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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-05-07 Daily Xml
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Body Image Campaign

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA (14:39): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for the Status of Women a question about how the South Australian government is helping to improve the body image of girls in South Australia.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.M. GAZZOLA: Mission Australia's annual national survey of young Australians has consistently found that body image is one of the top three concerns for young Australians. The survey reported that 45.4 per cent of young South Australian women, compared to 42.1 per cent nationally, identified body image as being a major concern, compared to 13.3 per cent of young South Australian men, compared to 14.4 per cent nationally. Minister, will you update the chamber about the launch of the South Australian government's Body Image Campaign?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills, Minister for Science and Information Economy, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:40): I thank the honourable member for his most important question. I know that he has a young—

The Hon. J.M. Gazzola: Sixteen year old.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: —sixteen year old, and so I know he has a deep policy interest in these particular areas, but also I know that he would have faced these sorts of issues personally as well.

The Hon. J.M.A. Lensink interjecting:

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: No; I just appreciate that he would know firsthand the anguish that often young girls and young women can go through in relation to their body image, through his daughter, Ruby, if I recall. Yesterday was International No Diet Day, and on this day I officially launched the 'Building Self-Esteem in Young Women' Body Image Campaign, which was an election commitment of this government. I was very pleased to see the Hon. Kelly Vincent attend and participate in a panel discussion and share her own personal insights and experience, which were incredibly fascinating and quite inspiring, really. I also understand that the Hon. Michelle Lensink was able to drop in early in the piece, lending her support as well to this important project. I thank both of them for that.

The Body Image Campaign is a digital media campaign targeted to young girls aged between seven and 12, tasked with building self-esteem and positive feelings for their own bodies. It also aims to educate girls that their value comes from within—their character, their skills and other achievements, abilities, etc.—rather than their external weight, body shape and size, and having self-esteem means that young girls have the greatest chance of being able to be the very best that they can be, the very most that they can be—and, in short, have a positive, healthy, happy life.

As the majority of social media sites do not allow children under 13 to join, the campaign has created content that parents can access using social media platforms that are suitable and can be viewed with girls aged seven to 12 which will facilitate and encourage discussion. The Office for Women, through the Women's Information Service, has partnered with the YWCA in the development and delivery of a digital media campaign. The campaign will be delivered through the Women's Information Service digital media presence on social media sites.

Content for the campaign has been developed during workshops attended by young women aged 13 to 18, and these one-day workshops provided those young women and their mentors with information about body image and the factors that contribute to body esteem in order to provide a context for the creation of messages and content for the digital media publication. From today, the new campaign content created through these workshops will be regularly released through the Women's Information Service social media presence, and I understand that we aim to publish one new piece a day over the next six weeks. That is how much content was created by these women through these workshops.

Links to information sources for parents about body image, such as guides produced by the Butterfly Foundation and SA Health, will be posted during the campaign to encourage families to discuss body image and related health matters.

The campaign is aimed at young girls in order to help them overcome the societal and peer pressures that may lead to things such as eating disorders and other self-harm behaviours, particularly in their teen years; obviously, though, the eating disorders were not a direct target of the campaign. Young girls and young women are inundated right throughout their life with these unrealistic, unattainable images that circulate throughout mass media, and I see this campaign as reclaiming some of the digital space to circulate and publish positive images of young women and girls.

This campaign takes as its basis the well-established peer education approach and moves it into a digital context. Peer education is regularly used in a variety of contexts and can have a direct effect on the social environment, provide positive role models and help change social norms. Studies have shown that peer initiatives can improve knowledge and change attitudes, self-efficacy and behaviours. I am advised that a peer education approach, together with social media strategies, would have a greater reach than the traditional group program methods, in which attitudes about bodies and body image are developed.

To encourage wider involvement and engagement in the campaign and to spread the key message that character, skills and attributes matter more than size, weight or shape, women and girls from around the state are being encouraged to produce 'inner selfies' and to represent their inner selves. Some of the works were just terrific, to see what has been developed. These 'inner selfies' are already being shared on the Women's Information Service Facebook page.

The Office for Women will undertake an internal evaluation at various phases of the campaign. We know that an undeveloped or damaged self-esteem can rob individuals of confidence and can lead them to be afraid to take on challenges and to take risks throughout their life. That is why this campaign is so important for our young girls if they are ever to reach their full potential and fulfil their aspirations and dreams.

The Hon. A.L. McLACHLAN: Supplementary, Mr President.

The PRESIDENT: Supplementary.

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