Celebrating Women with Rio 2016
So we were saddened to see the latest news that shows that girls in the UK are becoming more unhappy, and that the growing pressure of social media is reportedly playing a part in this. The Children's Society's annual report suggested that among 10 to 15-year-old girls, 14% are unhappy with their lives as a whole, and 34% with their appearance. Plus the gap between how happy boys are compared to girls is getting wider.
Now we love social media for many reasons. It allows us to engage with you for starters, as well as follow incredible sportsmen and women and find inspiration for our future collections. However, we also know that there are sides of social media that are projecting false, unattainable images of the female body. Use of flattering filters are one thing (Valencia anyone?) but when heavy use of Photoshop comes into play, young girls are being presented with completely unrealistic standards of beauty which are so prevalent that they start to feel like the norm.
This all feels particularly saddening in light of the recent Olympics, when incredible female athletes of all body types under the sun were excelling in their fields and were holding audiences in complete awe. From Jessica Ennis, to Jazz Carlin, to Jade Jones, to Katarina Johnson-Thompson to Sophie Hitchon, to Nicola Adams……. there were 164 female athletes competing for Team GB in Rio 2016, and the focus was (mostly) on what their bodies could do, not what they looked like.
And this is what we want to continue seeing, and at Dansez we will continue to use strong, powerful, realistic female bodies in our imagery. We want young girls to feel confident in their bodies and this starts with sportswear that they feel comfortable in, and that represent the kind of woman they want to be. A small step perhaps, but one that feels particularly important right now.