London, Apr 16 : A new survey has found that bullied teenagers increasingly want to have cosmetic surgery.
The annual survey carried out by anti-bullying charity ‘Ditch The Label’ found more than half of the teenagers who responded felt they had been bullied about their appearance, the Guardian reported.
One in two went on to say they wanted to change how they look, with 56 percent saying they wanted to lose weight, nearly one in five wishing they could have breast implants and 5 percent wanting Botox.
Liam Hackett, founder and CEO of Ditch the Label, said the implications of appearance-based bullying are significant and can have “devastating, long-term impacts.
The survey found teens as young as 13 are adding liposuction and breast implants to their wish lists.
Hackett said that the evidence is clear that teens are now considering drastic and invasive measures to alter their appearances due to insecurities and bullying.
The popularity of image-based apps such as Instagram and the fashion for taking “selfies” may also be contributing, experts say, as so much bullying happens online.
Claude Knights, chief executive of Kidscape, said that the commercialisation of childhood leads in too many cases to distorted body image and low self-esteem, which has a knock-on effect to bullying, adding that in some peer groups failure to conform to an artificial norm leads to bullying and exclusion.
