After you have reviewed the above resources, consider these observations:
Nearly half of 12 to 15 year-old girls read magazines every day. Studies such as show that looking at magazines for just 60 minutes lowers the self-esteem of more than 80% of girls. Six out of 10 teenage girls think they'd "be happier if they were thinner". (Recall what you learned about children and adolescents' development in week 3.)
Children will have accumulated 22,000 hours of television viewing by the time they graduate from high school, which is twice the amount of time they will have spent in school. They will have seen 350,000 television commercials by the age of 17. Read the "Media and Children" https://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and-policy/aap-health-initiatives/pages/media-and-children.aspx?nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR%3a+No+local+token(Links to an external site.).
While women have traditionally been the target of impossible beauty standards, marketers are increasingly projecting distorted images of male attractiveness. Since 2012, beauty and personal care products specifically targeted at men have increased globally "Real men don't cry-but they are exfoliating. Say hello to 'mampering'" http://www.cnbc.com/2014/12/05/real-men-dont-cry-but-they-are-exfoliating.html (Links to an external site.). The http://namedinc.org/ - The National Association for MALES AND EATING DISORDERS* (Links to an external site.) reports that 1 in 4 individuals with eating disorders is a male.
Reflect on the following questions:
1. Identify another example of media manipulated images in television, video games, commercial advertising, magazines, or movies that depict an unrealistic stereotypes? Provide a specific example, preferably inserting the image/video into your post. Do you think it is harmful, neutral, or positive (and for whom)? Why do you think that example was created--who gains?
2. How can we help our children and youth to become critically literate and reactive to the powerful influence of television, video games, commercial advertising, popular magazines, and movies? Feel free to look up resources (but make sure that you cite them).
3. Speculate on how these unrealistic body images in the media influence girls' or boys' leisure choices and/or recreation-related behaviors? Provide a specific example.
Resources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hibyAJOSW8U (Links to an external site.)
Women in media: Is it time to give the media stereotypes a makeover?
http://selfesteem.dove.us/Articles/Written/Women_in_media_is_it_time_to_give_the_media_stereotypes_a_makeover.aspx
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtquNV1fr64
"Why dyed armpit hair will be 2015's most subversive trend" http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/fashion-blog/2014/dec/15/why-dyed-armpit-hair-is-2015s-most-subversive-trend-taylor-swift
https://dressmann.com/no/butikk/Login/?ReturnUrl=%2fno%2fjustthewayyouare%2f(Norwegian clothing company Dressman's healthy male body image campaign)