The bishop of Gloucester has launched a week-long campaign to encourage people to share one thing that they value in someone else – apart from their physical appearance.
The #say1thing initiative is part of Bishop Rachel Treweek's wider Liedentity campaign, which raises awareness of body image anxiety in young people and the pressures they face through social media to look a certain way.
The Liedentity campaign cites research showing 60 per cent of girls opt out of everyday activities because of how they think they look. The research also shows around half of adolescent boys are unhappy with their bodies. It says young people's happiness is at its lowest since 2010.
Campaigners are encouraging people on social media to post a picture of their friends or family and share one thing they value about that person with the hashtag #say1thing. A video features young people sharing their own experiences of social media.
Bishop Treweek said: 'It's been amazing spending time with young people in schools as part of the Liedentity campaign. When they each tell me what they value most about someone they love or aspire to be like, it's never about appearance.
'Yet what happens on social media is completely different. Young people face a barrage of insults about what they look like and they face huge anxiety about the pictures they post, hoping for likes and then often having to deal with terrible insults. We are living in a society where our value is being determined by what we look like, rather than who we are from the inside out.'
Follow #say1thing on the #liedentity Instagram account and on Twitter.
