Yesterday, my S.F. Bay area colleague Jennifer Berger, executive director of About-Face was joined by Helen Grieco (Clinical Psychologist, executive director, Ca. N.O.W.) and a youth roundtable panel on KGO/ABC7 tv to discuss body image and the potential damaging effects mass media can have on our sense of self.
Though it’s only airing regionally, (and I was in L.A. for it, dangit!) I’m hoping there will be video clips posted soon, either on the new About Face blog or on the station’s show site, Beyond the Headlines with Cheryl Jennings.
I’ll be doing a follow-up on this one for sure, since it’s near and dear to my research with our own documentary film “Body Blitz: Media, Shaping Youth” holding a camera up to the trickle down impact of media and marketing messages finding their way onto America’s K-5 playgrounds.
A youth panel discussed cosmetic surgery, pressures from the media, and body image as kids each year take more and more drastic measures to achieve a very limited ideal of what constitutes ‘beauty.’ The youth roundtable discussed appearance based expectations, eating habits, stress factors and self-critical assessments influenced by peers, parents, and pop culture.
Which reminds me…I still need to do a report on our own roundtable of body image tweens who reacted to S.Y. Board Advisor Audrey Brashich’s blog and book, “All Made Up,” (A Girl’s Guide to Seeing Through Celebrity Hype and Celebrating Real Beauty). We’re hoping our girls will be able to pop in on the authors in 2008 when Audrey joins Courtney Macavinta of Respect Rx on the California “Girl’s Guide to Getting REAL Tour.” Along these lines, Courtney (also ambassador for the stellar organization, Girls for A Change) reminds us:
* 92% of teen girls would like to change something about the way they look.
* 86% of the approx. 10 million American girls and women who suffer from an eating disorder report the onset of their condition by age 20.
* 74% of girls say they are under pressure to please everyone.
* Girls don’t have to let unrealistic ideals get them down…They can ‘get REAL’ instead…
Not an easy task in our current media/marketing messaging culture to be sure…
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