A new study has found body image is the top concern for youth in W. Australia, even over important issues like family conflict or school problems. As I read through this news article, it seems to me to be more Western or or at least an issue that is more prevalent among youth in developed countries. I don’t have the statistics to back this up (yet), and the little amount of looking around for them has turned up nil so far. Kind of seems like an obvious result though. When you are striving to survive, I don’t think there is much time to deal with some of the more introspective issues like body image.
Let me give you an example (please do not misunderstand me, I am in no way trying to minimize the issue of body image that teens face in a very real way in many countries). Let’s take the case of Chotsani, a 16 year old female young person in Malawi. She is the default head of her household now since both of her parents have died of aids. She does not have a steady income, but her 14 year old younger brother helps by bringing in some money as a day laborer. All four of them are regularly sick due to the fact that they do not have clean water to drink, clean or cook with. Only the youngest sibling is able to go to school since they don’t have money to pay for the school fees required for any of the others (education is provided free only through 8th grade). So they do not know what they will do vocationally except follow in the footsteps of their parents and grow maize. Chotsani is contemplating working as a prostitute as that seems to be the only hope that she has for “real” money to provide for the family’s needs.
If young people like Chotsani even have a mirror in their possessions (which is not likely), are they going to look into it and spend time thinking about whether they are too thin, too fat or too ugly? I am not insinuating that all young people don’t ponder whether they are attractive and wanted by others, but it does not seem to be the center of their inner struggle or the principle cause that would potentially ruin their self-esteem and confidence. This is also not about whether beauty is a part of other cultures because obviously it is (and that would be a good topic to think about, how globalization is affecting cultural definitions and the views of beauty among teens). I am just proposing that how youth prioritize the top issues they are facing in their lives are undeniably different when their most basic needs are not being met, and maybe they cannot even acknowledge the other ones. This is called contextualization in missiology, which is one of our greatest tools for effective youth ministry.
What do you think? Do you have any research to support a position on this? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
About Kristy
