Teenage girls in the world united!
As some of you may be aware, MTV was involved with a new "reality" program entitled Model Makers. The show aimed to take 15 young women between the ages of 17 and 24 and turn them into high fashion models by forcing them to lose weight. Sounds disturbing, doesn't it?
It's actually worse than it sounds! The website for the site itself pulled no punches in its description of the program -- which dares to go where no modeling show has gone before:
To lure young girls to audition, the website said: "Have you always wanted to model but don't know where to start? Maybe you don't know the right people. Maybe you are not thin enough. Women come in all shapes and sizes, but models don't."
Read it for yourself here:
A lot of words popped into my head when I found out about MTV's plans to broadcast such filth: Disappointment, Disgust, Anger -- to name but a few. For two months I blogged about the deleterious effects of the show in blogs like this.
I even took it upon myself to write an open letter to MTV on behalf of teenage women on my October 6th Huffington Post blog.
In my letter, which I know many of you read, I warned MTV of the dangers of promoting such a careless and destructive message. A message that has become almost pervasive these days and leads to millions of unnecessary eating disorders. How many millions of young girls everywhere would be negatively affected by the ludicrous premise of the show: A beautiful woman = A very thin woman. None, if I could help it.
Recently I was on CNN News talking about the show and the potential dangers. I encouraged all of you to write MTV and a lot of you did!
I have tons of letters from mothers and teenagers themselves that were sent to MTV, letting them know that this kind of programming would not be tolerated.
I had even come up with a great idea. On the first night of Model Makeovers, airing, whenever that was, I was going to have all of you across the country interview every teenager that you could find with your video cameras and cell phones, having them tell us in their own words what they thought of the show.
I was then going to take the footage and turn it into a documentary, entering it into film festivals and theaters across the country. The name of the documentary was going to be called MTV, look at what you've done to me. Catchy title!
I called MTV today to find out when they had planned on airing the show and they said, "We no longer plan on airing Model Makers.
Wow! My first thought was the American public is awesome. When you decide that you've had enough, you can move mountains.
Speaking of which, I have a tree outside that I can't quite dig up, why don't the thousands of you come on over, so we can talk about it.
Seriously, I'm so proud of every person and every organization out there that voiced a complaint. From the bottom of my heart, if I could afford it, I would treat all of you to a taco and a glass of tap water. I'm sure you'd rather have juice or soda, but it has too much sugar in it. Hey, just trying to do my part!
I take no personal credit for Model Makers not being released. The credit is all yours. Every person and every organization. I'm just one guy, trying to make a difference. It's all of you collectively that have the powerful voice.
For all I know, someone at MTV decided the show was ill-conceived. What's important here is that the show doesn't see light of day, not who's responsible.
This is a step in the right direction for millions of teenage girls everywhere!
To teenagers across America,
I want to say that we love you!
You're beautiful, exactly the way that you are!
And thank you MTV. You did the right thing. If this show not airing creates an extra half-hour in your schedule, call me. I have plenty of show ideas.
Darryl Roberts
"America the Beautiful"
www.americathebeautifuldoc.com