So I said to Kevin…..

I have just had possibly the most surreal 24 hours of my life. In brief, I went to Canberra. To parliament house. I met with the Prime Minister. He asked me some questions. I told him what I thought about a thing or two. I gave a speech at a press conference next to a supermodel and faced more questions. I presented a report to a fabulous minister. And then I returned to my normal life.

IT WAS BIZARRE. Not in a bad way. Just in an out-of-body-experience way.

And the whole time, in the back of my mind, I kept thinking, I totally can’t wait to tell you guys about this. I was going to tweet about it and take photos but I decided I really wanted to try and stay in the moment and appreciate what was happening while it happened. Also, I really needed to try and stay on top of my shit because A LOT was going on.

And the stakes were fairly high.

Anyway. I shall begin.

I flew down to Canberra on Monday arvo so I had time to prepare for Tuesday. I was already feeling pretty nervous about having to give a speech. Which I hadn’t properly written let alone practiced.

At the airport, I bought a couple of Witchery tops because it always calms my nerves to buy things before I fly. Especially things from Witchery. This has become something of a weird addictive ritual for me in the past month or two as I’ve done a lot of travel and Witchery have kindly opened stores in all Australian domestic airports.

Thank you Witchery. Sorry Mastercard.

So with a couple of new batwing tops, two bracelets and some new PJ pants crammed into my already over-stuffed carry-on wheelie bag, I flew down to Canberra, checked into my hotel and THANKED GOD that as I walked out the door from my house, I briefly glanced into my wardrobe and saw my dress hanging innocently there. Not in my bag.

That would have been excellent. Having stressed enough about what to wear (the last time I was at Parliament House I was wearing a school uniform and most days I’m wearing jeans), I came thisclose to having to turn up in a black jacket, black tights (with built-in tummy support -hello Spanx) and boots. Would have made for an interesting security check and some terrific photo opportunities.

Soon after I arrived in Canberra, I received notice from Kate Ellis’s office that Kate, Sarah Murdoch and I would be meeting with the Prime Minister before the press conference. Oh. Sure. Just my usual kind of Tuesday.

Given that my whole trip had just been ramped up a notch or 30 on the intimidating scale, as I got ready early yesterday morning, I reminded myself that remembering my dress was a bonus. Forgetting my hairbrush, however, was a bummer. And then I burnt my hand to buggery with my GHD.

Not nervous AT ALL.

The morning passed in a blur. I remember noticing Sarah was wearing flats (she’s pregnant) and saying a silent prayer of thanks. I might not need to stand on a chair when being photographed with her and Kate after all, I thought. She truly is impossibly lovely. And real. And passionate about body image.

Then the Body Image Group met for a workshop with some teenagers which was just brilliant.

They talked to us about their experiences with everything from cyber bullying around body image and how everything in society seems to tell them their only value is based on how they look. They spoke about the avatars they create in online games and virtual worlds like Sims and how they are all completely unrealistic and how they have little choice when it comes to creating more realistic looking ‘virtual’ characters.

I asked them how aware they were of the level to which images they see in the media are digitally altered and they said it’s kind of in the back of their minds but that mostly, they just believe what they see, inadvertently compare themselves with these images and feel crap about themselves.

Suddenly, it was time for Sarah, Kate and I to be whisked to see the PM. As we sat waiting, he just appeared without fuss or fanfare, shook our hands and ushered us into his office where we sat around a table and had a very relaxed chat. Well, as relaxed as you can have WITH THE PRIME MINISTER AND 20 PHOTOGRAPHERS AND FILM CREWS who were filming us and taking our photos for the first few minutes.

When they left and the doors closed behind them, we got down to talking about the report. Kevin (‘call me Kevin’ he said so I did) wanted to know more about body image, the impact it had on young people and what the best ways were to address it. Kate, having just received the report from us, let me and Sarah do the talking and make our case to put Body Image on the national agenda.

We told Kevin about our ideas for the Industry Code of Conduct and how we wanted to reward industries who signed up by giving them a logo to use to market themselves – something like the heart foundation tick – so that consumers could support companies who were body image friendly. We also talked about giving out annual awards to organisations in the media, fashion and advertising industries who were doing positive things to promote body image. He really liked those ideas.

He wanted to know what could be done to help young people and pointed out – quite correctly – that despite some older people rolling their eyes and claiming “but it’s always been this way and we survived’, that the difference for young people today was that the whole environment had been turbo-charged by technology and the explosion of media imagery of unrealistic bodies.

We told him about our recommendation that the government work with existing, proven programs like the Butterfly Foundations school programs. He listened. I tried to concentrate on what I was saying while surreptitiously glancing around the office thinking “HOLY HELL, I AM IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE TALKING TO THE PRIME MINISTER”. You know, but that’s cool because I often do that.

More photos, the PM recorded something for his website with Sarah while Kate and I sat on the couch and watched (all the stuff about him being high tech is not an act, he seriously does get twitter and online etc) and we chatted a bit more about young people and how he likes the way they’re so direct and not intimidated by politicians or media.

One politician who is not intimidating but utterly inspiring is Kate Ellis. Seriously. She is ridiculously smart, funny and beautiful. I’m sure she’s also kind to animals and helps little old ladies across the street. She’s that perfect. And the beautiful part doesn’t matter, I know, but she is and she wears it with such nonchalance. If I were a man, I would seriously try to marry her I think. Instead, I’ll have to wait until she is ready to be Prime Minister so I can vote for her. She gives politicians a good name.

Have I gushed enough?
OK, moving on.

Then it was time to leave for our press conference where I had to stand in front of the other members of the advisory group and all the kids we’d spoken to earlier that morning and give my speech to the media – of which there would have been about 60.

Cameras, tape recorders, film crews, journalists. Me, a lecturn and a printout of my speech which I should have practiced about 100 more times.

Kate looked on and I kicked things off spectacularly well by referrring to her as the “The Minister for Youth, Sport and Child Care, the Honorary Kate Ellis”. Was meant to be “Honorable”. And we’re away!!!

I could read my speech which was a relief but I still stumbled a few times and after a while, I noticed my mind wandering off. It was a bit out-of-body and I kept having to pull my concentration back to the moment.

Afterwards, I worried that I sounded a bit shouty and angry. I hope I didn’t. What I felt was passionate. Hopefully that came across.

There was another incredible speech by Dani from The Butterfly Foundation who spoke about her own personal battle with body image. I’m going to post that separately later as a guest post if she agrees.

Then Kate made her speech, accepted the report and invited the assembled media to ask some questions. There were a few different ones addressed to Kate and to me and to Sarah and then this doozy from a female reporter:

“Minister, do you think this report might have more credibility if it were being fronted by three plus-sized people instead of you, Sarah and Mia?”

Kate stepped straight in to bat that one away by noting that the Body Image Advisory Group members had been chosen based on their experience and commitment to the issue of body image, not based on how they looked. Duh.

Touche.

Then there were a few questions to Sarah about her Women’s Weekly cover. We’d spoken about that before the press conference and Sarah gave me the background. The Women’s Weekly approached her about an interview and photo shoot a while back and she agreed on the proviso that the images not be retouched.

I love that she did that. The magazine pushed back, asked her if she was SURE that she wanted to do it (sure, are you SURE) but she was adamant. Sarah feels strongly about the need for more realistic images of women being published in the media, particularly magazines, and as she rightly points out, it’s not just about body shape but also about aging. She is a woman in her thirties with laugh lines and sun spots and freckles and pigmentation and she wants to be depicted that way. There’s nothing wrong with it, she insists and she’s right.

All the way through the process she said people kept coming back to see if she was still OK with it. ‘You can see the folds in the skin on your neck!’ they said. So what, she replied. I have skin on my neck. It’s a neck.

She had one more stipulation. The mag’s editor had to run her own editor’s photo un-retouched. Which she did. The results, I think, are magnificent. It’s a bit hard to tell online but if you have the chance to see a real copy of the magazine, take a look. And if you like what you see, BUY IT.

As News Ltd reports…

The best way for us to make the magazine, advertising and fashion industries sit up and take notice is by supporting them when they do the right thing. The editor of the Women’s Weekly has refused to commit to running future covers without air-brushing. No doubt she wants to see how this one will sell first. I hope it sells its bloody socks off.

After a quick lunch in a parliamentary dining room, I did a bunch more interviews and headed to the airport (no Witchery at Canberra airport, not a bad thing because there was no room in my luggage) and back home in time to see the kids and eat Thai takeaway in front of the TV in my pyjamas.

Back to real life. If it wasn’t for the youtube proof, I could have dreamed it….

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