Last semester I co-taught a class with the chair of the OT faculty called "Women, the Church, and Cultural and Ecclesial Diversity" (weighty title!), and I actually used that second short film in the class on the day that we talked about the way the media has co-opted the female body (and, by correlation, female sexuality) and turned it into a distorted canvas for advertising. There are also a series of documentaries that our media library had available, called "Killing Us Softly," made in the '70s, '80s, and '90s by a filmmaker called Jean Kilbourne. They're three really in-depth explorations of how the advertising industry constantly puts forth negative stereotypes of women, and how such images damage both women and men. I'd love to own these documentaries myself, but I haven't been able to find them for purchase or even for hire anywhere except university libraries. But if you ever get to see them, you totally should. Powerful stuff, incredibly powerful.
(I'm thinking you didn't mean this to happen, but the second one is the same link as the third one.)
Weird, isn't it? I can't remember how or when, but once I came across a website for a photographic studio that specialises in hairbrushing pictures. It was bizarre. This woman who, lying on one side, had the tiniest roll of skin - couldn't even call it fat - on her hip had her waist reduced by a good inch, and then there was a group photo of Depeche Mode minus 80% of their wrinkles!
All pictures had a before and after example, presumably so you could see how convincingly these people could doctor any photograph. Scary.
The last two are the same link... just thought I'd mention it.
I saw the second and third one a few months ago, and it just pissed me the hell off. I used to argue that teenage girls should have to learn PhotoShop techniques in high school- sure, there's a good thing in learning a skill like graphics manipulation, but also... it would teach them in a non-pushy way just how manipulated and unrealistic and fucked-with everything they see in the media is.
I mean, sure, young boys could learn from that, too, but they aren't the ones having the same level of "you are what you look like-- and you should aspire to look like this" pushed onto them.
That said, I'll be showing my kids stuff like this as they get older and we can talk about it. I'm really careful of how I deal with the body image stuff in front of my kids... even though I'm on shakey ground with all that stuff personally, I don't want my sons growing up thinking that it's normal and acceptable for women to hate themselves and their bodies. I've dated enough dipshits who think it's perfectly acceptable for me to eat two pieces of lettuce while they wolf down a steak the size of my head... (I can think of two men who haven't been like that with me, actually) I don't want my sons becoming another two of those guys.
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primroseburrows) wrote2007-10-03 05:47 pm
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(I'm thinking you didn't mean this to happen, but the second one is the same link as the third one.)
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All pictures had a before and after example, presumably so you could see how convincingly these people could doctor any photograph. Scary.
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I saw the second and third one a few months ago, and it just pissed me the hell off. I used to argue that teenage girls should have to learn PhotoShop techniques in high school- sure, there's a good thing in learning a skill like graphics manipulation, but also... it would teach them in a non-pushy way just how manipulated and unrealistic and fucked-with everything they see in the media is.
I mean, sure, young boys could learn from that, too, but they aren't the ones having the same level of "you are what you look like-- and you should aspire to look like this" pushed onto them.
That said, I'll be showing my kids stuff like this as they get older and we can talk about it. I'm really careful of how I deal with the body image stuff in front of my kids... even though I'm on shakey ground with all that stuff personally, I don't want my sons growing up thinking that it's normal and acceptable for women to hate themselves and their bodies. I've dated enough dipshits who think it's perfectly acceptable for me to eat two pieces of lettuce while they wolf down a steak the size of my head... (I can think of two men who haven't been like that with me, actually) I don't want my sons becoming another two of those guys.
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For the record I am hoping for a Sox-Cubs world series.
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