AN Aberystwyth teenager has created a film encouraging people to ignore air-brushed images and feel comfortable in their own skin.

Jazmine Ireland, 17, said she wants young girls to stop comparing themselves with unrealistic pictures in the media.

Jazmine, a pupil at Penglais school, said she is concerned that digitally enhanced images of celebrities can be damaging to young people who feel pressured to look a certain way and has created a film raising awareness about air-brushing with the help of the Fixers charity.

“Everyone’s comparing themselves to people they see on the covers of magazines or on television and that’s not who real people are because they’ve been altered,” she said.

“So why should normal women have to compare themselves to these women?

“It’s hard today to find a girl who is completely happy with the way she looks.

“I believe that girls should focus on how their bodies will feel comfortable to them.”

Jazmine undertook a survey of girls at Penglais school as part of her film.

Dr Sarah Riley, psychologist at Aberystwyth University, supports the campaign.

“There’s a lot of pressure on young women about appearance,” she said.

“There’s this idea that we always have to be in transformation, improving our bodies in one way or another.

“Part of that comes from looking at images which show perfection almost like it’s normal.

“Therefore you get lots of people working really hard on their appearance to try and create that image which, as Jazmine’s shown, is often created on the computer.”

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