Sophia Network

Too much too young

Lots of coverage today for the report commissioned by the Home Office into the sexualisation of young people and children. Dr Linda Papadopoulos, a psychologist was asked to look at how sexualised images and messages may be affecting the development of children and young people and influencing cultural norms. She also examined the evidence of a link between sexualisation and violence. You can download a copy of the report from the Home Office website and it's worth a read. There's an executive summary if you're short of time!

I'm pleased that Papadopoulos extended the remit of the report beyond its original brief, as she explains in the foreword: 'Although the original intention of the review was to focus on how sexualisation is affecting girls, it quickly became evident that we could not talk about girls without acknowledging the concomitant impact on boys and the hyper-masculinised images and messages that surround them. The scope of the review was therefore widened to encompass the sexualisation of all young people and to look at how hyper-sexualisation and objectification of girls on the one hand, and hypermasculinisation of boys on the other, perpetuate and reinforce each other.'

The report looks at issues such as the accessibility of pornography, images used in advertising, TV, films and music videos, new technologies and parental responsibility. Papadopoulos makes 36 recommendations for action and the Home Office identifies the key ones as:

• launching an online ‘one-stop-shop’ to allow the public to voice their concerns regarding irresponsible marketing which sexualises children
• encouraging the government to support the Advertising Standards Agency to take steps to extend existing regulatory standards to include commercial websites
• requiring broadcasters to ensure music videos featuring sexual posing or sexually suggestive lyrics are only broadcast after the watershed
• ensuring games consoles are sold with parental controls already switched on. Purchasers can then choose to unlock the console if they wish to allow access to adult and online content

Other recommendations are for 'lad's mags' such as Nuts and FHM to be recognised as being inappropriate for children, so that they are only on sale to people aged 15 and over, and shops can be prosecuted for displaying them at eye level or next to publications for children.

The report also suggests that 'increased funding should be made available for staffing, provision and training of existing youth workers so that they feel confident and sufficiently skilled to have discussions with young people around sexuality, sexist and sexual bullying and gender inequality. More materials are also needed to support youth workers to develop such work.'

Call for a kitemark to identify airbrushed images

To coincide with Eating Disorders Awareness Week, the Royal College of Psychiatrists is calling for a new editorial code to be created to stop the media glamorising eating disorders and promoting unhealthy body images. They want to see more diverse bodies in the media instead and an emphasis on helping people to feel positive about their bodies.

Citing research that shows that the media plays a role in the development and maintenance of eating disorders, they highlight three areas where its influence can be toxic:

• Visual imagery - the promotion of very thin bodies as ideal, and the use of airbrushed images that imply physical perfection is attainable
• Magazine content - the prevalence of articles about dieting, body-image and plastic surgery as a means to enhance self-esteem; unbalanced articles about diets that ignore the dangers of extreme dieting; articles and images that normalise body criticism by pointing out celebrities' faults.
• Portrayal of eating disorders - media coverage that glamorises eating disorders and portray them as personal weakness rather than serious mental illnesses.

They make the following recommendations:

• More diverse use of models throughout the media in terms of weight, shape age, ethnicity and disability
• A ban on using underweight models
• A kitemark that raises awareness of the extent of digital manipulation of magazine images.
• A forum to be set up by the government to develop an editorial ethical code covering these issues
• The promotion of media literacy within schools to help young people deconstruct media images.

Their report is supported by beat, the eating disorder charity who celebrate 21 years of campaigning this year, and who have just launched their manifesto highlighting the issues they believe the next government needs to respond to in order to beat eating disorders. Of course, it's not just girls who suffer from eating disorders. Beat's Youtube channel has a video about David Samuels who has overcome anorexia.

Refreshing Preaching

The EA and London School Of Theology are holding a colloquium on on preaching at London School of Theology, Northwood on Friday, 23rd April 2010, called Refreshing Preaching starting at 10am, and finishing at 4pm.

The day will include a presentation of research into the effectiveness of preaching commissioned by the College of Preachers, followed by a number of short presentations from a variety of preachers, and plenty of opportunity for questions to be discussed. The afternoon will give time for discussion in focus groups. Participants include Andy Croft, Christina Baxter, Dotha Blackwood, Femi Popoola, Stephen Gaukroger and Vaughan Roberts. If you're a preacher and would like to attend this event, please contact Phil Green at the Evangelical Alliance (p.green@eauk.org). The day will cost £10, which includes refreshments, but not lunch.

Global Poverty Prayer Week

Next week, 1-7 March, is Global Poverty Prayer Week and Tearfund is providing resources to help churches, individuals and youth groups get involved. The aim is to unite individuals and churches from around the world - in worship to God and in prayer for justice, mercy and an end to poverty. And because Tearfund believes that God changes and inspires people through prayer, they hope Global Poverty Prayer Week will lead people to action. Find out more by visiting the One Voice website, where you can download a resources pack including updates on Haiti, and find suggestions for running Prayer Pods with a focus on global issues such as water and sanitation, climate change and HIV. You can add your group to a map of the world and see where other people are praying.

The stained glass ceiling

The March edition of Christianity magazine has an article by Michele Guinness called The Stained Glass Ceiling which is well worth a read. She explores how, even though there has been progress for women in leadership within the church, many women are still struggling to fulfil their calling. She begins:

'Three summers ago, a talk at Soul Survivor ended with hundreds of women coming forward, many of them weeping. They were responding to an invitation from director Mike Pilavachi to come forward if they felt they had been denied leadership or felt stuck and disempowered simply for being a woman. To the men watching, Pilavachi said, ‘You may be wondering what’s going on, but remember, you have no idea what these women have been through.’

The following morning, the mood at the leaders meeting was sombre. Maggie Ellis, now a Christianity columnist, summed it up. ‘I thought we’d come a lot further than that,’ she said.'

You can read a few more paragraphs here for the next few weeks, but to enjoy it in full you'll need to buy a copy of the magazine, or borrow one from someone at church!

A playwright making history

Nell Leyshon may be feeling the hand of history on her shoulders as she sits down to finish her next play. She is the first female playwright ever to be commissioned to write a play for the Globe since it opened in 1599. The play is entitled Bedlam and is 'an 18th-century ­costume drama set in a ­fictionalised version of the notorious lunatic ­asylum'.

To be fair, Nell's lack of predecessors is not that surprising. The Globe was only open for 14 years before it burned down and at that time it was illegal for a woman to act on a stage, never mind write a play. The Globe was reopened in 1992 with the intention of showcasing Shakespeare's plays so not that many other playwrights get a look in, regardless of gender.

But let's give her a moment of glory. Arguably, the world of theatre is is still largely male. Only 23% of ­directors are female, ­and fewer than a fifth of playwrights getting work staged are women. According to this report, Leyshon believes that Western theatre hasn't moved on as much as it should. "When I started writing for theatre, people would say, 'She's a woman writer,' and I didn't ­understand that. You'd never say, 'She's a woman novelist' or, 'She's a woman journalist.' But in theatre, you do."

The Daughters of Eve

Channel 4's series The Bible: A History tells 'the story of the most influential book ever written, interpreted by seven prominent figures from different walks of life.'

Sunday's episode was called The Daughters of Eve and was presented by historian Bettany Hughes. This is the description: 'It's fashionable to dismiss the Bible as a manifesto for misogyny. Undeniably, many of its pages are rank with sexism: the proud Queen, Jezebel, is fed to the dogs, the teenage girl, Salome, is used as sexual bait. But Hughes argues that the Bible is a window on the Bronze Age, a time when women had more power. She introduces a dazzling cast of female characters: warriors, adulterous wives, mothers and 'good' women: all daughters of Eve who speak volumes about their world, and our own.'

It's thought-provoking stuff - Hughes considers how cultural views of women and femininity through the ages might affect the way we read and understand the Bible, and argues that while most of history ignores women, the Bible writes them back in. I liked what she said about Lydia in Acts 16 - that she's held up as a paragon of early female Christian virtue, and yet she's a self-made woman who runs her own household and is in control of it. She knows her own mind and embraces this new faith. Lydia reminds us how attractive early Christianity was to women and how valued they were by the early church.

You can watch it again on 4OD, or set your recording device of choice to Channel 4 for 4:20am on Friday 19 February.

The new goodnight kiss

This is a disturbing book from the States about teenage prostitution and the sexual bullying of girls - Oral sex is the new goodnight kiss. Visit the website to read an extract from the book and to see clips from the documentary that accompanies it.

Author Sharlene Azam explores the phenomenon of middle-class US teenage girls trading sex for money, drugs and luxury goods. The book and film are 'a wake up call for parents showing them how girls are groomed by our culture into seeing sex as "no big deal" and the attention-getting behavior that's leading some girls into trading sex for money, drugs or clothes.'

The website includes chapter excerpts, video clips, as well as a magazine-style pdf called Toxic that explores the key issues.

From your experience, does this kind of thing go on in the UK? Or is this an American trend that we have yet to emulate? I'd love to know.

Laura Chinchilla - joining a tiny club of women world leaders

Earlier this week, Laura Chinchilla was elected as Costa Rica's first female president, bringing the number of female world leaders to 13.

She joins:

• Johanna Sigurdardottir, Prime Minister of Iceland
• Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
• Jadranka Kosor, Prime Minister of Croatia
• Dalia Grybauskaitė, President of Lithuania
• Tarja Halonen, President of Finland
• Mary McAleese, President of Ireland
• Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia
• Michelle Bachelet Jeria, President of Chile
• Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President of Argentina
• Sheikh Hasina Wazed, Prime Minister of Bangladesh
• Maria Macapagal-Arroyo, President of the Philippines
• and Doris Leuthard, President of the Swiss Confederation for 2010 (to be fair this role is seen as first among equals and the whole Swiss Federal Council is considered the Head of State but there are so few women world leaders, let's give her a moment of glory!)

They join former female presidents and prime ministers on the Council of World Women Leaders, whose aim is to 'promote good governance and enhance the experience of democracy globally by increasing the number, effectiveness, and visibility of women who lead at the highest levels in their countries'.

The next Prime Minister of the UK will be male, whatever the outcome of this years general election, but perhaps the number of female MPs will increase from the rather paltry 19%. One of the concerns of the anti-suffragists towards the end of the 19th century was that if women were given the vote, they would take over Parliament as there are generally more women than men in the population. They needn't have worried.

But Brighton will definitely be getting a female MP as all the candidates for the main parties are women: Nancy Platts for Labour, Caroline Lucas for the Greens,  Charlotte Vere for the Conservatives and Juliet Williams for the Lib Dems - the first all-female parliamentary election according to the Brighton Argus

Teenage girls - unhealthy eaters

The first year of the new National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) by the Food Standards Agency has found that teenage girls have the most unhealthy diet in the country according to this report in the Guardian.

The FSA said it was concerned that teenage girls between 11 and 18 are failing to eat enough foods essential for growth and good health. They tend to eat food high in saturated fat and sugar, with fizzy drinks being particularly popular, but they aren't getting enough nutrients such as iron and calcium. In addition, in spite of recommending that children don't drink alcohol at all, the report found that 4% of boys aged 13-15 and 12% of girls of the same age said they usually drank once a week or more.

The fact that teenage girls are eating so unhealthily is interesting because they are more likely to be reading about diets and weight control in magazines. A study reported in Pediatrics magazine in the States three years ago found that 'frequent reading of magazine articles about dieting/weight loss strongly predicted unhealthy weight-control behaviours in adolescent girls, but not boys, 5 years later.'

1980s posters about girls

It's history week here at Sophia. UK Youth have reproduced some posters created in the 1980s by young research workers and young women which looked at the risks of being young and female. They addressed the issues that the girls felt they faced, and challenged stereotypes.

These posters would be a great discussion starter to use with young people, both girls and boys. What do they say about what life was like in the 80s? What has changed in the last 30 years? Do any of these statements still need reinforcing? What do they want teenagers of the opposite sex to understand about them today?

You can buy copies of the posters through UK Youth's Lulu site (scroll down the list of publications). There's one about boys causing trouble, an assertion that it's really good being a girl, a plea for girls not being judged on their looks, a reminder that girls hate being called slags, and a picture of a girl at the sink highlighting the bad things about being a girl.

HT: Ali Campbell

1943 Guide to Hiring Women

This made me smile - an article for Transportation Magazine from July 1943, written for male supervisors of women in the work force during World War II. It begins: 'There's no longer any question whether transit companies should hire women for jobs formerly held by men. The draft and manpower shortage has settled that point.' And then it continues with 11 tips on getting more efficiency out of women employees which includes such gems as:

• Pick young married women. They usually have more of a sense of responsibility than their unmarried sisters.
• When you have to use older women, try to get some who have worked outside the home at some time in their lives. Older women who have never contacted the public have a hard time adapting themselves and are inclined to be cantankerous and fussy.
• General experience indicates that 'husky' girls - those who are just a little on the heavy side - are more even tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters.
• Give the female employee a  definite day-long schedule of duties so that they'll keep busy without bothering the management every few minutes. Numerous properties say that women make excellent workers when they have their jobs cut out for them, but that they lack initiative in finding work themselves.
• Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the day. You have to make some allowances for feminine psychology. A girl has more confidence and is more efficient if she can keep her hair tidied, apply fresh lipstick and wash her hands several times a day.
• Be tactful when issuing instructions or making criticisms. Women are often sensitive; they can't shrug off harsh words the way men do. Never ridicule a woman - it breaks her spirit and cuts off her efficiency.
• Get enough size variety in operator's uniforms so that each girl can have a proper fit. This point can't be stressed too much in keeping women happy.

It's a genuine article according to snopes, where you can download scans of the original pages. It's fascinating the assumptions it makes about why women work, what kind of work we are suited to and how we best work.

Bits and pieces: young people and mental health, women's question time and a job

Jo Fitzsimmons from FYT is hosting a day conference on Young People and Mental Health on 3 July from 10:30 to 3:30 at Christ Church, Selly Park, Birmingham. She's leading a day on self harm and eating disorders this weekend which has sold out, highlighting the need for youth workers to learn how to respond to wider issues of mental health.

Research indicates that at any one time over 10% of young people will experience significant mental health problems. By the end of their teenage lives it is estimated that around 40% of young people will have had some mental health issue to contend with. This event is an opportunity for youth workers to come together to share experiences, discuss topics and explore this often overlooked aspect of youth work and ministry. Stephen Bradley from the National University of Ireland, Galway will be there to share his insights. Tickets cost £10. More details including how to book can be found on this flyer

If you're in London on March 16th, there's a chance to question all potential Women's Ministers on their manifestos for women and girls before the general election. Confirmed candidates include Theresa May for the Conservatives, Lynne Featherstone for the Liberal Democrats and Caroline Lucas for the Green Party. It's being hosted by Eaves Housing for Women at Central Hall Westminster from 7-8:30pm. Tickets are free but you have to book in advance - details are on the Eaves website.

Finally Boost Felixstowe are recruiting a female student Christian youth worker to work as part of a committed team of staff and volunteers, working with young people in and around the Felixstowe area in a variety of settings from a Girls Group to the Boost Bus. This post includes study towards a BA Degree in Youth, Community Work & Applied Theology at Ridley Hall in Cambridge as part of the Centre for Youth Ministry. More details on this flyer or email Adrian Wolton

February update

How is it February already? This month will see the start of Lent and the joy, pain or indifference of Valentine's Day (depending on your perspective!) Have fun and take a moment to enjoy this month's update:

• The wounded healer, an inspiring article from Annie Weatherley-Barton on showing long-term commitment to marginalised people
• A review of Transforming Together by Sharon Prior
• A reflection and a rewriting of Psalm 23 by Jenny Baker

Don't forget our mentoring training events this month, in Maidstone on 6th February, Nottingham on 13th and Glasgow on 27th.

Article: The wounded healer by Ann M Weatherley-Barton

 Understanding and valuing self does not come in a vacuum but through God’s people expressing his love and commitment to others, especially to our marginalised and disenfranchised young people. Over many years both my husband and myself have discovered that only long-term commitment to young (and the not so young) offers anything that is really deep and abiding in people’s lives. We are totally committed for the long term with young people and anyone else who comes our way. We have found that without that conviction very little changes especially for those whose lives are in crisis.

In life-long process we have found, as Ken Leech put it so succinctly in his book, ‘The Eye of the Storm’, there is a need to ‘go through people’s hell with them’. For us it is at the heart of our mission and calling while also being at the very heart of the gospel. How can we expect anyone to understand what the love of God is and what it means unless we show them? Francis of Assisi reputedly said: “Always preach the Gospel and sometimes use words.” What a way to live your life. I wouldn’t say that has been my life’s song but if I try and sing this tune then I might be who God wants me to be.

I long rid myself of phrases like “discipling,” and even “getting alongside people” which I now find irksome because it smacks of me doing something to someone else that might or might not be what someone needs. All of a sudden I have come the ‘expert’ for someone else’s life and of course I have all the answers to all their problems. Of course I do. Then I become a “textpert,” finding the perfect biblical verse for every situation known to humanity! The desperate person gets lost in my arrogance, my knowledge and my sole intention of “sorting someone out”.

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing bad about discipling as long as we are open and humble enough to recognise that we need to be discipled ourselves. Discipling needs to undertaken with a servant’s heart where arrogance and know-it-all attitudes have no place. I don’t even think about such words these days. I would rather spend my time listening and learning from others.

Caring for people on a long-term basis is not a walk in the park or an activity to boost our flagging self confidence, just so we can say: “Look what I’m doing!” We need to grasp the truths that the Bible teaches about what it means to be Christ-like and, we must know it deep in our hearts and spirits. It is a life-long learning curve. We have to go inward and outward in our spiritual walk. We must learn how to love ourselves in order to be able to truly love others. If we try and understand the depth of the love that cost Christ to hang on a cross for us and grapple with that sacrifice, then we may have our blueprint of how we need to be with and for others who are in total despair and on the brink of life.

Review: Transforming Together by Ele Parrott (Moody: 2009)

They say ‘never judge a book by its cover’ and this is definitely true for this book. I thought it was going to be the kind of ‘touchy feely’ book that you normally get when women write about mentoring other women, but this is certainly not true.

The author looks at spiritual mentoring from a very refreshing angle and uses examples from her own experience to support her theories; focusing on individuals she has met and how they have been transformed when faced with what the Bible says. It is based on Scripture, although on occasions I feel that she makes some tenuous links between what she wants to say and the verses she uses to back it up.

Chapter 5 is particularly good in my opinion, as it looks at mentoring in the way that Jesus did it and I liked Ele’s definition of mentoring. It is slightly narrow, but very succinct and she goes on to unpack it more.

She says that Jesus came alongside, partnered with the Holy Spirit working in people’s lives and infused truth into the person’s reality. I think her link between a person’s perception of the situation and the reality of it was very helpful and she goes on to talk about how we need to use the Scripture to speak truth into their reality. I think this is so important when mentoring; so often what passes for mentoring is just a nice chat over coffee, and while there is nothing wrong with that I would suggest that there is the potential for so much more. Ele puts forward the view that authentic mentoring is about building a relationship and then challenging with the truth of the Bible.

While the book is not an academic tome on mentoring as it is quite anecdotal in places, it is very easy to read and although I don’t necessarily agree with all her points I think there is enough in here to warrant a read.

Sharon Prior is a trainer, coach and mentor and is a co-founder of the Sophia Network

Reflection: Psalm 23 rewritten

David was a shepherd. Psalm 23 is his realisation that just as he cares for his sheep, so God cares for him, but in a much more perfect way. These weren’t just words on a page to David, but experiences that would have held a deep resonance for him because that's what he had done for his sheep. There’s also a sense of him letting go of his responsibilities and letting God carry them, allowing himself to be loved just as he loves. I wondered ‘Which of the roles that I have in life does God fulfil for me, but much better?’, and rewrote the psalm about being a mother.

Psalm 23 rewritten

The Lord is my mother; I shall not be in want.

She makes me lie down in fresh clean sheets and tucks me in and kisses me goodnight, and while I sleep she sorts everything out, ready for the morning.
She makes me cups of tea and ginger cake when I get home from school, and shepherds pie for supper with plenty of fresh vegetables.

She leads me away from the TV to the kitchen table
where we have space to talk without interruptions.
She listens to even the smallest of my worries and helps me get things in perspective.
She restores my soul.

She guides me through the mysteries of how to be a righteous woman, for her name’s sake.

Even though I walk past the bus stop
where the big boys threaten me
and the bitchy girls laugh at me,
I will fear no evil for you are with me.
Your strength beside me and your hand in mine,
they comfort and sustain me.

You prepare Sunday lunch for me in the presence of my enemies, to remind me that I’ll always have a place to belong.

You have every confidence in me and my future; you are my champion and my biggest fan.

My life overflows with the love you have given me from my very first breath to my first grey hair and beyond.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Jenny Baker is just ending a season as interim director of Greenbelt Festival, and is a co-founder of the Sophia Network