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The Reading Room
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| Sexy and
silenced By Dawn Morgan, Creative Loafing (Tampa, Florida) March 19, 2008 The glossy graphic designs that hang on the gallery walls at the Art Institute of Tampa are familiar -- or at least the faces are. The pop singer Gwen Stefani poses in a wet, clingy white blouse, soaked in her namesake fragrance. R&B star Eve vamps for the camera in a skinny black tie, red MAC lipstick and not much else: Minuscule text on the side of the image asks for money to fund AIDS/HIV research. Both are advertisements pulled from national teen magazines by local teen girls who decided they were promoting unrealistic and unhealthy body images. Not to mention totally grody. For the last several years, Argosy University and the Art Institute of Tampa have teamed up with the nonprofit Ophelia Project to raise awareness for National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, which runs the last week of February. Nikki Stokes, director of community programs for the Ophelia Project, organized last year's "be comfortable in your own genes" campaign, which produced an intergenerational photo exhibit of women in jeans. But this year, the high-school girls in Ophelia's teen leadership program, known as Teen Ambassadors, looked outside themselves -- to advertising and the 3,000 images the average American sees every day. They did not like what they saw. Click here to read the entire aricle. |
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A company's ugly contradiction By Michelle Gillett, Boston Globe It only lasts a minute, but "Onslaught," a video
released last month on Unilever's "Dove Campaign for Real Beauty"
website, is powerful and disturbing. A little girl looks directly into
the camera. She has red hair and blue eyes and looks as pure as the bar
of Dove soap I wash with every day. As the soundtrack plays "Here It Comes," the camera cuts to a rapid succession of images she and all of us are bombarded with daily: model-thin women in underwear; women with unnatural curves; women weighing themselves; women shrinking and expanding as they diet and purge and nip and tuck; body parts scored with black marker indicating where they will be carved for cosmetic surgery; needles being plunged into skin to plump and smooth it; food portions, large and small; women being told how to become "younger, taller, lighter, firmer, thinner, softer." For the past three years, Dove's ad campaign has professed the company's commitment to making real changes in the ways women and girls perceive and embrace beauty. Unilever's videos, including "Real Women, Real Curves" and the award-winning "Evolution," which shows how technology and makeup can transform a plain Jane into a billboard babe, all counter the beauty industry's stereotype of physical perfection. But the launching of "Onslaught," the most recent of Unilever's efforts to foster self-esteem, has also launched a controversy about the sincerity of its commitment to "real beauty." The video has been posted on popular Internet sites like YouTube, where it has been viewed more than 750,000 times. |
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| A booze
buzz for teenyboppers? Anheuser-Busch product so adorable it draws fire from alcohol abuse camp By Kari Huus, MSNBC April 3, 2007 With prom season and all its attendant hazards around the corner, some law enforcers and health advocates are adding one more cause for parents to worry — a new alcoholic beverage called Spykes that is sized, flavored and priced in a way that critics say is aimed at teens. Spykes, made by Anheuser-Busch, is a malt beverage with 12 percent alcohol content — about the same as wine. It comes in mango, lime, melon and chocolate flavors and is infused with caffeine as well as the herbs ginseng and guarana. Sold in 2-ounce bottles that go for 75 cents to a dollar apiece, Spykes “gives kick to your beer, flavor to your drink, and is a perfect shot,” according to the promotional Web site, www.spykeme.com . It’s also cute — about the size of a nail polish bottle — so it can easily slip into the tiniest clutch purse or tuxedo pocket. “It’s the perfect drink for a child,” lamented Judi Vining, coordinator of the Coalition to Prevent Underage Drinking in Long Beach, N.Y. She has started a campaign to alert parents and law enforcers in her area, and persuade retailers not to carry the product. “Prom season and graduation season are coming up,” said Vining, who notes how easy it would be to conceal Spykes. “It’s scary. We don’t want to see people die.” Anheuser-Busch rejects the criticism, saying Spykes is merely its response to “contemporary adult consumers” who it says are “looking for innovative alcohol beverages to match their active lifestyles.” The company’s communications office said no one was available to be interviewed but supplied written comments attributed to vice president of consumer affairs, John Kaestner. Click here to read the entire article. |
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| Women of
All Sizes Feel Badly about their Bodies after Seeing Models Study finds body dissatisfaction across the board after viewing magazine ads March 26, 2007 Contact: Jennifer Faddis Sr. Information Specialist 573-882-6217 faddisj@missouri.edu COLUMBIA, Mo. - The rail-thin blonde bombshell on the cover of a magazine makes all women feel badly about their own bodies despite the size, shape, height or age of the viewers. A new University of Missouri-Columbia study found that all women were equally and negatively affected after viewing pictures of models in magazine ads for just three minutes. "Surprisingly, we found that weight was not a factor. Viewing these pictures was just bad for everyone," said Laurie Mintz, associate professor of education, school and counseling psychology in the MU College of Education. "It had been thought that women who are heavier feel worse than a thinner woman after viewing pictures of the thin ideal in the mass media. The study results do not support that theory." The study measured how 81 women felt about themselves, from their body weight to their hair, and then exposed some of them to neutral images, while others viewed models in magazine ads for one to three minutes. The women were evaluated after seeing the images, and in all cases, the women who viewed the models reported a drop in their level of satisfaction with their own bodies. The study suggests that the majority of women would benefit from interventions aimed at decreasing the effects of the media, regardless of weight. Mintz said past interventions have targeted specific groups of women, such as those with pre-existing eating and body-image concerns, but this study suggests that reducing the acceptance of mass media images of women and trying to stop the social comparison process is important for helping all women. "Most women do not go to a counselor for advice; they look to Seventeen or Glamour magazine instead," Mintz said. "These unrealistic images of women, who are often airbrushed or partially computer generated, have a detrimental impact on women and how they feel about themselves." The study - "Predictors of Media Effects on Body Dissatisfaction in European American Women" - was published in this month's Sex Roles: A Journal of Research. |
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| Kaiser
Study: Tweens See Most Food Ads By John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable March 28, 2007 Kids 8-12-years old see an average 21 food
ads a day--more than 7,600 a year--most of which are for candy and
snacks (34%), cereal (28%), and fast food (10%). Teenagers are next at
at 17 a day or about 6,000 a year. |
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Feminists Who Changed America, 1963-1975 Kilbourne is profiled in the book, Feminists Who Changed America, 1963-1975 which presents biographies of 2,200 women and men whose successful actions created the modern women's movement. Editor Barbara J. Love headed the massive project that assembled and edited the biographies, in partnership with Veteran Feminists of America, a non-profit organization created to document the "Second Wave" movement and motivate younger generations. "The foremost criterion for selection in the book was being a changemaker," Love explained. Historian Nancy F. Cott, who wrote the book's foreword, says its biographees "compelled the rest of the world to change perspective and ... to see things through women's eyes...What had been unspeakable now had to be heard." Back cover quotes:
Feminists Who
Changed America, 1963-1975 is available for $80 in hard
cover at bookstores or by phoning 800-621-2736. Editor
Barbara J. Love may be reached at bjlove@msn.com."This will be the basic text on American feminists of the late 20th century." -- Author Kate Millett "No home, library, or school is complete without this guide to the women who looked at the world as if everybody mattered, and so began a revolution." -- Gloria Steinem "This is what a movement looks like, and these women are why our movement succeeded." -- Susan Brownmiller "The tenacious men and women whose lives are celebrated here led the way to a social revolution that changed the role of women forever." -- U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer |
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--Harriet Lerner, Ph.D., author of The Dance of Anger Brené Brown has written an insightful and informative study of a subject that leaves many women feeling trapped and powerless. Her analysis of how women are often caught in shame, is in itself liberating, and her thoughtful suggestions will help readers continue to free themselves from emotional debilitation in ways they may not even realize are possible. I Thought It Was Just Me can be a doorway to freedom and self-esteem for many, many readers. -- Martha Beck, Ph.D., columnist, O, The Oprah Magazine, and author of Finding Your Own Northstar This is an important and inspiring book that offers understanding and validation to the painful feelings that come with the beliefs that we are not good enough or we should be different than who we are. Brené Brown walks us on a path that releases the shackles of inadequacy and leads us to embracing our authentic selves.--Claudia Black, Ph.D., author of It Will Never Happen To Me Brené Brown’s ability to explore shame and resilience with humor, vulnerability and honesty is both uplifting and liberating. If we want to change our lives, our relationships or even the world, we must start by understanding and overcoming the shame that keeps us silent. This important and hopeful book offers a bold new perspective on the power of telling our stories. --Professor Jody Williams, 1997 Nobel Peace Prize Recipient International Campaign to Ban Landmines Shame is insidious not just because it’s isolating, but because we don’t speak about it. Once we decide that something about us is hideously unacceptable—be it our looks, sexuality, money, family, age, background or behavior—shame makes us feel that it’s also unspeakable. Brené Brown excavates the sources of this silencing and exposes them to air, light and language, where shame cannot thrive. Then, she helps us transform this debilitating emotion into a source of knowledge, power and strength. --Dalma Heyn, MSW, author of The Erotic Silence of the American Wife From Publishers Weekly University of Houston researcher and social worker Brown believes shame underlies the spread of depression, anxiety, eating disorders and much more, and drawing on a study of hundreds of women, she constructs a method for overcoming it. Brown defines shame as "the intensely painful feeling or experience of believing we are flawed and therefore unworthy of acceptance and belonging" and believes its spread has been created by conflicting and competing expectations about who women should be. Women feel shame about their appearance, about motherhood, family, money/work, health, stereotypes and trauma. Brown quotes liberally from the women she has studied and, most enlighteningly, gives examples from her own experiences juggling motherhood, career and her social life. These revelations underscore her belief in the importance of exposing shame and, through empathy, helping oneself and others move past it. She underscores the need to practice critical awareness, i.e., understanding the social forces that create shame in us can help us fight the sense of shame. Thus, Brown presents a spirited attack on the media and the beauty industry for presenting unrealistic images of women. Directing readers to focus on personal growth as opposed to unattainable perfection, Brown urges them to practice shame-resilience skills and teach them to their children. (Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. |
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Campaign for Real Beauty - Evolution Film Dove's self-esteem awareness campaign produced a film about the transformation of a model into a billboard advertisement. Click here to see the film. |
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| WIMN’s Words: News, media analysis and action alerts from Women In Media & News When we launched WIMN’s Voices: A Group Blog on Women, Media, AND… in April, 2006, we had ambitious goals and broad scope, but just under 8,000 readers. Today, WIMN's Voices has become a must-read, go-to blog on women and the media for more than 38,500 readers each month. |
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Article by Jean: Jesus is a brand of jeans New Internationalist Ads gleam with promises of transformation and transcendence – via material objects. Jean Kilbourne decodes this gigantic propaganda effort. A recent ad for Thule car-rack systems features a child in the backseat of a car, seatbelt on. Next to the child, assorted sporting gear is carefully strapped into a child’s carseat. The headline says: ‘We Know What Matters to You.’ In case one misses the point, further copy adds: ‘Your gear is a priority.’ Another ad features an attractive young couple in bed. The man is on top of the woman, presumably making love to her. However, her face is completely covered by a magazine, open to a double-page photo of a car. The man is gazing passionately at the car. The copy reads, ‘The ultimate attraction.’ These ads are meant to be funny. Taken individually, I suppose they might seem amusing or, at worst, tasteless. As someone who has studied ads for a long time, however, I see them as part of a pattern: just two of many ads that state or imply that products are more important than people. Ads have long promised us a better relationship via a product: buy this and you will be loved. But more recently they have gone beyond that proposition to promise us a relationship with the product itself: buy this and it will love you. The product is not so much the means to an end, as the end itself. |
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| New Book:
The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids. Madeline Levine. New York: HarperCollins, 2006. |
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Media Education Foundation handouts: MEF, producer and distributor of educational videos about media including Jean's films, provides several useful media literacy handouts. Below are links to a handful of topics, all in PDF requiring Adobe Acrobat Reader. For additional materials, visit MEF's website at www.mediaed.org 10 Reasons Why Media Education Matters
Poster (8"x11") |
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Photo Touchup Demonstration: Click here for an interesting Flash website demonstrating the visual effects of magazine photo touchups. The fake magazine, called Metropolitan, was crated by G!rlpower, an organization supported by the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs in Sweden. |
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Updated PIRE Resource: Comparison of Youth Drinking Rates and Problems in U.S. vs. Those in Europe Do European young people drink less and experience fewer problems than their American counterparts? Until recently data did not exist to easily answer this question. Researchers from the Prevention Research Center (PRC) of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) gathered date from numerous European countries, examining rates of alcohol use and alcohol abuse. The information included in this report (.pdf file requiring Adobe Acrobat) assists prevention practitioners and others in debunking the myth that Americans, who are legally not able to drink until age 21, drink at a rate and experience more alcohol problems than their European peers. It offers support to the age 21 drinking laws, already found to have saved thousands of lives among US youth. Data demonstrate that both rates and frequency of drinking among European youth are higher than in the US Additionally, about half of the European countries surveyed had higher rates of intoxication among their youth. For more information, visit the Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center (UDETC) Web site. |
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Shame is a
profoundly debilitating emotion. It drives our fears of not being good
enough. We can learn to feel shame about anything that is real about us
--- our shape, our accent, our financial situation, our wrinkles, our
size, our illness, or how we spend our day. I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST ME is
an urgent and compelling invitation to examine our struggles with shame
and to learn valuable tools to become our best, most authentic selves.
Grounded in exceptional scholarship and filled with inspiring stories,
this is one of those rare books that has the potential to turn lives
around.