Read: Gaining momentum on body image

GP turned MP Dr Luke Evans explains why action on body image is vital for good health and wellbeing.

Upon entering Parliament as a newly elected MP, you are very quickly presented with a whole flurry of conundrums and causes that you are keen to do your best to solve for your constituents. Amongst all of these things which we do, however, MPs often have their campaigns which they are interested in, having either been affected personally or through family, or having seen the problem first-hand in a previous career.

For me, whilst training as junior doctor, and then in my clinics as a GP, I’d seen a steady, and notable, increase in the number of people suffering from body confidence issues. This could manifest itself in a whole host of ways – people developing an eating disorder like anorexia, a mental health condition like anxiety and depression, or gym-goers feeling the need to bulk up using potentially dangerous steroids, for example.

Having seen the scale of the problem first-hand, and being aware that body image as a health issue had received relatively little attention, I decided it was something I wanted to campaign on. My hope was to be able to make a difference to the 1.25 million people suffering with an eating disorder in the UK, and the many thousands of people suffering with body confidence issues.

In September 2020, I proposed my Digitally Altered Images Bill in Parliament. If successful, this would require advertisers, broadcasters and publishers to display a disclaimer in cases where an image of a human body or body part has been digitally altered in its proportions for commercial purposes. This disclaimer would be similar to the ‘P’ symbol for product placement, for example, which you may have noticed on TV.

Quite simply, if someone is being paid to post a picture on social media featuring a doctored body, or if advertisers, broadcasters or publishers are making money from a photograph featuring doctored bodies, I believe they should be honest and upfront about having edited it. This would increase openness and transparency amongst advertisers, broadcasters and publishers, and help to foster more honest and realistic representations of the way we look.

My proposed legislation is not, however, about holding individuals to account - so if you want to remove a blemish from your wedding photos, or add a nice filter to your photos, then you would absolutely still be free to do that without adding a disclaimer.

Having received an enormous amount of support, I then launched my #RecogniseBodyImage campaign, which is asking the Government to recognise body image for the first time in UK law. This could be done in two ways – either through supporting my Body Image Bill, or by listing body image as a priority harm in the Government’s forthcoming Online Safety Bill, which is designed to help keep us all safe online.

Whilst my Body Image Bill ran out of Parliamentary time the first time I introduced it, when I brought it back this January, I was delighted to see that it received coverage right across the world, from Canada, to Germany, to Poland, and there is undoubtedly a real desire to see change in this area.

Israel, France, and, most recently, Norway, have all introduced similar legislation to my Body Image Bill, to protect young and vulnerable people from unrealistic and potentially dangerous depictions of the way we look.

Interestingly, I actually hope I never see my Body Image Bill in action – my hope is that advertisers, broadcasters and publishers simply stop feeling the need to digitally alter body shapes in their adverts, to avoid having to add a disclaimer.

I am delighted that this is rapidly gaining momentum, with David Lloyd Clubs recently announcing a pledge not to digitally alter body proportions in their adverts, and fashion retailer Boohoo also making a similar promise not to doctor their images, which is fantastic to see.

By voluntarily not digitally manipulating their images, brands and organisations have the opportunity to make a real difference to body confidence issues, by not depicting body shapes which, no matter how hard you work, simply cannot be achieved. There is undoubtedly still a significant amount of progress to make, and clearly this is very much a first step, but the momentum body image is gaining is truly encouraging to see.

Dr Luke Evans is the MP for Bosworth. You can follow him on social media @drlukeevans, and you can find out more about his body image work at www.drlukeevans.org.uk