Teen opinion: can YA fiction help cure our obsession with body image?

Over one­ half of teenage girls and nearly one­ third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviours. But while body expectations for young people can easily end up spiralling out of control, several YA books are trying to help teens see that healthy is the new happyA few days ago, I stumbled across a documentary on TV called Teens. The series of programmes followed a group of English teenagers (who were all from the same school), around their daily lives. One of the girls said something that really shocked me to the core, and it kept coming back into my mind every day. It went along the lines of this:I’m really worried about my friend, she is really thin. I mean she is really, really

Over one­ half of teenage girls and nearly one­ third of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviours. But while body expectations for young people can easily end up spiralling out of control, several YA books are trying to help teens see that healthy is the new happy

A few days ago, I stumbled across a documentary on TV called Teens. The series of programmes followed a group of English teenagers (who were all from the same school), around their daily lives. One of the girls said something that really shocked me to the core, and it kept coming back into my mind every day. It went along the lines of this:

I’m really worried about my friend, she is really thin. I mean she is really, really thin. When she is hungry, she takes nurofen to take away any hunger pains.

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SOURCE: Eating disorders | The Guardian – Read entire story here.