Body Image: Briefing MPs

CCI’s Professor Ros Gill addressed the Government’s Body Image Summit today (October 27th) on the topic of gender, media and consumer culture. The Summit, hosted by the Government’s Equalities Office, and led by Jo Swinson MP and Susie Orbach, brought together academics and  senior civil servants to gather evidence on the relationship between body image and continuing inequalities. Ros spoke about the toxicity of appearance culture and the effects of ubiquitous photography and 360 degree surveillance on young women. She urged a moving beyond simple “love your body” ideas and “selfie esteem’ and critiqued the idea that getting girls to be “media literate” is the solution to dealing with increased sexism.