Jane Pratt to fight "Beauty Pressure"?
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Recently I watched the movie Killing Us Softly 4 for a class and was faced with a barrage of images of women revealing it all in the name of... Budweiser.
Most of us have probably seen some advertisement from the recent Dove campaign that spawned this powerful commercial.
As demonstrated in the commercial, there are many influences weighing down our young girls today-- and the vast majority encourage unhealthy weight goals, subservience to patriarchs, and unrealistic, narrowly-defined appearance standards.
Can the media become a tool for encouraging self-esteem, appreciation of your natural body type, and the true realization of equality between men and women? Maybe, but it will be a slow road.
Jane Pratt, of Jane magazine and Sassy magazine fame, has started up yet another journalism venture. And this time, she's employing free lance writers that are still in high school, meaning the content will be age-appropriate and real.
The magazine will come with extensive Web content, something Pratt says she has been interested in for a long time: "It feels like the technology has finally caught up with what I want to do."
Will Pratt achieve a magazine and Web content that actually works to promote the self-esteem and independence of coming generations of tomorrow's female magnates?
Many successful women of today credit Sassy with helping them get to their current positions in society, but getting the good media to stick with our young women is increasingly difficult as the barrage of bad media is accessible from even more sources.
Unfortunately, not much in the write up on Jane Pratt's new ventures speaks directly to changing the way that women of today view themselves and develop their identity. However, with new content coming directly from female high school students, the issues are bound to present themselves. All that is left is to see how well they are addressed.
Video courtesy of Dove, via YouTube.
4 comments:
This is always a great topic in my opinion. I am very interested in the way body image is portrayed in the media. I want to be able to bring attention to the amount of digital enhancement and number of unrealistic images portrayed in the media. The Dove campaigns are a powerful way to get this point across.
I think it will be interesting to see how this magazine does. While I think it's a great idea to have actual high school students writing, I'm not sure how successful it will be. Teens read magazines with celebrities in them because they want to be like them. They want to look like them and wear the same products. Having stories about normal teens just like them may not be appealing enough.
We watched this video in my media class with Lisa Carponelli last year. It sends a great message to how the media is really impacting everyone especially children. The Dove campaigns do a very effective approach at taking on this issue.
I believe the media is a big influence on how women see themselves. Individuals see those super thin girls and wish to be like them. Let me point this out, if you want to be like them, stop eating, but have fun thinking about food all day. The proper way to get self-esteem and feel good in your skin is through happiness.
Post a Comment