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Seven-year-olds going on a diet, anorexics getting younger, teenagers getting breast implants – there is growing evidence that girls are increasingly dissatisfied with their bodies. One school, however, is teaching girls to feel better about their bodies by becoming smart consumers of media.

According to the Academy of Pediatrics, kids see 40,000 commercials every year.

“It’s always skinny women,” says 16-year-old Leigh Myers. “Most of the time they have the perfect hair, the perfect make-up, the perfect clothes.”

That’s why Atlanta Girls’ School offers an elective called “I Love Lip Gloss,” which teaches girls about the influence of advertising.

“I think many times ads simply create a discomfort and an anxiety around how a girl looks or simply feels about herself,” says Elizabeth English, academic dean of Atlanta Girls’ School. “So that in turn, she’s constantly searching for products or ways that will alleviate that discomfort.”

Every day for three weeks, they study how ads affect how they see themselves.

Junior Chaquana Dunton says, “If you’re big and you never see anybody who is big being called beautiful or who is black being called beautiful, you don’t want to be who you are anymore. You want to be what you see being called beautiful.”

17-year-old Brooke Williams says, “It’s telling women that if you are not pretty enough, you are not going to get married and nobody is going to love you.”

“We want them to be able to say, ‘No, I won’t buy this product. I don’t need this product to be happy, to be fulfilled, to be beautiful,’” says English.

She recommends that parents ask their daughters to analyze commercials they see in print and on television and then ask them how they feel about their own bodies.

“Give them an opportunity to talk about it,” says English. “And then, above all, don’t criticize your daughter for how she looks. The messages she gets every day are harsh enough and damaging enough.”

What else can parents do?

Sophomore Amani Edwards suggests, “Maybe its just them saying, ‘Hey, you look beautiful! And you be yourself.’”

What We Need To Know

• Look at television, magazines and other popular culture with your kids, and point out media images and messages that encourage one idea of physical beauty over another.




• Be a role model for your children – by exercising, eating right and helping your kids understand that there is not just one “perfect” body type.




• Be skeptical of any diets – especially crash diets – that your child might want to try.




• Make them aware that gaining weight is normal for any growing child.




• Help your children to be comfortable and confident with themselves as they are – by focusing on their positive characteristics (their personality, their intelligence, their kindness, etc.)

Resources

• MediaWise




• American Academy of Pediatrics




• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

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