Educational Media Reviews Online

This documentary is sure to raise people out of their complacency in believing that our society has dramatically improved its treatment of women. Not quite. At least not in the media. In this film, shocking information is presented such as the Hustler magazine joke that makes fun of wife beating. We see the degrading and potentially disastrous messages still being created by the media about women and their role in life.

The same producers of the award-winning video Killing Us Softly, created this program about media and its effects on girls and women. This is a powerful program that should be required viewing for all young girls and their parents.

We see numerous examples of how the media portrays women as impersonal objects that must be beautiful, skinny, compliant and always happy with this treatment. Experts such as Gloria Steinem warn us of the psychological consequences of this portrayal in terms of eating disorders and violence toward women. One expert discusses how girls and women are trying to be thin and not take up very much space.

We see girls losing their confidence as they become adolescents. Partaking of the media, they suddenly see flaws in themselves and feel the strong urge to make themselves look better - sometimes even becoming high risk for suicide and eating disorders. The film also presents information on how countries without television do not show statistical evidence of eating disorders the way we do.

We see a drop in self-esteem in one young girl as she changes her life plans so that she can spend more time on her appearance. In grade school this girl talks on-camera about her passion to be a veterinarian. A few years later, we hear her talk about how she doesn't have time for veterinary school and how she would look terrible wearing veterinary clothes.

We are told that 10 to 12 year-olds are afraid to get fat and that they look at themselves in bits and pieces. In magazines we see a beautifully sculpted leg next to a product to make our legs look better. One twelve year-old girl says she doesn't even look at beauty magazines because they make her feel ugly.

Besides presenting shocking examples of the poisons of the beauty trap, this documentary offers solutions to the problem. Girls are urged to stay in touch with their bodies and to take pride in them. Parents are urged to not let their daughters hear self-loathing messages from themselves about their own bodies. We see real life solutions such as empowerment camps for girls.

This film is highly recommended for girls and young women, as well as influential adults in their lives - with plenty of discussion time allowed after the viewing. The program is useful for women's studies programs, violence prevention programs, media studies, child development and self esteem courses.

Highly Recommended