Resources created to support young women struggling with body image have been officially launched in Portsmouth this week.
Researchers from the University of Portsmouth, Aston University, The Girls' Network charity and some of the project's participants came together at The D-Day Story museum in Portsmouth to celebrate the launch of a media literacy toolkit created after a need was expressed by The Mental Health Foundation.
The toolkit, which was created as part of a collaborative project involving the University of Portsmouth, The Girls' Network and Aston University, was formed after a focus group of young women aged 14-16 shared their thoughts and experiences surrounding body image alongside social and traditional media.
The project, which commenced in March 2024, brought together groups of young women to discuss their thoughts on social media interactions and the challenges they faced which impacted their perceptions on a healthy body image. The young women also discussed historical media content, which included 19th and 20th century magazine adverts, in order to recognise how the 'ideal body' has evolved over time.
The research further explored how manipulative social media can be in today's society and the detrimental effect it can have to young people. In 2024, Instagram was reported to have over 35 million users in the UK, emphasising the influence of social media content and how this poses challenges of distinguishing reality from manipulated portrayals.
The focus groups also highlighted a number of key themes including social media usage and addiction, social media authenticity and content, body image expectations and mental health impact. This underscored how young women are often eager to spend less time on their phones, but the pressures of keeping up with social media makes this challenging.
Findings also revealed how social media usage and addiction plays a significant role. Its deep integration into daily life and how images are now highly curated and manipulated, causes confusion about what is realistic.
This reinforced reports expressing how appearance is being highlighted as one of the leading causes of unhappiness among young individuals with 31 per cent of teenagers feeling ashamed of their body image. From societal pressures to photoshopped images, young women are being faced with a number of damaging elements causing them to struggle with their body image and the perception of what is healthy.
Dr Helen Ringrow , Associate Head of the School of Education, Languages and Linguistics, at the University of Portsmouth said: "I am really proud to have worked with The Girls' Network to develop vital resources exploring the complex and sensitive relationship between social media, media, and body image. Hearing how young women actually feel has helped us to make the toolkit more relevant, and it is encouraging to see how young women are thoughtfully and critically engaging with the world around them.
"At the heart of this project is the shared belief in the importance of empowering young women to thrive in all spheres of their lives. By fostering confidence, self-worth, and a critical understanding of media representation, we hope these resources will inspire them to embrace their full potential."
Dr Charlotte Boyce , Associate Professor in Victorian Literature and Culture from the University of Portsmouth was also involved in the project, sourcing the 19th and 20th century magazine adverts for inclusion within the toolkit. This offered an extremely valuable insight into how beauty standards have progressed over time.
Dr Boyce said: "While fashions may change, the pressures on young women to look a certain way are nothing new. Our research shows that as far back as the 1880s, girls were expressing discontent with their appearance and seeking advice on how they could lose or gain weight to achieve the 'ideal' body depicted in adverts and magazines.
"Our toolkit encourages girls to engage critically with historical and modern media representations, and helps them to recognise how beauty standards are culturally constructed."
Dr Stephen Pihlaja , Senior Lecturer in English, Languages and Applied Linguistics at Aston University and a collaborator on the project, added: "The project showed how young women are often eager to put down their phones and spend more time with their friends, but the pressures of keeping up with social media make it difficult to get away from it.
"Our toolkit focuses on helping young women better understand how their phones and social media manipulate users to make them feel and act in specific ways, and how to better combat that manipulation by being more intentional about what they use their phone for."
Key findings and recommendations include:
- Awareness and Education: Participants recognised the influence of curated social media content and acknowledged challenges in distinguishing reality from manipulated portrayals. Education on recognising inauthenticity could help to mitigate negative effects.
- Positive Influences: Exposing editing practices (e.g. filters) and promoting body acceptance posts were identified as impactful. These should be emphasised in educational media literacy interventions or materials.
- Offline Support Networks: Encouraging participation in activities outside of social media and building strong, supportive networks can foster self-confidence and mental well-being.
- Reframing Posting Motivations: Shifting the focus of posting behavior from validation to enjoyment or memory-sharing could reduce fear of negative responses from others.
- Breaking Stereotypes: Encouraging individuality and combating beauty standards may help reduce pressure to conform and promote diverse expressions of self.
The toolkit will be used by The Girls' Network charity and partner schools to support local young women with the aim of expanding beyond the Portsmouth area in the future.
To express an interest in using the toolkit, please email Dr Ringrow via [email protected]
This project was supported by funding from the British Academy.
