Are you interested in helping women improve their body image and changing how women are depicted in the media? If so, here are ten easy things you can do to help!
1) Watch a new documentary, entitled Miss. Representation, by Jennifer Siebel Newsom. It will be released across the nation on Oct 20th at 9 p.m. EST. It debuted at the Sundance Festival and will air on the OWN network. It features men and women discussing the hundreds of sexualized, thin, body-obsessed images that bombard us each day and the impact it has on self-esteem, body image and power.
Click here to see the movie trailer:
•Tune in on Thursday, October 20. Even better, host a party. Invite over your friends and lead a post-film discussion.
•Check out the website and take the pledge to help: www.missrepresentation.org. Forward this article on Facebook and Twitter. Share the video clip with others!
•Talk about it. After you see the movie, discuss it. Spread the word around the water cooler or in class.
•Become a social activist representative. It's as easy as filling out a form on the website. They will send you a guide on how to carry out this duty.
2) Join Fat-Talk Free week. Curb the urge to talk about calories for one week (from October 16-22nd)! www.endfattalk.org/.
3) Visit the website Operation Beautiful. Learn how to leave an empowering body image message! www.operationbeautiful.org.
4) Forward YouTube clips about the media and body image. This is by the amazing Jean Killbourne, feminist author, speaker and filmmaker: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTlmho_RovY&feature=related.
5) Support companies, like Dove, that spread the word to help women feel good about themselves: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U.
6) Visit Photoshop Disasters. These images may make you laugh and/or cry: www.psdisasters.com/2010/04/good-housekeeping-airbrush-one.html. Read more about the way in which media and airbrushing impact your view of women: www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-susan-albers/the-benefit-of-ralph-laur_b_322868.html
7) Keep your eye out for another documentary just released. It is called America the Beautiful 2 by Darryl Roberts. If you saw part one, you will be excited to see that there is a second edition.
8) Skip fad dieting. Start eating mindfully. Learn how to love your body and enjoy food without guilt: www.eatingmindfully.com, www.intuitiveeating.org, www.healthygirl.org and www.haescommunity.org.
9) Share your thoughts on Facebook and Twitter. Forward these tips to other women.
10) If you are a celebrity, have a blog, or are a group leader, spread the word. See an example of Ellen Degeneres and other celebs talking about positive body image. Love Ellen's message on the difference between beauty and health. www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGqtMt0zISQ&feature=fvsr www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=bG7R6bbBsqs. Get to know Leslie Goldman, Jess Weiner and National Eating Disorders Association.
See Dr. Susan Albers' new book, But I Deserve This Chocolate: the 50 Most Common Diet-Derailing Excuses and How to Outwit Them. She is a psychologist for the Cleveland Clinic and author of five books on mindful eating including 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food and Eating Mindfully. Her books have been noted in O, the Oprah magazine, Shape, Prevention, Health etc. and seen on the Dr. Oz TV show. www.eatingmindfully.com
Follow Dr. Albers on twitter: @eatingmindfully.
Send Dr. Albers an email or video with your reaction to the movie, Miss. Representation, and you may be featured in her next blog article.