Bullying that targets appearance Change the Impulse Autumn 2016 Changingfaces.org.uk

This is not an anti-bullying resource. About this resource: This is not an anti-bullying resource. It addresses casual passing remarks that denigrate appearance. This undercurrent of criticism, in the context of our image-obsessed culture, fuels widespread appearance anxiety. Appearance anxiety stops students putting their hand up in class (1). It makes children and adults avoid exercising (2). It can lead to eating disorders (3). It prevents young people from taking care of themselves (4). Slides 2-6 outline the research behind this resource. Slide 7 gives notes on using this resource with your students. Slides 8-10 give references and contact information. Changing Faces Change the Impulse

The story behind this resource: Children and young people who have a condition, injury or mark that affects the way they look get a huge amount of unwanted attention and comments, smart - alec remarks, teasing, and worse, targeting their unusual appearance. To help these youngsters deal with all this, Changing Faces developed a range of social-skills and self-skills that we call the “tool box”. When it’s bullying, all children need to know to tell an adult straight away. This tool box is not for sorting out bullying. Changing Faces Change the Impulse

Research behind this resource: A Bristol-based research project took the Changing Faces “tool box” of self- and social-skills and shared it with everyone to boost social skills and inner confidence (5). In the eight Bristol secondary schools where nearly all the students learned the “tool box”, bullying was halved (5). The tool box skills did not halve reduce bullying, but it upped the students’ social skills and inner confidence and, it seems, thereby changed the impulse to bully. Changing Faces Change the Impulse

More important research linked to this resource: Appearance matters: most bullying targets appearance (6). Choice: Having more than one option increases confidence (7). Self esteem: learning and using better social skills improves self esteem. Achieving plenty of positive social interactions every day correlates strongly with good self-esteem (8). Changing Faces Presentation title

Does it last? Is it worth the effort? The reduction was maintained when re-tested many months later. In the control school that did not learn the tool box skills, bullying increased slightly. In the Bristol school, friends reported being better able to support a friend who was not feeling great about him- or herself. As well as much less bullying, the Bristol students showed increased self-esteem. Their new self- and social- skills enabled them to deal with awkward or unpleasant social moments in ways that were more positive for everyone. Higher self esteem helps with school work and learning, as well as reducing bullying. Changing Faces Presentation title

Using this resource: Download the Change the Impulse PowerPoint presentation to share the tool box of skills with all your the students. (The research project in Bristol taught the skills to sixth formers who then ran groups to share the skills with all the students.) Feel free to re-style these slides to suit your own teaching context. There are six new skills – three self/thinking skills, a body language skill, and two social/speaking skills. This programme works best when students learn just one, or at most two, new self- or social-skills at one time. If you want to run this programme during registration/form time, say, and you want five sessions for the week, then we recommend doubling up Think Positive 3 and Body Positive. A week of revision sessions in a month or so would be great! Changing Faces Presentation title

Slide title: 24pt keeping to one line if possible Visit our website changingfaces.org.uk Connect on social media Twitter @faceequality Facebook /changingfacesuk Instagram /changingfacesuk Dr Jane Frances Policy Adviser in Education janef@changingfaces.org.uk 0345 4500 275 Changing Faces Presentation title

References (1) Government Equalities Office (2013) Body image: evidence, policy, action. Report of a multidisciplinary academic seminar, Page 7. Dove (2014) Reframing beauty: unlocking the potential of young girls, Page 8. (2) Government Equalities Office (2013) Body image: evidence, policy, action. Report of a multidisciplinary academic seminar, Page 7. (3) Policy and Herman (2004) Sociocultural idealisation of thin female body shapes: An introduction to the special issues on body image and eating disorders, Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. (4) Cohane and Pope (2001) Body image in boys: a review of the literature, The International Journal of Eating Disorders in Government Equalities Office (2013) Body image: evidence, policy, action. Report of a multidisciplinary academic seminar, Page 6. Carr and Szymanski (2010) Sexual objectification and substance abuse in young adult women, The Counselling Psychologist. Van den Berg and Neumark-Sztainer (2007) Fat’n Happy 5 years later: is it bad for overweight girls to like their bodies? Journal of Adolescent Health in Government Equalities Changing Faces Presentation title

References cont. Office (2013) Body image: evidence, policy, action. Report of a multidisciplinary academic seminar, Page 5. (5) Lovegrove, E (2002) ‘Adolescents, appearance and anti-bullying strategies’, Ph.D. Thesis, University of the West of England. (6) Ditch the Label 2015 Survey (6) Ditch the Label survey at http://www.ditchthelabel.org/the-annual-bullying-survey-2015-is- here/ (7) Kish, V. & Lansdown, R. (2000) ‘Meeting the psychosocial impact of facial disfigurement – Developing a clinical service for children and families’, Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry, 5(4). 497-512 (8) Bull, R. and Rumsey, N. (1988) The Social Psychology of Facial Appearance New York: Springer-Verlag Changing Faces Presentation title