NEWS RELEASE
September 12, 2000
UniSA looks at the pressure to be body
beautiful
She lit the fire of men’s
passions around the world right up until she died, but if you described her as a size 16,
bleached blonde in her late 30s would Marilyn Monroe have the same allure?
Yes, size does matter and UniSA is
set to unravel both a measure of the importance of body image in our community and the
health and well-being problems that flow from that.
UniSA with the support of the
Department of Human Services, will host the first South Australian State Body Image
Conference on September 18, bringing together health, fitness, sport and education
leaders and experts to look at the issue of body image and its impact on community health
and well being.
UniSA’s Dr Murray
Drummond says while the issues of body image sometimes get "lighter"
treatment in the media, problems that stem from body image issues such as anorexia,
bulimia, depression, suicide and obesity have a serious impact on families and individual
lives.
"Women have born the brunt of
the pressure to be body perfect for hundreds of years – and the definition of
perfection has varied considerably," Dr Drummond says.
"What is interesting is that
the pressure is now starting to spill over to impact on men’s self image and on both
sexes at much younger ages. We are now starting to see the impact of that – men with
anorexia and bulimia and girls dieting at as young as nine or ten.
"Far from moving away from
defining people by their physique, society appears to be embracing this concept more
completely.
"At its most extreme we are
developing a have and have not mentality about the body. It is elite to have a lean body
and it is considered failure to carry extra weight.
"In all of this, education
towards good health and personal fitness can lose out or lose perspective."
The conference will feature keynote
speaker Thea O’Connor, director of Victoria’s Body Image and Health Inc. and
workshops specifically designed for sporting coaches, teachers and community workers.
"The conference hopes to
provide the latest research and information to help people in leadership roles, such as
coaches and fitness trainers, teachers and school physical education specialists and
community health workers and counsellors, understand more about how the pressure for the
perfect body creates health and well being problems. It will also ensure that in their
leadership roles, they have the tools to build good health in the community rather than
encourage the pursuit of unrealistic and unhealthy body images.
The one-day conference will be held
at UniSA’s Underdale campus (Building R), Holbrooks Road, Underdale on Monday
September 18 from 9 am to 4.30 pm.
Bookings can be made at the
Children’s Health Development Foundation on (08) 8204 7777 or on-line at chdf@wch.sa.gov.au.
Media contact:
Michèle Nardelli (08) 8302 0966, 0418 823 673
News editors please note -
Conference Chair, Dr Murray Drummond is available for interviews on a range of body image
issues in the lead up to the conference. He is contactable on (08) 8302 6308 or 041
7821759.
