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![Screen shot 2012 01 11 at 11.23.04 AM1 300x169 How to Improve Your Daughters Self Esteem in Two Minutes [VIDEO]](http://cdn.babble.com/strollerderby/files/2012/01/Screen-shot-2012-01-11-at-11.23.04-AM1.png "Still from \"Fotoshop by Adobé\" by Jesse Rosten")
Still from "Fotoshop by Adobé" by Jesse Rosten
Tired of the onslaught of unrealistic images that form the bulk of our children’s media diets? Here’s some new ammo: a video that simply and succinctly distills the entire problem into two minutes. The brilliant video is a satirical TV commercial for an amazing new product, offering everyone the opportunity to achieve the kind of perfection we see in celebrities and models. The miracle product can smooth out blemishes and wrinkles, erase years and pounds, and even change the color of your hair or skin.
What is this magical elixir?
Photoshop. For obvious legal reasons, the video uses an F instead of a Ph. But the message comes through loud and clear. “This commercial isn’t real and neither are society’s standards of beauty.” I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more useful tool to show children how the images of women they see are figments of the digital imagination. Watch it with your kids and explain the absurdity of comparing yourself to something that doesn’t exist. And while you’re at it, take down the whole damn beauty myth — the faux commercial format provides ample opportunity … especially if you hold out for the last line. Continue reading »
One of the Many Tummy That Were Shared
XOJane.com had a simple request: they asked readers to share candid photographs of their stomachs. And the results? They were stunning.
This collection of images of “real” women’s stomachs is poignant, powerful and very personal. There are flat tummies, bloated tummies, and scared tummies. Tummies of all shapes and sizes. But what’s really notable isn’t the wide range of bellies, but the pure honesty that comes from sharing such a personal part of one’s body. A part which many women, especially those who have carried babies in their belly, aren’t usually prone to show off.
The ones most moved by the experiment in belly baring? Continue reading »
It doesn’t surprise me that teens and tweens compare their bodies to the images they see on TV… I mean, adults do it for heaven’s sake. And naturally, the images are everywhere. But the idea that the messages of healthy living for our kids — of exercising and making conscious food choices — are being drowned out by quick fixes like plastic surgery is more than a little disturbing.
A new study by the Central YMCA found that nearly one in four kids between the ages of 11 and 16 were willing to undergo cosmetic surgery to achieve the look they wanted. ONE IN FOUR.
Somehow the messages of ‘don’t like your body, just change it’ are coming across loud and clear, and the options, like laxatives, steroids and plastic surgery, are front and center. It sounds like we need to be having some different conversations with our kids.
Photo Credit: Ambro, Free DigitalPhotos.net
Looking for a new bedtime story for your preschooler? Keep looking.
And here I was thinking the worst four-letter D-word a 4 year old could utter was Damn. Turns out, I was wrong. (Damn.)
A new book is set to introduce preschoolers to an even more offensive word: Diet.
Maggie Goes On a Diet will be available this fall, and while it’s a book about a 14 year old girl who goes on a diet, Amazon is listing the reading level as appropriate for kids ages 4-8.
If these bras weren't made do you think teen girls would find another way to enlarge their boobs? Of course.
I’ve never needed a padded bra, so maybe I’m not the best person to write about them. If I were so flat-chested that I needed one, I wouldn’t actually wear one because I’ve always wished for a smaller chest since I find them more attractive.
That being said, I have known plenty of girls and women who are desperately self-conscious about having small breasts. Apparently American Eagle knows of the same people because they’re now making a new padded bra and appear to be marketing it directly to teenagers, which, of course, has the panties of some critics all in a bunch.
The “Drew” bra boasts it can enhance breasts by two cup sizes to give a “double whoa” effect. As a result of the marketing efforts, some are crying this is an inappropriate product for kids who are young and impressionable. Me? I say, “Meh.”
Who's to blame to anorexia in kindergarten? The media? The parents?
Women and poor body images are nothing new. But would it surprise you to know that kids as young as 5 are now being treated for eating disorders?
British health authorities are reporting an uptick in the treatment of children ages 5 to 9 with eating disorders such as anorexia. The numbers seem to reflect what’s being called an “alarming” trend of kids “internalizing media images that seem to reward only the thinnest.”
In the United States, the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders says that 42 percent of girls from first to third grade want to be thinner, with 81 percent of 10-year-old saying they fear gaining weight.
But who’s allowing those kids unfiltered access to those images? Continue reading »
Too Perfect?
You know the look. Huge, sparkling eyes peering out from a face that appears human in shape, but not surface. Skin that looks more like a swatch of sandwashed silk than a porous organ. Impossibly flawless. The point, of course, is to convince people that the product advertised in the corner of the page actually produced this velvety fantasy. The reality, however, is that these images only look that way after extensive manipulation of reality: before, during and after the shutter clicks.
Earlier this year, the American Medical Association came out against photoshopped images in advertising and media, saying they “can contribute to unrealistic expectations of appropriate body image – especially among impressionable children and adolescents.” In the UK, Jo Swinson, the MP who is becoming known as a champion of girl’s rights, has been pushing a more proactive agenda on unrealistic advertising images. And she’s just won her first battle.
Two cosmetic ads, featuring smoothed out versions of Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington, have been banned from publication after the Advertising Standards Association deemed them “unrealistic”.
See the other ad after the jump.
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
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