Overview

Today, our society portrays a very twisted image of beauty for men and women of all ages. When youngsters view these images, they get torn between their own actual body image and their perceived body image. As a result, boys and girls often develop psychological and physical problem at various degree, yet all connected to the conflict between their inside and outside images.

In order to shed light on body image perception and satisfaction, the international department of the University of Balikesir, Turkey, hosts a youth exchange workshop from the 24th to the 31st of May, 2015, inviting participants from Germany, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Poland, Czech Republic and Romania.

This project aims to give opportunities for youngsters (18-25 years old) to experience the information of how social media directly and indirectly control our concepts of body image, dissatisfaction feelings and the effects of body modification practices. It also gives a chance for youngsters to think about the intercultural body image issues, taking account into other critical factors such as gender and social media issues.

The aim and the specific objectives pf the project were:

1. Creating the awareness of body images common problems that have been affected by our daily social media and their influences on young people
2. By relying on youth prospective, producing and sharing solutions to overcome the problems of body image and dissatisfaction.
3. Exchange our foreign through self- study and visit them. All participants are advised to have his/her own phase book, so that they can be used during the project and after the project.
4. Foster cultural understanding by sharing food, knowledge, networks with Turkey counterparts, also by living and settling for a week from going shopping, using local transport, city touring, demonstration etc.

Introduction

A group of five youngsters from United Kingdom join a Youth Pass- Youth Exchange Project (Youth & Body Image) organised by Balikesir University, Turkey. This project took place from 24th May to 31st May, 2015.

During their visit, groups of young people from different countries jointly design, prepare and carry out different pieces of work such as video making, drama, poster design etc. This project usually contains a mix of workshops, debates, role-plays, simulations and outdoor activities. Those youngsters are supported by experiences youth workers and leader in this. Youth Exchanges allow them to develop competences, become more awareness on our society topics, discover new cultures, and strengthen values like solidarity and democracy etc.

Fig 1-2: We are heading to Balikesir University, Turkey,  

Fig 3: Nice meal in Turkey Airline (KK 6004) 

As we fly into Istanbul, we were going to Balikesir University straight away by coach and ferry. Once we arrived at the hall, it is already 4 a.m. in the morning; therefore we were going straight onto bed, relax afterward and waiting for our first day in this project.