Trent University's Robyne Hanley-Dafoe On Reconstructing Body Image In The Digital Age

Hanley-Dafoe

Robyne Hanley-Dafoe is a Trent University award winning Psychology Instructor who writes about childhood resiliency and factors that contribute to self-identify formation.

Hanley-Dafoe, who lives in Peterborough with her husband Jeff and three children—Hunter, Ava and Jaxson—recently gave a presentation to girls at Lakefield College School called "Reconstructing Body Image In A Digital Age". Here are excerpts from an email interview we conducted with Hanley-Dafoe after that...

PTBOCanada: You speak about "Reconstructing Body Image in a Digital Age". Can you explain what you mean by that, and what the implications are for girls/women?

Hanley-Dafoe: The Lakefield College talk incorporated research findings from across the country and internationally that clearly demonstrates the impact of girls being exposed to digital media. The aim of my talk there was to educate young girls about the consequences of letting our perceptions of body image influenced by media go unchallenged. Our perception of body image is directly related to the messages we tell ourselves. With the onslaught of highly manipulated digital images, our young girls face enormous pressure to conform to a body image that frankly doesn’t exist in real life. However, these images have become so pervasive and accepted in our society, young girls and women are internalizing these expectations. 

PTBOCanada: You have said that at no other point in history have girls and women been exposed to the onslaught of media that shapes our view of body image. You are trying to build awareness around this, but also change perceptions. What is your ultimate goal here? 

Hanley-Dafoe: My goal is to share the research findings that tell us that we do not have to passively sit by and let media damage our sense of self. We can proactively teach our children how to challenge what they see and how to interpret the information and the messages they receive. Researchers have demonstrated that media literacy interventions are effective. Their study looked at two forms of media literacy: 1. “Artificial Beauty”, whereby we argue that these standards are inappropriate because of how the image was achieved. This notion includes factors such as “glam squads”, airbrushing, and photoshopping.  2. “Genetic Reality”, whereby we argue the role of genetic influences on body weight and shape. When women are educated to challenge imagery with these techniques, they can prevent the social internalization and social comparison effects.  This may seem simple, but this message needs to be taught to children.

PTBOCanada: Media (especially glossy fashion women's magazines) have long been blamed for distorting a women/girl's perception of reality. Are you saying social media is basically added fuel to this? In other words, the transition from old media to new media means what? Even more of an exaggerated sense of reality? 

Hanley-Dafoe: I think the part that we need to draw attention to is how social media is contributing to the pressure to fit in for adolescents. Adolescence is a crucial and critical time for self-identity formation. This period of development should be marked with questions like: "What am I capable of?", "What can I become?", "How can I contribute?" Not feelings like I am nothing because I don’t look like that, or I don’t have the “selfies” to prove that I have a social life, or that people don’t care about me based on the amount of followers I have. My hope is that adolescents—who will inherit the opportunity to solve problems our generation could never even imagine—are inspired to be critical thinkers, innovators, and deep learners. If we share this vision for our adolescents, then we need to feed their minds and hearts with messages of capableness and enhance and celebrate their capacity to be builders of knowledge. Education is the key social determinant of health.

Hanley-Dafoe speaking at LCS recently

PTBOCanada: What do you make of this selfie generation on Twitter/Instagram/Snapchat. What is it doing to us? Is it drastically changing our perception of reality? Are we breeding narcissism and a false sense of what "real" is?

Hanley-Dafoe: I think we are providing tools for breeding cognitive distortions such as “imaginary audiences”, “exaggerated sense of self” and “self-scrutiny”. Personally, I think that social media is used by many people as a glorified highlight reel that people use to present an idealized version of their life. Dr. Fox at Ohio State recently published his findings that there was a correlation with the “selfie” and traits of narcissism and psychopathy. I think it's important to note that the “selfie” doesn’t cause these traits, but people who are already high on these traits tend to use social media more than others in this capacity. 

PTBOCanada: What tools can people use to construct a healthier body image?

Hanley-Dafoe: Education. Raise our children to be critical thinkers. We need our children to have the tools to challenge the messages that are being presented to them. Tools include knowing the “tricks of the trade” in media and advertising. Have your children ask: “What are they trying to sell me, tell me, or suggest that I am missing?”. We can model a practice of questioning for our children. As a parent to a 7, 9 and 11 year old, I try to plug into their digital world as much as possible. When we watch television, we ask questions out loud: “What was that commercial about?”, “How come everyone in beer commercials are so happy, healthy, and popular?”. Or during television programs, especially teen programming, questions like: “Where are the parents?”, “Where do they get money to go shopping all the time?”, “When do they go to school, do chores, or have any form of responsibilities?”.  Also, research suggests that adolescents are connected to technology an average 7.5 hours per day. We need to pay attention. If our children are plugged in, we need to be plugged in too.
 

PTBOCanada: Your focus is on girls/women? Do you think boys/men aren't as impacted? What are the differences?

Hanley-Dafoe: Traditionally the field has focused on women and girls. However we know that although boys are less likely to talk about the pressures and their insecurities, they also experience anxieties about body image. Messaging directed to boys and men tends to have a different focus—more on the importance of monetary strength and physicality. I think our boys are especially at risk because society suggests that they should be immune to such concerns which makes them even more vulnerable and less likely to seek help.

PTBOCanada: What did you take away from your talk at LCS? What did you learn from the girls in the audience?

Hanley-Dafoe: I was completely taken aback talking with some of the girls at Lakefield College that night. I was thrilled to see they had a good sense that media creates and manipulates images, but they wanted to talk to me about their frustrations that, we, as “adults” let this happen. The girls were angry that media continues to make them feel like they don’t belong because they don’t conform to this fake ideal. They were mad that even their phones can filter and adapt pictures so now even people they know appear to be flawless. We talked a lot about what social advocacy opportunities can come from their hurt and frustration. As a group, we decided that every picture that is altered in any way should have a warning label. Interestingly, this initiative is currently being studied in Australia, France and Israel. Do warning labels on all digitally altered media help buffer the negative effects of social comparison? Time will tell. 

PTBOCanada: Anything more you'd like to add? What final message do you want people to take away?

Hanley-Dafoe: I think there is so much room to have intentional conversations with our children about body image and overall health and wellness. I recently wrote an article about the pillars of resilience from my travels to Israel, to Honduras and then back to Peterborough. In reflecting on what makes children resilient and in turn capable of resisting media pressures, there are four main pillars: 1. Community, 2. Perspective, 3. Acceptance, 4. Hope.
 
Children need to hear messages that they are capable, not just cute; brainy, not just a beauty; and that they have a vast potential to problem solve. When people meet my daughter and proceed to tell her how cute she is, I quickly follow up the compliment with, “Yes, and she is smart, funny, articulate, and a great problem solver!”. We are more than our external appearances. I also think as parents we have a responsibility to our children to prevent them from a lifetime of social comparison. 

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Robyne Hanley-Dafoe is reaching out to other local schools to offer lectures. She is speaking to the students of Queen Elizabeth in Peterborough on May 8th to talk about resiliency and how they as students can be their most resilient-selves! You can contact her here.

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