Can somebody please explain to me why we need a program ” trying to get girls to think differently about their bodies through multimedia presentations around the country” and “a campaign that encourages girls to make their dreams come true while maintaining a healthy lifestyle”? Why not a program and a campaign that promote these goals among people, irrespective of their gender?
The very existence of such a campaign signals that this is and should be a women’s problem. How is this not detrimental to women?
The founders also know that girls look to television, advertisements and the pages of fashion magazines to figure out what beautiful looks like, so they’re joining the industry itself to try and make a difference instead of trying to get girls to stop what they’ve been doing for decades.
And where exactly do boys find their ideas of beauty? Aren’t those same TV shows and ads filled with ripped, perfectly muscular men with no chest hair and unattainably perfect figures?
Can we just stop singling out women as people who need to be protected from the bad, horrible media at all costs? A thousand TV shows and glossy magazines do not do the kind of damage to women that is inflicted by this relentless insistence that we are perennial victims who need some guy to come and save us by teaching us how to relate to our own bodies.
Try this: http://feminema.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/marion-cotillards-advice-to-women/
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Thank you so much, dear reader, for leaving this link. It’s hilarious. You brightened up my night after my small family emergency.
This is why I love blogging.
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I know women who forbid their teenage sons from watching MTV so that they will not learn to “objectify” women. I totally do not understand this.
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That sounds very insane to me. Whenever anybody starts on the “I had a perfectly good kid and then the MTV spoiled him”, I know that this is a person who is very very clueless.
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I’m a new reader here, first comment 😀 I have to say I agree, I don’t believe that the media has that much influence on girls and self-esteem, the parents are just scapegoating the media so they won’t look like screwups 😀 My younger brother is a huge fan of games like Call of Duty Black Ops and Mortal Kombat and Grand Theft Auto and he’s certainly not a criminal or violent at all, he just likes them. MTV sucks, but banning it isn’t the right idea. Keep up the good work 🙂
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Thank you for commenting, Vanessa! My husband also loves GTA4 and Call of Duty. And this doesn’t change the fact that he is a kind. gentle, intellectual person. If we start judging people by what they play or the channels we watch, what will we say about me, a hardcore Dr. Phil fan? 🙂 🙂
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Awesome 🙂 If people were to look at my MP3 player they would think I was a schizophrenic, I like everything except rap 😀 That’s why I don’t believe in boycotts, what you like has nothing to do with your personality, I like horror films and I’m nonviolent 😀 Reckon watching a horror film or playing a game is a good cathartic once in a while 😉
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You are absolutely right about the therapeutic qualities of violent games or art.
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