by MAMAMIA TEAM
Forty three per cent of Australian girls have avoided taking part in an activity because of how they looked.
Of these girls, 20 per cent avoided the beach, a pool or a sauna.
Between the ages of 10 and 17, 216,954 Australian girls will stop swimming because they feel bad in a swimming costume.
And, within this same age range, 17 per cent of all girls will stop playing sport entirely. Just because of how they look.
These are the findings from a global survey conducted by Dove on girls and sport. The results are even more upsetting when you hear where the pressure on girls to stop doing what they love is coming from.
Sixty seven of respondents said that they were placing the pressure on themselves. While 57 per cent said that it was because of their friends, and 51 per cent said that the pressure came from society.
Dove’s new campaign is called Making Girls Unstoppable. And it aims to do exactly that. To stop anything from getting in the way of young girls participating in the activities that they love, by making sure that they have positive role models to show them that women of all colours, ages, shapes and sizes love to do what they do.
Take a look:
Editor’s note: This is not a sponsored post. We’re just big fans of this ad campaign and wanted to share this video exclusively, with you.
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Top Comments
I remember as a thirteen year-old skipping PE at school because I Ioathed wearing bloomers, short netball skirts and bathers.The memories of being forced to play basketball in bloomers still makes me shudder! I think one of the comments below encouraging more unisex uniforms is a good one, also maybe there needs to be some discussion about body-image as a part of physical education. Looking back at photos of myself as a thirteen year-old I can see how painfully awkward I felt, not helped by bad acne, a body in the throws of puberty and a lack of confidence. Adolescence is such an overwhelming time and it was only when I left school that I found I loved physical exercise - particularly cycling, dancing, yoga and swimming. I think it would have been great at school if we could balance the group sports (which I was terrible at and felt overwhelmed by) with some more solo pursuits which focused on stress-release and relaxation.
If only the ad wasn't for Dove, I might have believed the sentiment. 99% of their other advertising and marketing contradicts the occasional 'love your bode' ad - or similar.
Blah.