Retelling stories

We asked the young women in our project to tell us about the times when they were most conscious of their bodies. Then we explored these stories to find other ways of thinking about their experiences that might help them feel better about themselves. Below are some examples. Remember, you can share yours with us on our Facebook page or try other resources for thinking differently about body image by clicking here.

Our participants often felt self-conscious when people were looking at them – it made them feel that there was something wrong with them. But when we explored these experiences often there were other ways to think about it.

For example, one of our groups of participants found walking into their school difficult, everyone looked up as they came in and they felt judged. They were able to retell this experience as just a natural thing for people to look up when they’re waiting for a friend. Similarly, another group of participants had been hurt by looks from other girls, they were able to retell these looks as positive – that other girls were checking them out because they were looking good.