Introducing… Proud To Be Me – the new body positivity tool for LGBTQ+ youth, brought to you by the Dove Self-Esteem Project. Let’s help the young people in our lives feel confident and proud of who they are.
Around the world, many young LGBTQ+ people face pressure to conform to narrow beauty standards, binary ideals, and stereotypes of how they should look or be. And it comes as no surprise that this is one of the reasons that some young people in the LGBTQ+ community struggle with accepting their appearance.
Everyone deserves to grow up feeling confident and like they can express their truest selves, without holding back. And on their own terms, too. For many young people, self-esteem and positive body image is a journey, and when it comes to appearance pressure, LGBTQ+ youth are especially vulnerable. Experiencing higher levels of body dissatisfaction, young queer people are between 2 to 6+ times more likely to engage in disordered eating behaviors, compared to their same-aged peers.*
This needs to change.