L6 Lecture Series #4: Body Image

In the forth lecture of the series, QAS welcomed Laura Dodsworth to speak to the Lower 6 on body image.

Lower 6 student Izzy shared what Laura discussed with the year group. 

"This week we had a great lecture from Laura Dodsworth. She talked about her successful project, The Bare Reality. In this project she took photos and interviewed one hundred women about how they felt about their bodies. She was inspired to start this project when she wanted to find an answer to the question, “what is it like to be a woman?”. She started by exploring the ways in which media and what we see affects women. Laura talked to us about how media consumption is linked to eating disorders. Media such as Instagram, shows like Love Island, photoshopped magazines and advertisements all contribute to damaging a woman’s views of themselves, when they compare their own bodies to the unrealistic beauty standards that we are constantly exposed to. She explained that when we see something all the time, we begin to believe everyone looks like it. Laura showed us some examples of advertisements and it shocked us at how each one presented woman to be objectified, often with no face showing. The advert that stood out to me most was one by Jimmy Choo, where the lifeless looking woman was the centre of the advert, not the shoes which are supposed to be the focus. However, with woman under pressure to be small, there is also pressure on men to look big and powerful. Laura researched this in another project, but this time with men at the centre.

From her project, she told us the stories of some of the women who participated. The story that stood out to me was about a father who argued constantly with others because he decided to send his daughter to University. They claimed that it was a waste to send her there, but he only replied with, “the hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world”. After hearing all these stories, Laura thought that “if all these women are incredible, then I must be a little incredible too”. I think that this sums up her project very well. Therefore, she found out what it is like to be a woman by talking to other women about their experiences and opinions."