BECOMING AVATAR:CO-CREATING GIRL’S PHYSICAL EDUCATION KIT ON 3D GAMING BODIES

For almost four decades, research within the field of physical education (PE) pedagogy has studied girls’ disengagement. Findings from these studies have highlighted several barriers to engagement such as the kit. The exploration of how PE kits affect young girls has not been widely researched within the social sciences and therefore, a gap in the literature has been identified. This pilot study, which is part of a wider PhD project, seeks to understand how the uniformed body affects girls felt experiences of PE. The kits worn for PE can be viewed as a means to discipline and control the body. Therefore, by giving power and agency back to girls to re-design the materiality of their PE kit, an improvement in engagement within PE may occur. A new materialist co-creative methodology was developed that applied fashion design principles and 3D video gaming to enable girls to re-imagine their school PE kit. Using print design on custom-made content for the SIMS 4 video game, four girls ages 10 -14 re-designed their school kit and wore them virtually in the game. The findings showed that using a co-creative approach, incorporating fashion design and video game avatars, to help facilitate the design of a kit relevant to the girls does have the potential to engage girls within school PE lessons. It is suggested that for more robust and conclusive findings, a larger study should be undertaken in UK secondary schools

Whole body scanning as a tool for clothing sizing: Effects on women’s body satisfaction

Whole-body scanning is increasingly used in the clothing industry, including in large-scale sizing surveys and virtual fitting. However, the impacts of 3D scanning on women’s body satisfaction are unclear as no previous studies have investigated impacts in a controlled experiment. This experiment investigated any causal effect of 3D whole-body scanning, as used in clothing applications, on women’s body satisfaction. Seventy women aged 18-35 years completed body image measures at baseline, immediately post-test, and two weeks later. At post-test relative to controls and controlling for baseline scores, women randomly allocated to the scanner condition scored significantly higher on Body Areas Satisfaction and significantly lower on Self-classified Weight, and positive effects persisted two weeks beyond the experimental session. Results suggest that whole-body scanning may improve women’s body satisfaction and reduce perceived overweight relative to controls, though further research is necessary to examine the reliability of this effect and underlying mechanisms

Body Mass Index and Body Satisfaction: Does Availability of Well-fitting Clothes Matter?

Relatively little is known about the factors that mediate the relationship between high body mass index (BMI) and reduced body satisfaction. This is the first study to investigate whether availability of well-fitting clothes mediates this relationship. Eighty-five women with an age range of 18-81 years were 3D body scanned and weighed and measured at Time 1, and number of retailers stocking their sizes (determined through body scans) was calculated. At Time 2 they completed an online body satisfaction measure. Body satisfaction at Time 2 was predicted by both BMI and availability of well-fitting clothes in UK retailers at Time 1, with the two factors explaining 27% of the variance in body satisfaction. Availability of clothes size partially mediated the relationship between BMI and body satisfaction. Results suggest that the clothing retail sector might contribute to reducing body dissatisfaction by providing a wider range of choices for all sizes of consumer

“I didn’t realise I was such a sausage”: Men’s Accounts of Whole-body Scanning, Body Image, and Expected Changes in Health-related Behaviours

Objective: Whole-body scanning is now available in stores to assist buyers in choosing well-fitting clothes. This study was designed to investigate men’s accounts of scanning, body image, and expectations of behaviour change. Design: Ten men aged 18-39 years without histories of eating disorders or previous experience of whole-body scanning, took part in semi-structured interviews before and after scanning. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Results: Pre-scan, men’s body ideals were tall, slender, and relatively muscular. Post-scan, seven reported looking shorter, fatter, thinner, and/or less symmetrical than they hoped; three were pleasantly surprised by the images. Men were interested in scans as an objective view of their bodies and as a “wake-up call” to motivate healthy behaviours. Five men intended to change their behaviour as a result of scanning, and repeat scanning was seen as a good way to monitor behavioural changes. Participants suggested that scanning may raise body concerns in other men, though downplayed impacts on their own body image. Conclusion: Whole-body scanning may encourage men to exercise and eat more healthily. However, men became more negative about their bodies as a result of seeing their body scans, so scanning needs to be carried out with supervision and support

‘I think a little bit of a kick is sometimes what you need’: Women’s Accounts of Whole-body Scanning and Likely Impact on Health-related Behaviours

Objective: This study was designed to investigate whether whole-body scanning might promote healthy eating and physical activity in women, and to explore the effects of scanning on body image. Design: Fourteen women aged 22-45 years without histories of eating disorders or whole-body scanning, took part in semi-structured interviews before and after scanning. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Results: Scans did not look as expected, and participants expressed ‘surprise’ and ‘shock’. Participants focused on perceived negative aspects of their bodies as revealed in scan images, and agreed that women with body concerns would find scans too ‘real’ and ‘raw’. Eleven women who met UK government physical activity and healthy eating guidelines reported that the scan provided additional motivation to maintain, and in nine cases to increase, those behaviours. Two women who neither exercised nor ate healthily would not increase physical activity or change their diets following scanning. Conclusion: Whole-body scanning may enable maintenance or even acceleration of physical activity and healthy eating, but is unlikely to be useful in promoting initiation of these behaviours. Participants engaged in unhelpful body critique when viewing scans; scanning needs to be confined to contexts where support is provided, to avoid increasing body-related concerns

Dress: an exhibition about clothes and why we wear them

In 1887, the Ancoats Art Museum put their Model Dress on display to the public. Made from Silk and placed in a glass cabinet alongside example fabrics by William Morris, it was designed to inspire working women to wear more functional and beautiful clothing and to influence their behaviour and moral character. With this in mind, the museum even offered the dress pattern for sale for tuppence. 18 years later in 1905. a group of women from the Fawcett Debating Society challenged the committee and the design of the dress. Their polite but firm feedback to the committee was summarised in one word: the dress was "inconvenient". This exhibition documents this story and explore what we wear and why we wear it. A reimagining of the original dress is disrupted by creative responses to the story by young women from Wythenshawe. The exhibition also features portraits of the participants and historical research on the Model Dress and its makers

Assessing the female figure identification technique’s reliability as a body shape classification system

This paper demonstrates the effects of small differences in measurement definitions on resultant body shape classification. Ergonomic researchers consider the Female Figure Identification Technique (FFIT) a ‘gold standard’ body shape classification system to describe variation in a population’s 3D profile. Nevertheless, researchers use FFIT without scientific basis or considering their ergonomic suitability. This paper rigorously evaluates FFIT, focusing on ergonomics, garment construction, and scientific research applications. Through analysing 1,679 3D Body Scans, we assess the level of agreement between the FFIT’s body shape classification when measurements placed following FFIT’s or SizeUK’s guidance. We establish how different interpretations of FFIT’s measurement placement cause the same body to be categorised into different shapes - in up to 40% of cases. FFIT omits shoulder measurements that have little relationship to body shape yet are vital in garment construction. Using FFIT with different dataset and definitions, therefore, leads to inconsistent conclusions about shape differences

The representation of shape and texture in category-selective regions of ventral-temporal cortex

Neuroimaging studies using univariate and multivariate approaches have shown that the fusiform face area (FFA) and parahippocampal place area (PPA) respond selectively to images of faces and places. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which this selectivity to faces or places is based on the shape or texture properties of the images. Faces and houses were filtered to manipulate their texture properties, while preserving the shape properties (spatial envelope) of the images. In Experiment 1, multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) showed that patterns of fMRI response to faces and houses in FFA and PPA were predicted by the shape properties, but not by the texture properties of the image. In Experiment 2, a univariate analysis (fMR-adaptation) showed that responses in the FFA and PPA were sensitive to changes in both the shape and texture properties of the image. These findings can be explained by the spatial scale of the representation of images in the FFA and PPA. At a coarser scale (revealed by MVPA), the neural selectivity to faces and houses is sensitive to variation in the shape properties of the image. However, at a finer scale (revealed by fMR-adaptation), the neural selectivity is sensitive to the texture properties of the image. By combining these neuroimaging paradigms, our results provide insights into the spatial scale of the neural representation of faces and places in the ventral-temporal cortex