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Guidance for Grown-Ups
June 2007
Media's Influence on Teens
The Media Mirror Doesn't Show Your Real Reflection!
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This Discussion Guide contains the following Activity Sections:
- The Answers to Your Questions
- Problem Solving: Exploring Options, Giving Advice
- Make a Historical and Global Connection: Changing Options
I. The Answers to Your Questions
The purpose of this activity is to encourage teens to reflect on their personal body image through writing and visualization.
- How many of the teens in the group have heard the phrase "body image"? Ask them if they associate the phrase with something negative or positive. Let them know that this set of activities focuses on the positive, and on helping the teens turn the concept of body image into something that they can embrace with pride. As a warm-up, ask the teens to do one or both of the following: Write a "Top 10 Reasons My Body is Great" list and/or write a love letter to her body, giving at least five examples of why she loves the skin she's in. Reassure them that no one has to read what they write, unless of course, they would like to share!
- Ask the teens to read (or have someone read aloud) the introduction to "The Media Mirror Doesn't Show Your Real Reflection!" Give them time to respond to that brief paragraph in writing. Here are some possible prompts: Do you agree or disagree? What kinds of articles or information do you think this section will include? Does anything about this introduction anger you? If you are pointing fingers at who or what influences how young women define "perfect," especially in terms of looks, where else, in addition to the media, would you point?
- The following visualizations are meant to stimulate the teens' imagination. (You can read just one, or you can read them in this order. You can also add details that you know will resonate with your group.) Ask them to find a comfortable spot, within earshot of the speaker, and close their eyes to listen and imagine. Remind them not to censor themselves but to think freely about whatever pops into their head. Next, read the following scenarios:
- It's early Monday morning on a crisp day in September. All summer you were looking forward to starting school because you wanted a fresh start. You thought you might try some new classes, and you were really hoping to make some new friends, maybe even start dating someone. It's the night before your first day back. You fall asleep right away because you feel so confident and sure that this is going to be your best year yet. You start dreaming about the new you, when suddenly your alarm rings. You hit the snooze to try to stay in your dream — you love how it feels to have this much belief in yourself and your future — you don't want your dream to end. When the alarm sounds again, you roll out of bed and head to the bathroom. You rub your eyes and look in the mirror and can't believe what you see. You are the person in your dream! You think you could be going crazy so you run to the full-length mirror. Hmmm. You turn around and around. You love everything you see, which is a feeling you could get used to! Every last inch of yourself — your hands, your hair, everything about your shape and size, right down to your eyelashes — you wouldn't, couldn't change a thing. You are beautiful.
You may want to give the teens a few moments of silence. Then, asking them to keep their eyes shut, throw out the following questions: What does the beautiful you look like? How different is she from the real you? In what way is she different? In what way is she similar? Would her family recognize her? How about her best friends? What do you think of this dream?
- You and your closest friends have been planning to go to the movies for the longest time — finally, it's Friday night and you're all together, on your way to the theater. Your friends are telling the funniest stories. They are cracking jokes. You are all laughing so loudly that strangers are giving you looks. But you could care less because you haven't had this much fun since who knows when. You stop and think about this, and are so grateful to have these friends in your life. You look at each one slowly— you see her laugh, you see all her teeth when she smiles, you notice what her hands do while she's telling a story and you decide your friends are the most beautiful people you know . . . Now, if you can, think of this same situation from their point of view, don't you look beautiful to them, too? . . . Imagine if the fun stopped, maybe you run into someone who has recently done or said something really cruel to your best friend, something about how she looks. How do you feel? What do you say to that cruel person? What do you say to your friend? What are you going to do to get your fun evening back on track? . . . Have you ever thought, really thought, how it feels to be your best friend? Maybe you've been envious of her for some reason, or maybe not, maybe you've even caught yourself thinking the same thoughts that cruel person said out loud. Either way, is there room for your thinking to change, to be more open and accepting of exactly who she is, and who you are?
Again, give the teens some time to consider these questions, there's no reason to rush. You can either take a break here and talk about how they responded, or how they wish they could respond in such a situation, or you can keep reading.
- OK, now you are back in your skin. The very skin you have at this moment, with all of its bruises or scrapes, the parts that feel smooth, and the parts that you think don't look right. You're thinking about the parts you feel need work, or used to look better or could look better than they do right now. But there are parts of you that you know are beautiful. There's a part of you that knows all of you is beautiful, right? . . . What if those beautiful parts started growing and taking over and choked out all of the other things that make you feel less certain when you go out into the world? What parts are being covered over by your beautiful parts? What does that transformation feel like? What new things would you try if you only felt this way all of the time? . . . What if beauty could actually be more than skin deep, and your beautiful parts could grow inward, toward your stomach maybe, so you didn't feel nervous anymore, or toward your brain so you never gave yourself second thoughts, or negative self-talk. So that finally, all that's left is beautiful, but yet, you still look exactly the same. Not a hair on your head is different than it is right this moment. What does that feel like? What does that feeling make you want to do or say?
You can let the teens sit and reflect on these questions. You can open up the floor for free discussion, or give them time to write, whatever they want . . .
Take time to discuss the visualizations, or any of the previous activities. What did the teens think? What did they like about reflecting on their personal body image? What didn't they like? What did they learn?
As an additional reflection activity, ask the teens to read the poems "Fashion Models" and "What is Beauty?" quietly to themselves.
Resources
- "How Does Visualization Work?" by Linda Mackenzie — myhealthylife.net
- "Positive Thinking: Practice this Stress Management Skill" — mayoclinic.com
II. Problem Solving: Exploring Options, Giving Advice
The purpose of this activity is to gain concrete knowledge about the media's representations of women's bodies and to explore what the teens and their peers think about these findings.
- First, let the teens know you'd like them to do some background reading on the realities of how women are currently portrayed in the media — in movies, on television, in music, in advertisements, etc. Several selections from the Teen Voices coverage on this topic can help provide an overview. Some key articles with great facts and statistics are: "You Call this Entertainment?" by Lolita De Palma and "Did you Know?" Here are some additional findings about body image, according to the Girl Scout Research Institute:
- Despite clear benefits, 40 percent of girls ages 11-17 say they do not play sports because they do not feel skilled or competent and 23 percent do not think their bodies look good. (Girl Scout Research Institute)
- Dissatisfaction with body image increases as girls move into adolescence. Although 75 percent of 8- and 9-year-old girls in the study said they like their looks, only 56 percent of those ages 12 and 13 did. And of the 33 percent of girls ages 14-17 who said they're too fat, two-thirds were dieting. (Girl Scout Research Institute)
- A mother's weight, body image, attitude, and health habits are strong indicators of whether her daughter is overweight, satisfied with her body, and physically active. Girls look to their mothers for advice on healthy living. (Girl Scout Research Institute)
- African Americans have different attitudes about weight, body size, and attractiveness than European Americans, with overall less drive for thinness and greater acceptance of larger body proportions. (Psychiatry Journal)
Do any of these statistics surprise the teens? What other kinds of facts would they like to know?
- Let the teens know the next task is to determine what they and their peers think of women's representation in the media. In addition to the previous reading, they can gain insight from "A Girl's Best Friend" by Laura Betker or "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall" by Alexandra Settlemayer. The following questions could be raised with the whole group or in smaller discussion groups: Do you think the media really is too narrow in how it depicts women? Or are the concerns about body image just hype? What examples can you come up with from the media you consume? Can you think of something you saw, read, or heard yesterday that you think too narrowly represented women and how they should look? How did it make you feel? Did you tell anyone you felt this way?
- Ask the teens to read "Our Lives—Our Own?" by Sally Lambert. She issues a call to action for teens to take a stand against what she calls "contradictory messages." Returning to a large group discussion, ask the teens to explain what she means by contradictory messages. Can they come up with at least five examples of how young women are given contradictory messages by the media? What about young men? What contradictions are young men "sold"? Here are some example responses:
- Women have to be thin but they can't make it look like they work too hard at it.
- Girls are told they can "do anything" or "be anything" but there is a conspicuous absence of women in leadership of companies, government, etc. This is even truer for women of color.
- The photos of models or celebrities — people who set the public standard for beauty — are often airbrushed or doctored, making that standard impossible to achieve.
- Boys and men, too, are increasingly being held to impossible physical standards. Think of the pressure professional athletes are under to break records and perform at a certain level. In several different sports, records and awards are being called into question because of suspicion of drug use.
- Countless images seem to promote teens (really everyone) to be sexy and sexual. Yet, there is still a tremendous stigma against teens that become pregnant.
- When teens think about narrow standards for the perfect body or beauty, they likely think about imagery, or media in which they can see what so-called perfection looks like. But other forms of media, like music, can also add an important voice, both negative and positive, to the definition of beauty. Ask the teens to read the song lyrics from the "The Booty Mentality" section. Can they think of any other popular songs that demonstrate either positive or negative representations of women? Give the teens 5-10 minutes to write a new verse for one of these songs — challenge them to write a verse that says something body positive!
- Synthesizing activities 3 and 4 from this section, ask the teens to look again at the lyrics by Christina Aguilera and Destiny's Child. Pose a question to the group: Is it contradictory for Christina or Beyoncé to tell the rest of the world to love them for who they are, or to take heart, you are beautiful? Can they think of any musicians (or other celebrities) who talk the talk about being "body positive" and loving who you are, but don't walk the walk? Are there some celebrities who seem more genuine about promoting body diversity? What makes them seem more genuine? Can a thin person stand up against fat discrimination? Can a young person stand up against age discrimination? Can a white woman stand up against how women of color are represented in the media?
III. Make a Historical and Global Connection: Changing Options
The purpose of this activity is to assess what efforts are being made to shift and broaden how women and girls are represented in the media, and to encourage teens to become part of that change.
- Ask the teens if they know of any efforts to circulate alternative images of the female body. The examples could come from individuals in their personal life or even from organizations they know and love, like Teen Voices! To further illustrate, maybe they have an aunt who always sends birthday cards with pictures of people that look a lot more like them and their family members than most people on TV. Or maybe they have heard about New Moon's Turn Beauty Inside Out Day or the National Organization for Women Foundation's annual Love Your Body Day (see resources for more information)? Go around the room and have each teen come up with an idea of how she could circulate images of the female body that look like her and the women she loves. Next, go around the room and ask each teen how she could work with others toward the same goal.
- The next activity helps teens think about problem solving and reasoning in their personal relationships. Ask the teens to participate in a role-play. Either feature one role-play that everyone watches or divide the group into pairs. For the role-play: Have one friend tell the other that for her 16th birthday, she's asked for plastic surgery, and she's pretty sure she's going to get it. Each group can decide what kind of surgery and why one teen wants it. The other teen plays the part of her friend who disagrees, and tries to tell her friend she doesn't need surgery to make her happy.
- Just as some celebrities spout mixed or contradictory messages about body image, some ad campaigns do the same. The fundamental question for the teens is: If you can sell a product, or make a movie or TV show with a negative message, can you sell a product and a positive message at the same time? Ask the teens to compare and contrast the National Organization for Women Foundation's annual Love Your Body Day campaign to the Dove soap Campaign for Real Beauty. (It will be easiest if they each have Internet access.) What similarities do they notice? Is the web layout similar? Are the colors similar? What about the language used? What are the main differences? What message is being promoted? Does it work? Would the teens want to participate in the campaign? If the teens had $1 million dollars to design their own positive body image campaign, what would it include?
- Let the teens know that some people devote their careers to tracking how media represents girls and women. Ask the teens to read the interview with authors Lyn Mikel Brown and Sharon Lamb about their book, Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers' Schemes. To write their book, the authors did things like examined clothing stores aimed at specific age groups of girls, taking note of the way the stores were decorated and the kinds of clothes they sold and at what price. They also closely examined toys for girls, to better understand the relationship between what girls seem to want (i.e. Bratz dolls, only pink clothes, princess costumes) and what is being marketed to them. If the teens wanted to examine marketer's schemes for girls firsthand, where would they go? What would they look for?
- Ask the teens to pretend they are researchers like Brown and Lamb. Ask them to team up with one of their peers and brainstorm topics and titles for their next book, related to the media and positive body image. Give the groups 15-30 minutes to come up with the below items, and then ask each group to present their "book proposal" to the group. Here are some sample topics to get them thinking: exploring how different generations define beauty; exploring beauty around the globe; coming up with a scale that measures how attractive male characters on TV are vs. female (pay special attention to the wives of comedians!) If the group wants, it can vote on the book they would most like to read! Ask each duo to come up with:
- Book title
- Three-five sentence description of what the book is about
- Three-five chapter titles (each should describe what the chapter is about!)
- One-three quotes from "book reviewers" for their book jacket
- Brief (can be fictional and fun) bios about the authors
- Brief description of the ideal reader of the book
Resources
- Learn more about Turn Beauty Inside Out — newmoon.org
- Participate in the National Organization for Women Foundation's annual Love Your Body Day — loveyourbody.nowfoundation.org
- Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty — campaignforrealbeauty.com
- For help with the book activity, suggest that the teens plug Brown and Lamb's book into amazon.com and read descriptions and titles of similar books.
Have you used Guidance for Grown-ups with your class or teen group? Tell us which ones you used and what kind of success you had with it. Did you put your own spin on it? Let us know.
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