Media and Body Image
Every time you turn on the TV, open a magazine, or go to the mall we are bombarded with media's perception of beauty. The constant reminder to be thinner, loose 30lbs, start this diet today and jump on a new one next week. This constant ever changing cycle can really put a strain on the way young women view their bodies and overall appearance. In a sense it is very sad.
As a health educator it is our job to teach girls from a young age that they are beautiful no matter what society says. We can also start teaching at an early age healthy eating habits. Even going as far as having work shops that come in and teach children how to cook health meals that don't involve a stove or oven that way they can make it themselves and not have to rely on their parents, due to the fact that parents aren't always the best example.
As far as the media goes I think it will be a long time before we see a significant change how they portray women and beauty. As apposed to ten years a go I do think we see more minorities in TV shows and commercials, but I also think that they do not depict the overall image of certain races. Hopefully in the next twenty years more campaigns on magazines will say" Love The Body You're In" instead of "Drop Ten in Five Days."
I completely agree with what you're saying. With all the media we are exposed to it's hard to see all these ways to flatten, tone, or lose something it's hard to love the body that you have. I really would love for a magazine to say something like "You're only given one body, LOVE it!". But I agree that it's probably going to take a while for it to get that way.
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ReplyDeleteHi Shannon,
DeleteI definitely agree that we should teach young girls to love their bodies because all shapes are unique and beautiful. If we can provide more empowerment to young girls about loving their bodies, I believe they are more likely to carry out a stronger confidence about the way they look as they get older. I like that you mention that we should teach our young girls healthy eating habits. It is important to love the way we look, but we also have to know how to take care of our bodies. I honestly feel as though the pressure to have a “perfect” body is going to be even more intense in the future. It seems to me like people keep setting the bar higher and higher for perfection.
SHANNON, I AGREE WITH YOU THAT IT WILL BE SEVERAL YEARS MAYBE DECADES BEFORE THE MEDIA FULLY ACCEPTS THE BEAUTY IN OUR DIVERSITY. WE ARE THE HUMAN RACE, WE ARE NOT ALL EQUAL IN SKIN COLOR, WEIGHT, HEIGHT, AND BODY COMPOSITION. IF WE WERE THEN WE WOULD NOT BE HUMANS, INSTEAD WE WOULD BE ROBOTS. WE ARE HUMANS, HUMANITY, ALL THE COLORS OF THE RAINBOW MESHED INTO ONE RACE CALLED HUMAN'S. THAT IS WHAT MAKES US UNIQUE EVEN DOWN TO OUR DNA; NO TWO DNA IS IDENTICAL, EVEN IN TWINS. THEN WHY IS THE MEDIA TRYING TO CREATE A ONE STANDARD FITS ALL KIND OF SYSTEM. I ENJOYED READING YOUR BLOG POST AND AGREE WITH YOUR STANCE.
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