Joe Kelly on Eating Disorders, Support, Outreach for Men

Update Apr. 2, 2015 Heads up to DADS and all men with loved ones experiencing an eating disorder: Joe Kelly will be giving his important workshop in Los Altos, CA April 25, 2015. Oct. 12, 2014 Though … [Read more...]

ModCloth Offers a Powerful Pledge Toward Public Health

Aug. 27, 2014 “If you repeat a lie often enough it will be believed” is a truth in itself, since scads of internet sources cite Joseph Goebbles as the originator of that quote despite blurry, (if any) … [Read more...]

Gaming: A Battle Over Anorexia In World of Warcraft

June 7, 2014 This coming week I’m attending the colossal gaming #Gsummit in S.F., a four-figure fee fandango (won in a drawing) that I’m eagerly sweeping my slate for in order to learn from ‘the … [Read more...]

Truth in Advertising: A Bipartisan Body Image Bill Addressing Childrens’ Health

May 3, 2016 Take Part! Seth Matlins gives an update on the status of H.R. 4445, and continues his worthy campaign for children's wellness via this poignant post, "Dear Parents: Victoria's Secret is … [Read more...]

Biggest Loser? Healthy Eating. Weight Loss Is Not Entertainment

May 3, 2016 Update Medical communities and studies on metabolic measures should skew headlines into bold "I told you so" moments given that many have wagged about this show doing 'more harm than good' … [Read more...]

GoDaddy Swaps Sexualization of Women for Objectification of Men

Jan. 27, 2015 Update: Animal Abuse Now? #NoDaddy. Horrific Ad. Sadly, 2015 Go Daddy swaps commodification of bodies for commodification of helpless animals, with a tone deaf 'breeders over shelters' … [Read more...]

Melanie Klein’s Body Collage Work With Teens: Proud to Be Me

Oct. 10, 2013 All this week I’ll be shining the spotlight on “inspiring minds you’ll want to know” in our “All Things Girl” series celebrating the Girl Effect  taking place worldwide this Friday, Oct. … [Read more...]

Olympic Body Image: Talking Points To Get it Right, Fit vs Fiction

Aug. 9, 2016 Rio! This post still applies tenfold in terms of word watching and body image critiques of Olympic athletes! Media Smarts has added some parenting talking tips for boys/girls too! … [Read more...]

Julia Bluhm’s Plea To Curb PhotoShop Sparks Change at Seventeen Mag

July 8, 2012 No secret the 'world according to teen magazines' is abysmal for girls, and we've seen mega-stats, studies and fact sheets about the impact on tweens and teens, (KFF pdf here) but as the … [Read more...]

Boys, Body Image and Sexualization: An Equal Opportunity Destroyer

Aug. 8, 2016 Update More new research shows marketing is responsible for creating body image issues with boys, which I've written about here, and certainly here devoted to the impact of 'bigorexia' on … [Read more...]

Youth in Egypt: Freedom, Phones- And A New World Media Order

Feb 12, 2011 I love editorial cartoons… they’re storytellers in a sound bite, with a wink and nod to profound societal changes and a snappy headline to boot. I use cartoons in media literacy … [Read more...]

A HUGE Breakthrough for TV: Nuance Trumps Vapid Vixens Aplenty

August 12, 2010 In part one and part two of my posts about ABC Family’s Huge premiere, I hoped to see the show evolve from the hope and promise of some stellar scriptwriter ‘attachments’ to actually … [Read more...]

A HUGE Opportunity: Don’t Blow It ABC Family (Pt 1)

June 24, 2010 “An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it.”  ---Bill Bernbach Those timeless words of the venerable ad legend capture the power and potential of … [Read more...]

Body Image: Tips for Teens To Survive the Media Morass

January 21, 2010 Last night I talked about body image to our local high school PTSO with Susan E. James, an LMFT eating disorders specialist and RD/MPH Cindy Stack-Keer from Kaiser Permanente all … [Read more...]

Neda: Iconic, Insta-Media Shifts Us To Visual Story Threads

June 22, 2009 Youth culture is highly visual and iconic, no doubt about it. According to Graham Brown's article, Youth in Iran, about 60% of the population in Iran is under 25, so it's no surprise … [Read more...]

The Oprah Factor: Stop the Yo-Yo Dieting Messages

April 8, 2009 Young women and their moms have been "under the influence" of Oprah longer than you can say “she’s gotta have it.” From cuddly bathrobes to kids' book club picks, when the grand dame of … [Read more...]

Counter-Marketing Thinspiration: Killer Media Cues

Feb. 12, 2009 Media literacy rule number one: Watch for extreme headlines that command attention. I could've gone with 'Fatal Attraction' or any other number of sensationalist eyecatchers. As you can … [Read more...]

America the Beautiful: An “R” Rated Movie You WANT Kids To See

Teens and tweens have heard more raw verbiage on school grounds in any given day than Eve Ensler's little snippet in America the Beautiful that garnered the documentary an ‘R’ rating. … [Read more...]