 girls in Europe have self harmed or thought about self harming in the last year’

This in some ways didn’t surprise me as I am aware of the problems however it does deeply disturb me that more and more young people (and adults) are turning to self harm to deal with the world in which they live.

What is it about our lives that means that we are unable to cope? Have we not been taught other coping mechanisms? Do people feel they shouldn’t or couldn’t share their feelings with someone else?

Is there such a lack of continuity for our young people in and out of the home that the only release they can find is to harm themselves?

I’m embarking on some new research which will look into the lived experiences of young women and the way in which they view themselves including questions about self harm and eating disorders – this is in the true beginnings so may take a while but watch this space.

If you have experience of self harm or eating disorders or have any comments on my blog or would like to share your experience of any issues to do with self esteem, body image etc I would love to hear from you – Please leave a comment on this page or email me @ beautycocoon@gmail.com. This is not a helpline more a way of keeping in touch with people accessing my blog!

For Now
BC
xxxxxxxxxxx

Video from Dove

This is a brilliant video to raise awareness of the importance of talking with young women around you about the media.

Have a watch - it will make you think twice abot what we see everyday!!!




For now
BC xxx

Impossibly beautiful.......all the same?

We are surrounded by images everyday which scream at us that we need to be perfect..... images which say improve yourself using our new... product, procedure etc etc - we as adults are affcted by these images and adverts but perhaps have the ability to buffer their impact (or perhaps not!?) however young women in their teens often will not have the tools necessary to deal with this bombardment of perfection....

I typed into google "beauty" and found that on the first page out of 18 photos only 4 did not contain pictures of impossibly beautiful women

I love technology and all the amazing things we can now do on a computer (like blogging!!!) but i'm worried that the extent to which models are airbrushed is going beyond making the pictures acceptable for huge print such as billboards or close ups in magazines but has become a way of morphing any model into EXACTLY what the client is looking for in an advert or front cover.
i think there is a distinct difference between airbrushing to make pictures look better in print to photoshopping to change the appearance of someone totally.

Do we all truly want to look the same? or even look at lots of models who look the same? We are increasingly encouraging young people to view diversity in race and culture as a positive thing whilst at the same time telling them through our actions and what the media puts in front of them that being the same s everyone else is a good thing.... is this not a contradiction???

Pro Ana/Pro Mia

I wanted to raise the profile of Pro-Ana and Pro-Mia sites, these are sites which claim to offer ‘support’ to people suffering with eating disorders. These sites promote that having an Eating Disorder is a choice and that as an individual people have the choice whether to take this path in life or not – the sites claim that if you have then they offer a non judgemental place for people to meet and swap tips etc. They also hold many pictures of ‘thinspiration’ a dangerous concept of posting pictures of celebs or themselves when dangerously thin.

When young women get involved in these sites, they often find a network of people who understand them but this can in turn feed the addition/illness and as part of recovery at times the pro-ana/mia sites can be something else to pull away from.

If you are a parent, take care not to let your children visit these sites, talk to them about the sites and give them alternatives and if you are a young person struggling then please be careful, B-eat offer self help networks where you can attend groups and talk to others who have experiences as part of your recovery - http://www.b-eat.co.uk/Home

For now xxx

First Blog!!

Well... blogging .... this is a new experince for sure!!!

I decided to write a blog of my thoughts and challenges and other such things basically to try and raise awareness of issues of self esteem, self worth and beauty!

We live in a society based on looks - if you look good you can..
have the job?
have the guy?
win the competition?

but what about what is going on underneath the beauty or what if someone is beautiful but cannot see it or what if you hate the beauty you have been given?!

I wanted to write about this because I believe the more people who know they are valued and can be themselves, the more they will be able to make exciting and fulfilling contribution to the lives of themselves and others!