Life skills, body image and self-esteem�The influence on sexuality and well-being�
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Establish Session Values
What will make this class a safe space for everyone to talk, share and discuss freely? Talk about things that are close to our heart? Things that bother us to make us sad? How do we want others to behave? How will we behave? How can we make it easy for all of us to understand as well as enjoy these sessions together? Some values - based off behaving - that may support us in sharing and discussing openly are:
Listening to each other with respect
Speaking with respect for each other
Trust each other
Any other value on which we all want to mutually agree?
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Life Skills
The World Health Organization states that, “Life skills education is designed to facilitate the practice and reinforcement of psychosocial skills in a culturally and developmentally appropriate way; it contributes to the promotion of personal and social development, the prevention of health and social problems, and the protection of human rights.”
In this program, we focus on life skills as a way of enhancing one’s sense of intrapersonal and interpersonal well being, as a way of enhancing one’s self-esteem, conviction in oneself and asserting one’s needs and rights.
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Different life skills
WHO recommended 10 life skills
Classified into 5 areas:
Self-awareness and empathy
Coping with emotions and coping with stress
Communication and interpersonal skills
Decision-making and problem-solving
Critical thinking and creative thinking
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What is self-esteem?
Confidence levels
Sense of agency and ability to assert one’s rights
Belief that one is important and deserves to be respected/
treated well
Conviction to pursue one’s ambitions and not give up
Belief in own ability to move things and get things done
A person’s feelings about one’s own worth, how much one values oneself, likes oneself and accepts oneself.
Self- Esteem impacts
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What impacts self-esteem?
Self-esteem varies as we grow up, with a dip in our self-evaluations especially during adolescence when our bodies are changing, our ideas of ourselves are being influenced by what friends and family say about us and how they treat us
Changes corresponding to how we ‘match-up’ to what we see and compare ourselves to.
Cultural norms and expectations also impact how we begin to think of ourselves (beautiful? competent? successful? hard working? lazy?)
Parenting styles and parental judgements
Self-awareness - awareness of our strengths, qualities, values
RTE 2009 prohibits physical punishment and mental harassment to a child due to its effect on children and adolescents.
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Low Self-Esteem
Hypersensitive
Fragile sense of self which is easily wounded by others
They are hyper alert to any signs of rejection and sense of inadequacy.
Low self-esteem may also present as people-pleasers, giving in to other’s demands and foregoing one’s own thoughts and beliefs, thus, also becoming vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
People with low self-esteem may have opinions about their bodies and their sexuality, that suggest that they are not okay, that they are less than desirable, that their needs and preferences are not important or that their sexual identities are not ‘normal’ or ‘natural’.
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Reflection Activity
How people see you:
List 3 things which you heard about yourself as a child from the adults around you.
List 3 things different people say about you now - your parents/ grandparents, your siblings/cousins, your friends, your coach etc.
Do you think these are accurate descriptions of you? Which ones do you agree with and why?
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Reflection Activity
How you see yourself:
List 3 things about yourself according to you. How different are these from the ones listed in 1.a and 1.b?
Which beliefs about yourself make you feel good? How did these form?
Which beliefs about yourself make you feel bad? How did these form? Are these still true? How can these be worked on so they feel more empowering?
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Building Self-Esteem - Awareness & Self-Affirmation
Use Strengths Mindfully
Challenge Negative Thought Patterns
Reflect: Is this thought from a past experience or current reality?
Identify: Is it automatic self-doubt or based on actual circumstances?
Reframe: “I’ll mess up” → “I may struggle, but I’ve handled challenges before.”
Self-Acceptance & Growth
Give yourself permission to try, fail, and learn.
Balance attention to both appreciation and critique.
Align actions with beliefs – feel proud of your convictions.
Seek opportunities to apply your strengths and celebrate success.
Avoid unhealthy comparisons – reflect on your own progress.
Be cautious with advice that undermines your self-belief; consider the context and your own motivations
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Building Self-Esteem - Self Compassion & Resilience
Practice Self-Compassion
Use exercises (like multiple intelligences and values worksheets) to discover your strengths.
Cultivate a steady attitude of kindness toward yourself - it’s a practice, not perfection
Notice self-critical thoughts and replace them with kinder, realistic ones.
E.g., “I’m always messing up” → “I’m doing my best and growing.”
Recognize suffering, respond with care, and embrace imperfections as human.
Develop a Supportive Inner Voice
Internal critics often come from past put-downs or lack of affirmation.
Rewriting the inner narrative helps break the cycle of shame and self-blame.
Protect Your Wellbeing
Avoid consistently negative or disempowering environments.
Acknowledge societal structures that marginalize differences - remember: it’s not your fault.
Tools to Support Self-Awareness
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Body Image
Our body image reflects how we feels about our body, the attitudes, feelings and perceptions about one’s physical appearance which are shaped by social and cultural norms of a society who determine what is an ‘ideal’ body shape.
Society’s standard of an attractive body may not always correspond with our body itself - this causes significant distress when comparisons/ observation are made
Reflection of self-esteem:
How do you see or picture yourself?
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What influences body image issues
Parental inputs and role modeling of what is considered appropriate, ‘decent’ or not, what can help ensure socio-economic benefits when their children appear for jobs or marriage, puts pressure to conform to the perceived ideal body
The social environment and what is considered desirable or not
Moral policing of people for their bodies leads to an increase in negative perception of their bodies (eg. don’t show too much skin, don’t accentuate body parts)
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Why are body image concerns important to address?
Sexualization of girls in:
Music videos, fashion shows, dolls' clothing.
Shame, anxiety, and self-disgust due to body comparison with cultural ideals.
Over 40% of Indian adolescent girls report body dissatisfaction, influenced by social media exposure to idealized body types. Source
Impact of Body Dissatisfaction:
Gendered Impact:
Indian studies show girls are more likely to:
Skip meals for weight control.
Use fairness products due to appearance pressure. Ex. Fair & Lovely
Boys face increasing pressure to attain muscular physiques, often influenced by content on platforms like Instagram and YouTube.
Media & Cultural Influence:
Leads to unhealthy behaviors: extreme dieting, skipping meals, laxative use.
Harms physical and mental health when practiced excessively.
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Physical Beauty
Beauty is linked to symmetry. Symmetry is one of the marker of genetic health - we feel attracted towards it and call it beautiful.
Extreme asymmetry is often associated with genetic disorders. Most people are not extremely beautiful - but are reasonably healthy.
Eyes too far apart, or set too close together/ other asymmetries, reduce attractiveness
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Why is it important to address body-image concerns?
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Body-image and mental health
APA reported that sexualising of the female body affects the mental and physical health of women and has cognitive and emotional consequences leading to shame, anxiety and self-disgust
40% of the LGBTQIA+ community experienced shame due to body image dissatisfaction, as opposed to 18% of cis - het participants
Body image issues have been correlated with self-esteem, depression, and disordered eating behaviours
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Queer identities and body image dissatisfaction
Mannerisms, dressing styles, or body expression such as wearing colourful clothes for men or wearing short hair for women that are gender non-conforming often leads to bullying.
Drag culture has become a powerful source of disrupting existing norms of gender expression.
Creates a space to alleviate body image concerns, assert self-love and expression.
Drag shows provide a community that fosters body positivity and a platform to perform their sexuality
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Disability, Body Image & Self-Esteem:
Supportive and inclusive environments can improve body acceptance and emotional well-being.
Media and societal ideals promote unattainable standards of beauty, thin, mobile, able-bodied.
These norms exclude disabled bodies, reinforcing feelings of inadequacy and alienation.
Individuals with disabilities face compounded pressures due to ableist norms.
Women with disabilities experience more media pressure, appearance investment, and dissatisfaction due to gendered beauty expectations.
Cultural focus on women’s appearance intensifies internalized shame and body image issues.
Higher perceived disability-related inhibition → lower self-esteem and appearance satisfaction.
Negative perceptions from others lower body satisfaction and self-esteem.
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Visual messages from media/ culture
These are modern images.
But body image is not a modern issue
Through history, there are instances of body being altered to conform to the accepted norms of a particular society to the extent of mutilation even.
The body is not the goal but a means to achieving the goal.
While we may appreciate someone’s body, whom do we respect?
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Reflection Activity
What messages about your body did you receive as a child, adolescent and as an adult? Whose words had the biggest impact on how you feel about your body?
What would it be like to live in a world where people did not comment on how a person looks, and instead spoke about their behaviour?
Mirror activity- Hold a mirror to different parts of your body one by one and note how you feel about them. How many of these feelings are because of what people have said about your body and how much is your own internal sense? If you had lived on a deserted island, how many of these feelings would still arise? Would it still matter?
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Building Self-Awareness, Self-Compassion & Positive Body Image
Like any skill, self-awareness and self-compassion grow with practice.
Discover and nurture your strengths, values, and abilities, they shape your identity and resilience.
Appreciate your body for what it does, grows, heals, adapts, not just how it looks.
Filter messages from others: keep those that uplift, reject those that harm.
All bodies are different. Each one deserves respect, safety, and dignity.
Cultivate a belief that you are worthy just as you are.
Accept imperfections with kindness; they are part of being human and a space for connection.
Critically examine beliefs that hurt your self-worth and choose ones that empower you without harming others.
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What steps can we take to ensure a healthier way forward?
WORKING FOR CHILD SAFETY AND GENDER EMPOWERMENT SINCE 2001
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Slide 4
This PowerPoint is part of a project to prevent gender based violence. This project is supported by Ford Foundation.
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Slide 9
Thank You!
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