LOVE YOUR BODY

The relentless number of images creating an unhealthy and unrealistic portrayal of women can ultimately be deadly. Tobacco advertisers have purposefully linked cigarettes with thinness, stress control and liberation ("You've Come A Long Way Baby"), and the result is that more women die from tobacco-related illness than die from alcohol, illicit drugs, car accidents, suicide and homicide combined. Alcohol advertisers objectify women and use themes of violence ("Hit Me With A Club"). The fashion and make-up industries spend billions each year in an attempt to convince women that everything needs to be fixed, from eyebrows to toenails.
These twisted beauty standards are promoted from babyhood through adulthood. Young girls are given glamorous heroines early on to idolize. Disney's animated female lead characters, such as Pocohantas and the Little Mermaid, are drawn with large breasts, tiny waists, and long slender legs, despite their youthful ages.
Adolescent girls are a growing target for advertisers', television's and movies' harmful messages. Millions of women and girls have eating disorders, many which begin in adolescence. In addition to promoting an unnatural standard of thinness, the media are finding news ways to shape young women's images. Fetish perfume recently ran an ad campaign with a photo of a teenager and text that read, "apply generously to your neck so he can smell the scent as you shake your head 'no.'"
Discrimination and bias based on physical appearance continue through adulthood. When women don't fit the media's standard of beauty, they often come under attack. Size discrimination, for example, can keep qualified employees out of jobs and careers; and race discrimination continues to pervade all areas of our lives. These biases perpetuate stereotypes that people with certain physical features are more qualified for positions of authority and responsibility. And the objectification of women and girls continues to promote violence, harassment and discrimination