http://thefbomb.org/2013/01/your-happiness-is-not-a-competition/
Since as long as we can remember women have compared themselves to others as a means to determine self-worth. Often times we focus and strive towards the depiction of an ideal woman: one skinny yet curvy and with perfect features. Similar to what we have seen in The Bro Code and what we’ve read about in class this blog post provides a reminder of the power and influence of media. It’s both pervasive and expansive, and a major cause of low self-esteem in women. I chose to respond to this blog post because the take home message feels cliché and unoriginal: be yourself, focus on what you like about you, or simply don’t compare. I feel like I’ve been told this so many times and yet in many cases girls and women still continue to view themselves negatively.
The stronger message should be a warning about the media we choose to ingest and expose ourselves to. Yes, we should refrain from determining our self-worth based on how we measure up to others. But we should also consciously examine the content of media and its end goal. It’s possible to unconsciously condition our minds to think a certain way, whether positive or negative. A better solution to improving self-esteem may be to avoid exposure to negative media all together. Although fashion magazines may be entertaining they may not be worth the harm to our ego.
Naomi Woolfenden
Naomi — your comments remind me of the end of Chapter Two in Kirk and Okazawa-Rey. It is imperative that we begin to develop critcal media literacy — the chapter had a box defining what this is and why it is important.