Made In Our Image, our evening of debate, discussion and performance on the subjects of body-image, pornography and young people, took place earlier this year (2016). Now that the dust has settled we evaluate the evening and ask ourselves, ‘what did we all learn?’

I’m just off to an event about – erm – porn. Where? Oh – erm – in a church.

Given the sort of explanations they might have found themselves giving, we were enormously encouraged by the number of people (over 150 of them) who attended Made In Our Image. Encouraged because they illustrated just how much this community cares about young people in and around Wokingham. This audience was  prepared to give up a Friday evening to tackle difficult issues of body image and pornography which, they recognised, are gnawing away at young people’s self-esteem and relationships.

The first thing we learned, then. Wokingham cares.

It’s not often (if ever) a subject that you are likely to hear discussed in church, so it was genuinely an extra-ordinary experience to be sitting at the back of a chapel listening to a debate about pornography. I say church, but actually the space was transformed in usual Soulscape style with soft lighting, candles, sticky notepads and pens, relaxed cafe-style seating and a stage for the performance of Object. It was this performance that kicked off the evening and opened up the whole can of worms for discussion.

‘We wondered, how would an adult audience respond to Object?’

‘Usually we perform Object to year 10 pupils,’ one of the actors said afterwards, ‘so it was quite a challenge knowing that this audience would include parents, grandparents and professionals. The script draws heavily on the voices and experiences of young people themselves which is why it speaks to them, but we did wonder how well it would be received by a wider audience.’

They needn’t have worried. There was a solid applause from this adult audience. I had the impression that this was  not only for the performances, though they were very good, but also out of genuine appreciation for the courage required to drag  into the light subjects that would much prefer to remain comfortably under the carpet.

We learned that people are willing to see these issues from the perspectives of young people.

Soulscape events usually involve cake. And so it was on this occasion. While they sampled perfect multicoloured Soulscape cup-cakes, the audience were then able to discuss what they had seen and browse relevant articles before returning to hear guest speaker Joanna Jepson.

Joanna shared her own experience as a young woman who’s journey through adolescence had been negatively affected by body image issues. She spoke with passion about the way the fashion industry perpetuates attitudes and generates images that damage self esteem and encourage eating disorders. She talked about the need for young people to be able to accept and love themselves for who they are. Her message was that there has to be a sea change, and that it has to begin with us.

We learned that we all have a part to play in challenging the cultural atmosphere that blights young people’s lives.

Police Constable Les ………….. then talked about the role that our regional police force plays in helping to steer young people through some of the dangers associated with premature sexualisation and body image, in particular the issue of sexting. Les reminded us that young people found to have child pornography (sexual image involving under 18’s) on their phone may be prosecuted. With the current trend among young people to send nude photos of themselves to each other this is a serious matter. Les reminded parents that whoever pays for their children’s phone contracts can also be pursued.

Thames Valley Police have created a humorous and widely viewed animation that sets the record straight about sexual consent. If you haven’t seen it already, it’s definitely worth a look: http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/crime-prevention/keeping-safe/consent-is-everything.htm