Body image issues start in the classroom

The research reported here: 10- And 11-year-olds Feel Pressure To Have A Perfect Body shows us: "... a linear response for girls, who were happiest when thinnest, and a U-shaped response for boys, who were unhappy when they were too skinny or too fat." This is among 11 and 12 year olds in Canada and over 4 thousand of 'em; so a good sample. The result is no surprise to me, nor to anyone who can recall their primary school days. If, like me, you were male and skinny (or if you were fat), you will recall being made to feel inferior by those better blessed with the physical attributes our culture values (I was doubly handicapped in this respect: red hair, pale skin and freckles added to my body-image woes). Otherwise you may recall (though I suspect less easily -after all it wasn't you're problem -supposedly) being part of showing or enunciating attitudes which could lead to others feeling less positive about their appearance. And in terms of what I remember, I'm talking about 6, 7, 8 years old. It's a ready field for marketing messages about body image to ride on the back of. I'm in favour of outlawing such things in advertising and the media and taking positive action to help the less 'beautiful' not to be at the rough end of even informal peer disparagement: other research shows that we are talking life trajectories here.