Proposed U.K. bill targeting unrealistic body image receives praise in Manitoba
Joanne Roberts | CBC News | Posted: February 27, 2022 12:00 PM | Last Updated: February 27, 2022
U.K. bill would fight unrealistic images by making advertisers, social media influencers label edited photos
A Winnipeg counsellor says she was happy to hear about proposed legislation in the United Kingdom intended to address body image issues by requiring advertisers and social media influencers to put a label on edited photos.
"I'm in favour of anything that could help protect people around internalizing harmful, and limiting appearance ideals," said Lori Peters, a counsellor who works with the Women's Health Clinic.
"I've certainly been hearing, from folks that I work with, increasing concerns about their appearance."
The proposed U.K. body image bill, formally known as the Digitally Altered Images Bill, has resonated with people around the world, says the member of Parliament behind it.
"We're creating a society where no matter how hard you try, the image doesn't exist. And that's having a really negative impact," Luke Evans, a former doctor and the MP for Bosworth in England, told CBC Manitoba's Information Radio in a Feb. 11 interview.
The bill aims to make it clear to consumers what a realistic portrayal of the human body looks like, by requiring any commercial images featuring digitally altered bodies to be labelled.
"These edited commercial images do not represent reality, and are helping to perpetuate a warped sense of how we appear, with real consequences for people suffering with body confidence issues, which I've seen first-hand in my role as a GP," Evans said in an online post.
Peters says she shares Evans's concern about the rising number of young people who have issues regarding their appearance.
"Having a negative relationship with [one's] body can lead to having a disordered relationship with food as an attempt to try to change one's body," she said.
Facebook, which owns Instagram, has studied how that photo-sharing social media platform affects its young users, according to company documents obtained last year by the Wall Street Journal.
The three-year study revealed the peer pressure generated by the image-focused platform led, in some cases, to eating disorders and suicidal thoughts, according to the Journal.
The study found Instagram can be particular harmful for teenage girls. About one-third of teen girls who responded to the study said that, when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse.
Peters said while she supports the U.K. MP's private member's bill, she also wants to know more about the long-term effectiveness of labelling edited photos.
"I would be curious about … would it be worth having more research just focused on this to see how is this actually helpful? And then looking at moving legislation [in Canada] to support that."
People need to 'see that their bodies matter'
Winnipeg actor Robbie Ambrosio is no stranger to body image issues. In a personal essay he wrote for CBC about body shaming, he reflected on how media played a role in his ability to love his body.
"I remember when I was 12 or so, my mom and I would watch Baywatch before bedtime — the worst possible television show to watch for a chubby kid's self-esteem," he wrote.
Ambrosio has since found peace with his body through positive affirmations and adopting a healthier lifestyle, but he says he feels sad about the shift from valuing natural beauty to valuing filtered beauty.
"I, for one, love using [photo] filters from time to time," he said in an interview. "I just find it really sad that younger generation is now growing up in an era where the beauty standards is no longer 'natural beauty' but a filter."
Ambrosio says he had to shed the negative beliefs and expectations he put on himself to look a certain way in order to develop a more realistic view of his own body.
Peters says there are ways to help people dealing with body image issues that don't have to be as big as a federal legislation.
"As a society, encouraging more diversity inclusion in terms of the image and the media that's out there would make a big difference."
It would help, she said, "if people could see themselves reflected and see that their bodies matter."
Corrections:- An earlier version of this story indicated Lori Peters is a dietitian. In fact, she is a counsellor with the Women's Health Clinic. March 1, 2022 8:33 PM