The report from Girlguiding also revealed that more than half of girls here (55%) aged 7-21 have received negative comments about how they look. Appearance pressures are starting younger than ever, with girls as young as seven feeling expectations to look and act differently to boys. And those pressures are one of the biggest concerns amongst girls, with some considering cosmetic procedures in the future, according to the findings of Girlguiding’s Girls’ Attitudes Survey.
The research reveals that girls are finding their own negative thoughts about their looks to be ‘all consuming’. More than half (61%) of girls aged 11-21 in Northern Ireland said these thoughts are negatively impacting their confidence. Girlguiding NI advocate Hannah (17) said she hoped the wider public shared her concern at the figures.
“Girls feel this way for a range of reasons, from a lack of clarity regarding filtered images online and a lack of self-confidence from societal expectations of the perfect look,” she said. She added that while she knows the expectations showcased online are not achievable, she fears thousands of girls don’t. “If we sit back and do nothing, we will achieve nothing,” she said.
In the survey girls also indicated they are held to a different beauty standard than boys of their age, and that they face more appearance-based scrutiny. More than a third of (34%) girls aged 7-10 years feel there are different expectations of how they should look compared to boys of .