Magazines, advertising, and social media sell us an image of a body ideal that isn’t always attainable and is often unhealthy, and schools need to do more to counter it, according to two campaigners.

Megan Jayne Crabbe and Joeley Bishop are prominent figures in the Instagram-based Body Positivity movement. In the 27 April issue of Tes, they explain that schools need to take this movement more seriously. 

So, what is the body positivity movement and what exactly does it mean for schools?

Healthy choices

The body positive movement acts as a counterbalance to the “thinspo” and “fitspo” posts that are frequently posted across social media. The Body Positive community post unedited photographs of their faces and bodies, along with inspirational messages of acceptance, reminding us that no matter your size, shape, skin colour or ability, you have value. 

Crabbe says it is about promoting healthy choices and recognising that this does not equate to a certain appearance.

“Body positivity is about encouraging people to embrace themselves as they are and to realise they are more than how they look,” Crabbe says. 

“People misunderstand how weight affects health. You can be ‘overweight’ and perfectly healthy,” Bishop adds

The two argue that a more holistic approach to health, one that takes into account mental health and positive body image, needs to be taught in schools.

“The Health at Every Size movement is a great starting point,” says Crabbe. “Schools need to be teaching children that good health looks different on everyone. You can have healthy habits at every size.”

Unconscious reinforcement

Bishop, a dance teacher who is training to become a counsellor, and who was until recently a learning support assistant, has seen first-hand the effect that teacher attitudes towards their own body image can have on children.

“Teachers think that kids don’t pick up on the discussion of weight and diets, but they do,” she says. “I constantly heard kids talking about how much they hated their bodies and how much weight they wanted to lose. It’s so sad that children feel this way at all and we need to think carefully about how we are unconsciously reinforcing these damaging beliefs.”

That’s not to say they believe schools do nothing in this area - they recognise that really good practice exists. They just want to see more of it in more schools. And they want to help. 

“We’re not teachers,” says Crabbe. “We know that there will be problems about getting our message into schools that we’re not even aware of yet, but we live in this and we see first-hand the number of young people who struggle with finding body positivity and how they grow once they understand the message. That’s all we want for young people, isn’t it? The chance to fulfil their potential.”

Megan Jayne Crabbe’s book Body Positive Power is out now. The full version of this article is available in the 27 April edition of Tes. Subscribers can read the full article here. To subscribe, click here. This week’s Tes magazine is available at all good newsagents. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here