Endangered Species Summit: Our Generation and Body Image
The Endangered Species Summit – an international movement focused on improving the way women around the world view and treat their bodies, in the media and beyond – took place last month. There were branches in London, Buenos Aires, Melbourne, Sao Paul and New York. I was lucky enough to be involved with the New York branch thanks to the incomparable Courtney Martin, who is a goddess (and who flawlessly planned the NYC summit). I had the daunting task of representing our generation on the Intergenerational Panel, which also included such amazing women as Jean Kilbourne, Erica Watson and Rachel Simmons. So, you know. No pressure or anything.
Needless to say, it was an incredible experience, but more than talking about my impressions, I figured I’d share …
In outrage, my mum showed me an article in UK newspaper The Evening Standard and told me to read it. More or less, after finishing the article, I was in shock. I couldn’t believe what I had just read. What was it about, you ask? Well, if you have been alive on Twitter over the past week, the online universe has blown up over one certain former Big Brother contestant, Kenneth Tong.
Young, impressionable girls already have enough pressure on them as it is when it comes to their bodies and being deemed ‘beautiful’ and ‘attractive’ in the eyes of society, but when Kenneth Tong, with his idea of introducing a ‘Size-Zero Pill,’ fires attack after attack, claiming that girls who aren’t a size-zero are “disgusting,” and, “to be skinny …
On Thursday, November 11, 2010, I took back the night. Joined by a small group of passionate college women, I marched across my campus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to protest the perpetuation of sexual violence against women and to raise awareness regarding the rising seriousness of this issue on college campuses. Proudly walking down busy Franklin Street, we blew rape whistles, chanted verses that asserted our rights to safety at all times, and, most importantly, we walked into the night without fear. For the first time in a while, I wasn’t looking over my shoulder. I didn’t have to carry a can of pepper spray, get out my cell phone and pretend to be talking to my mom, or avoid streets on which I ordinarily …
Originally embedded in Rose M’s post, this video about Dr. Robyn Silverman’s book Good Girls Don’t Get Fat: How Weight Obsession is Messing Up Our Girls & How We Can Help Them Thrive Despite It should not be missed.
Anorexia and Bulimia In Our Culture: Unspoken Questions
There isn’t exactly a “name” for this topic so, here, i’ll try to spell it out for you. It’s a topic that affects me personally and deeply, but also something that is very rarely talked about in the eating disorder community (both on blogs & in treatment or with mental health professionals, and even with friends). Is Anorexia Nervosa a more serious, deadly, scary, real, or traumatic illness than Bulimia Nervosa or ED-NOS?
I’d be interested in what people’s gut-reactions are to this question.
I don’t mean the well-formulated answers that people think of, I mean the feeling that comes, the spark of thought that enters the brain or heart when this question is posed. (or when it is presented to your face- is there an image that comes to mind …
At some point in recent history the stance of “I Hate My Body” became a public statement encompassing an entire gender rather than a private thought held by few on particularly bad days. Somewhere along the line, women have lost control of their bodies in the name of society’s glamorization and expectation of self-deprecation. But, as I have learned over the years, loving your body is possible, even for the most self-loathing of us all.
Freshman year was a difficult one for me (a unique story, I know). Though I had been aware of my body in middle school and had brief yet unfortunate love affairs with both my hair straightener and Abercrombie and Fitch in attempts to make my body look the way I thought it should, I had …
I honestly don’t think that the message Cover Girl Culture promotes can EVER be told to girls (and boys) of my generation too much. We need to start combating the seriously messed up body standards our culture holds us to, and we need to start NOW.
Cover Girl Culture: Awakening the Media Generationis an award winning feature length documentary. From posing in pages of magazines to exposing magazines comes documentary filmmaker Nicole Clark.A former Elite International fashion model turned champion for young girls and their self-esteem, Nicole gets in the face of the media and advertisers calling for responsible media for our youth!We must act now to save an endangered species – empowered girls and young women!
Cover Girl Culture explores how the worlds of fashion, modeling, advertising and celebrity impact our teens and young women. Who sets today’s standards for beauty and how are these standards affecting individuals and society? Who is responsible? Are there ways this can be changed? If so, who can/will change it?
Shocking interviews with fashion editors from major NY magazines. Eye opening interviews with top agents, designers, models, advertisers and many more. An important issue addressed is the sexualization of young girls in the media/advertising. Most importantly it focuses on SOLUTIONS. (this film took 4 yrs to complete)
Saturday Vids: Feminist Attack on Snack Factory’s Pretzels
In case you haven’t already seen Snack Factory’s disgusting new ad for their “thin” pretzel crisps, have a gander:
Disgusting, right? Well, thankfully, one guy decided to fight back with creativity and the facts (you CAN be too thin):
I love many things about this video. Primarily, that somebody responded intelligently to these ads and is attempting to raise awareness in the face of the media clearly doing their best to dispel the truth about eating disorders. I also love that a guy did this – unreasonably high body image standards in our culture AFFECT MEN and I’m so happy this guy is raising awareness on that front – both in the facts he presented and just the basic fact that HE took action.
