I am revamping my talk called Body Image and You! which I have been giving to Middle Schools,High Schools and summer camps since 2002. This talk originally started as poster boards depicting magazine images and beauty myths, then evolved to a Power Point and now simply discussion with the magic of (so easily accessible!) online show and tell. The goal of Body Image and You! is to promote positive body image in students and to also question the media and social stereotypes of beauty.
In my search for updating my information here are some Body Image Links I would like to share.
Love Your Body: (loveyourbody.nowfoundation.org)
This website has a eye opening section on offensive Body Image ads. There is commentary under each of the negative ads explaining why they are offensive to women. I love that these negative ads are balanced with a page of positive ones. What a great way to discuss the Media in relation to women’s perception of themselves especially with highschool, middle schoolers and parents! http://loveyourbody.nowfoundation.org/offensiveads.html
http://loveyourbody.nowfoundation.org/positiveads.html
This site also has a really good down loadable slide or PDF of
“The ABCs and Ds of Commercial Images of Women”.
Campaign for Real Beauty (www.campaign for realbeauty.com)
In 2004 Dove launched it’s Campaign “Real Beauty”- I remember it well as I was looking for good content for my talks at that time and was very excited to find it. This campaign features real women, not models, advertising Dove’s firming cream. The advertisements focus on promoting real, natural beauty, in an effort to offset the unrealistically thin and unhealthy archetypal images associated with modelling. Now 7 years later the website has expanded to include a The Dove Self Esteem Toolkit for parents and students full of Conversation Starters, Impactful Activitie and In Depth Guides and Tools. I am so impressed I am listing the Body Image Guides here! THEY ARE EXCELLENT!
Activity Guides for Moms of Girls ages 8-11 years (36 pages)
Activity Guides for Girls ages 11-16 years (28 pages)
Youth Leaders Guide for Girls ages 10-14 (58 pages).
http://content.dove.us/selfesteemweekend/pdfs/DSEF%20Activity%20Guide%20for%20Mothers.pdf
Body Bliss Central (www.bodyblisscentral.com)
Contains Body a blog written by an English women “Sandy”. She asks how do we change the women hating culture of body image? From media, advertising even politics and education!
One of my favorite posts for a shot of reality is on how “Attitude is Everything!”: http://bodyblisscentral.com/your-attitude-your-body-image.
More to Me (www.moretome.org)
Take action with this online forum to share your experiences in areas of life, from childbirth to mental illness to immigration.Included is an online petition, which you can sign electronically and use your voice to convince law makers that state and federal funding is needed for these issues.
http://www.uhs.uga.edu/everybody/index.html
Finally a few VIDEOS!