I am not upset that you disagree that the media is a contributing factor to eating disorders. you're statements about anorexics and bulimics were upsetting to me, yes, as it is something I have dealt with with a friend. But, that is my problem.

And, all i said was that at this point we should just agree to disagree. i never said you weren't entitled to your opinion or that i didn't accept your opinion. i don't accept your opinion to be true.

As to your statements that i should quit complaining about this and do something....

1. Raising awareness about an issue is the first step in doing something about it. And, this post made me realize that there is still a lot of ignorance on the subject.

2. Why do you assume I do not do things about it? i take a very proactive role with my daughters in teaching them, and I do boycott such magazines and regularly write letters editors. It is because of these efforts by many people concerned with this issue that several of the magazines are trying to implement changes.

The quest for the perfect look will make that even perfection will have to be retouch in the near future.

It is sad that we cannot accept who we are and only focus on looks a person is so much more than looks and if i wanna read an article on Jessica Alba on her achievement or whatever else who cares if the pics is not perfect it is just an obsession on the part of the media to show perfection.

Anyway for me the look of the media is not what I prefer I like when it is real not silicone, I like a woman with meat so no skinny bony woman like we see these days, I like a woman that is intelligent and as something to say not the ones we see that smile and giggles and shake their breast and that is all you'll ever hear from them.

Perfection is a myth your only perfect when it is the heart and not the eyes that sees you as perfect.

ok .. fine.. if you boycott it, good for you instead of just taking it..
we could also get into trying to stop other people from printing what they want and reading what they want simply because someone else doesn't agree with them instead of simply not buying them.. but Im just beating it to death now.. it's over.. you can get in the last word now..

Check out Dove campaign for beauty: http://www.youtube.com/user/tpiper

Why would we get into stopping people from reading and writing what they want?

The media doesn't promote an unrealistic portrayal of beauty becasue they believe in it. They do it because it makes money. If people stopped by buying their products because they don't like the advertising they would change it. This isn't a "free speech" issue. I absolutely agree that not buying what they're selling is the answer. However, it will take a large number of consumers to recognize that what they are doing is harmful and to stop buying the products. So, getting the message out there is of the utmost importance. The Dove campaign that is listed in the post above has done a lot towards this effort.

I think it goes beyond just the terrible effect on women, it is a hideous indication of the vanity of the instigated "Hollywood" beauty scene.

If air-brushing is acceptable, then why not just use digital animation completely to create the type of lewd or near-to-it means necessary for the old adage ... "sex sells" ...

I think the industrial machine rolls over human kind like a steam roller until their is an activist group to stand up against the atrocity.

Its sad, but it seems like that is how it gets done in our modern civilization. The corporations keep rolling for more and bigger bucks at any expense, even at the expense, in the case of air-brushing humans, at the expense of reality.

Of course, air-brushing is nothing new. It has went on for decades in photography.

I remember hearing about it in the 1970s.

Photo techniques have been used to enhance photographs for even longer than that... my mother's senior picture from her class of 1944 is still on top of a cabinet at her house. It was basically a black and white photo, but it was enhanced to make her cheeks reddish blush, and her lipstick is red.

Vanity vanity... there is no new thing under the sun.

This thought will blow the mind's of women everywhere... but just the addition of make-up to your face... it is making you into a phony alteration of something you actually are not on a day to day basis.

In effect, you are "air-brushing" your face with make-up every day.

Whew... remember Tammy Faye Baker from the PTL TV show? Yikes, she had so much paint on that barn that she looked like a circus clown.

I suppose I could throw coloring your hair right in here with air-brushing. How many women AND men color their hair to make it into a phony representation of reality?

But its a lot easier to justify portions of acceptable public behavior when it is to your benefit.

So, could I add that social drinking is actually air-brushing our mental attitudes in public places? Then how does alcoholism fit in, sort of like the Tammy Faye Baker of social drinking?

Drug abuse... even more air-brushing of one's mental attitude.




What is amazing, if you really stand back and analyze the falsification of the human being... is just how much phony stuff actually goes on in the normal every day western culture.

Why are humans convinced to be phonies?

I love it, Fear. Is that on television? I hope so. Kudos to Dove.

In my field I've learned that anorexia/bulimia are on the rise with young girls today. They can die from it. It's affecting boys now too. My male cousin suffers from it. There's a little girl I know that won't eat lunch at school because she doesn't want her tummy to get big. She started this in first grade.

The media does play a role in it. I'm glad that Dove did this.
Maybe we'll see more things like this.

Just for the record, I am not discussing vanity and the desire to make oneself look their best. This is about the media portraying an unrealistic expectation of beauty to both men and women that has a negative effect on their self-worth overall. both men and women are affected by this. I am not an extremist on any issue. I only hope that enough people begin to realize that this has become a problem and will send the message to the media that we would like them to take it down a notch.

o.k for starters all magazine pics are airbrushed.all of them,no exceptions.and i would like to comment on a topic i missed the other day.why are people so mean!!!!to me the problem isnt that we are mean we forgot that in the end whether you realise it or not.that the person you make friends with today.is the very same person who can save your life tomorrow.literaly!to many people have given up what they learned in the 60s 70s 80s.in effort to be excepted by the younger generation.trying so hard not be like our parents.and forgeting or failing to addmit.that they got what they deserved as children.or trying to do beter then there parents.and in doing so we loose site of what they where really trying to teach us.how to tell real people from fakes.how to know when someone is your friend and when they are just looking for someone to use till they get what they need.as children we dont worry about these things so much because.its not the most important thing in our lives.(atleast for me it wasnt)so our friends seemed to last what felt like forever.but then we get older,and are taught respoceability.and the value of possesion,and loose site of whats more important.the fact that we get to live and see another day.for those who take the time to read all this god bless.you know what i am saying here.and to those who stop half way or dont get it.ask your mom or dad or grandparents.what it was like when they where younger,and when did they grow out of being a human and became a product of society.cuase as kids we are just small humans.as adults we are worse.we are a sex,a consumer,a person who is controled in to living a certain way.think about it.people arent mean they forgot how to be people.they forgot how to be human


by george

also i know for a fact that every pic that goes in a magazine,new paper,ect.that gets published is touched up for eye apeal.if things where presented the way they really look.people would have a much different out look on life.it has been this way for many years.even the images you get off your tv are doctored.so stop acting like your shocked wake up and open your eyes.

just so you know the only way changes will be made is if theres a proffit in it other wise except the fact that nothing is or ever will be what it appears to be in a magazine or on t.v.i agree with all but the fact is nothing is as it appears.

We, the adults know this. It's the children that we are concerned about. We, the parents, can do everything we can to bring them up right but the media and peer pressure are heavy competitors.

its not just hollywood,every media in the world alters looks.in hopes that that look will incurage others to buy things to look that way.for men and woman a like,its a way to control the process of income.

well that is very true about the influence others have on our children.how ever we the parents forgot the one thing our parents taught use.stand up for your self.be your self,regaurdless of what others think.but we are so easy to give them what they want.and dont push enough to make them work for it.that the generations to come are gonna be the worst ones yet.the hole cps thing in america has gotten out of control.spare the rod spoil the child.i dont believe in sevier punishment.but ill be the first to addmit i got what i desreved as a kid when i was bad.switch,belt.ect.and if anyone says thats wronge.no wronge is not listening to your parent when they say keep it up and ill make you get a switch,belt or ect.and pushing the envelope.thats wrongei learned alot of respect from my parents growing up.becuase i was taught not to push my luck

I am standing up for myself and for my children. by voicing my concerns, carefully selecting where I spend my money and raising awareness on the issure.

We must just be selective in what we participate in and in what we allow/teach/show our children is acceptable.

Parents can only instill morals, values and beliefs in their children, as those children ultimately grow up and make their own decisions.

I found this on the American Pediatric Association site:

Societal influences also contribute to this illness. Increasingly, Westernized culture portrays thinness as a coveted physical ideal associated with happiness, vitality, and well being.

Endless images of unrealistically thin models and actors in all form of media promote body dissatifaction which is one of the strongest risk factors for the development of disordered eating.

There is so much information out there about this. Good sites are the American Pediatric Association and the Psychology site.

Here is a very interesting site:

http://www.something-fishy.org/cultural/themedia.php

I just took a business ethics class, and this is an example of one of the many ways businesses go overboard trying to strike up the almighty dollar.

And awareness is the best way... or at least one of the best ways.

What needs to be done in the end is a policy change that forces the corporate machine to tilt in favor of public opinion.

Also, holding these corporations accountable for the root causes of these types of social diseases.

Go for it Ruth34611...

... if interested, my text for the course was:

Title: Business & Society: Stakeholder's, Ethics and Public Policy, 12th Edition
Author: Anne T. Lawrence, and James Weber
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Irwin
ISBN-10: 0-07-353017-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-07-353017-8

Here is this exact text book on Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Business-Society-Stakeholders-Ethics-Public/dp/0073530174/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229014246&sr=1-1

There are dozens of case studies, lists of activists groups, and a LOT of tools you might like to have inside this text book in bringing your issue to the public eye. Also, seeing it through to the change of public policy and corporate policies.

You might find this at a local library, or I am noticing an 11th edition on there used for under $20.

Awesome.. force them to follow the public opinion.. now.. which public opinion? The one to airbrush or not to airbrush.. who determines what is the publics opinion?
I would need more info about that book before I decide what I think about it..