BlogHer - Blogs & Body Image: What are we teaching our kids? - Comments

Voting by absentee ballot? ;-)

Shaping Youth — Mon, 18 May 2009 21:39:01 -0500

All: I wish I could join you in person for this important topic which I deal with DAILY in our work with "counter-marketing" games at Shaping Youth.

When BlogHer reps contacted me about this 'Room of their own' all I could think of was 'yes,yes, yes!!! Who's close to Chicago that can cover this for me??' As we sure can't count on Miz O to take it on with her yo-yo-dieting messages (as I wrote about Oprah here) Still, these are the media messages pummeling kids in surround sound, from sports and swimsuit season to 'so sexy so soon' cartoon cues...So I'm counting on this panel to Tweet/tag/Friend Feeds their hearts out.

I've been working on a documentary that holds a camera up to the K-5
playgrounds to show evidence of the impact. It's called Body Blitz:
Media, Shaping Youth. Just stalled in funding phase...(quel surprise!)

Body image and 'thinspiration' is going way beyond "Packaging Girlhood" seeping into objectification at every level. (e.g. fast food sponges wiggling in 'Squarebutt' "booty is booty" backside measuring? ugh.---Here's a great face-off debate between BK's marcom guy and Dad-tastic Joe Kelly advocating to halt body image crud like this)

Anyway, I hope it's a 'sellout crowd' and that you'll ALL blog the bejeepers out of it, as the harm and damage done to wee ones is seeping in at even earlier ages...(and to BOTH genders I might add!)

Amy Jussel
Shaping Youth

Howdy!

mamaVISION — Fri, 01 May 2009 12:04:45 -0500

Howdy Sandwiched! So glad you found us...all of us moms are in the same boat and its time for formal action and planning on what to do??! Otherwise we will keep floundering around, not understanding fully how our children will be impacted.

Take care and send on over any of your blogger friends that you think would want to attend. We need votes! We are a front runner at 72, but I want to make sure we stay there.

mamaV

mamaVISION.com

youtube.com/mamavision

mamavision@gmail.com

Your life is now.

Hi Ashley!

mamaVISION — Fri, 01 May 2009 12:01:57 -0500

Great to meet you! Great blog- I love your commandments! Value Your Body...that is a great motto.

Anyway, I am looking forward to meeting you at blogher!

Take Care,

mamaV

mamaVISION.com

youtube.com/mamavision

mamavision@gmail.com

Your life is now.

Great to meet you SpinDiva

mamaVISION — Fri, 01 May 2009 11:59:35 -0500

I am glad you found us SpinDiva. Thank you for asking what you can do! Here are a few things:

1) Send your blog friends here to vote for this session. We are currently one of the front runners but I want to keep it that way to make sure we are able to do this very important session.

2) If you approve, I will add you to the list of bloggers I am going to work with to plan this session. We must have a collective action plan when we leave the room....perhaps we all blog on the same day, same time. Or I create a blog for this topic and we are all featured. Or we reach out to other influencers/celebrities who are like thinkers to make this an "event" that catches media attention and we start a revolution!! I welcome your ideas!

Take care and see you soon!

mamaV

mamaVISION.com

youtube.com/mamavision

mamavision@gmail.com

Your life is now.

Need this!

sandwiched — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:29:59 -0500

I'm an overweight mom with two daughters. I need to figure out how to handle this issue...for their sakes, and mine.

http://sandwiched.wordpress.com

Love this!

asickles — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:16:56 -0500

This will be fantastic. Good luck!

-Ashley

Excellent! Excellent Idea!

SpinDiva — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 06:44:00 -0500

I vote yes on this topic, we need it, it is essential!!

What can I do to help!!

Spin DivaMind.Body.Soul

Fat Acceptance-hell yes!

mamaVISION — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:01:06 -0500

Hi prosaicparadise: Thank you for voicing your valid concerns. I am responsible for assembling the panel, and as it turned out the Fat Acceptance bloggers I had in mind didn't come through. Please feel free to recommend a blogger you would like to see on the panel.

This session absolutely will be about fat acceptance and self acceptance regardless of size, shape or age. Here are a few posts I have written on fat acceptance:

http://www.mamavision.com/mamavision/2008/12/fat-bitch.html

http://www.mamavision.com/mamavision/2008/11/fran-the-fat-la.html

http://www.mamavision.com/mamavision/2008/11/she-had-purple.html

I hope to see you at the session, you obviously have great points to express!

Take care,

Heather

aka mamaV

mamaVISION.com

youtube.com/mamavision

mamavision@gmail.com

Your life is now.

Awesome!

prosaicparadise — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:25:32 -0500

Thanks for the response! I'm really glad to hear it. I think I was thrown off a little by the titles and some articles and before/after pics which create a weird dichotomy - like was the before not good enough? Does before/after actually demonstrate healthy living, or does it set up an expectation of what healthy living looks like (and what it, by implication, does not). I reckon the very point is to discuss things just like this.

I guess I am very much a focuser on the "love ourselves" end of the topic and less on the "how to eat" end of the topic. When I browsed backinskinnyjeans I saw several posts on motivation and food, and it seemed kind of diet-ey without using the word.

I am not trying to disparage anyone's hard work, I am really just trying to explain why I asked my question. I am super glad this topic came up as a presentation for BlogHer and look forward to hearing more!

http://www.prosaicparadise.com/

Size Acceptance

5resolutions — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 18:05:08 -0500

Hi Kim,
Thanks for your comment. Our book and our blog absolutely advocate for size acceptance and health at every size. Those principles are the foundations of our work. We are not a diet bloggers and we don't promote dieting.

Our goal is to help women accept and appreciate their bodies in a culture that makes that incredibly difficult. For examples of our approach, you can check out our two-part interview with Velvet D'Amour:

Velvet D'Amour Part 1

Velvet D'Amour Part 2

Thanks!

Claire & Magali

5 Resolutions to Transform the Fashion and Beauty Industries

Fat Activists?

prosaicparadise — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:20:58 -0500

I don't see any bios of presenters here who identify themselves as fat activists - I would think that someone from the fat activism blogosphere would have a very important viewpoint to add to a discussion like this.

OTOH, I am getting the feeling from the blogs/sites of the presenters that fat positivity might not be the goal here? Since many of these sites seem to be about weight loss, it's hard to tell if that kind of sentiment would be welcome.

It would be really refreshing to hear from someone who could speak with authority about Health At Every Size and size acceptance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_at_Every_Size

Thanks,

Kim

http://www.prosaicparadise.com/

Blogs & Body Image: What are we teaching our kids?

mamaVISION — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:45:19 -0500

“Young girls are more afraid of becoming FAT than they are of;

cancer

nuclear
war

losing their parents...”

We are those parents.

-These young women are our daughters, nieces, grandchildren, and the
little girl next store.

-Our collective body image is worse than ever, how can our blogs be a conduit to change?

Our children will grow up and read our blogs...yikes!

-Does the thought of this completely freak you out or make you proud?

-What have you expressed about your self esteem and body image that
you may not want your kids to know?

-Will your words have a positive impact on your children?

-What posts do you look forward to sharing with your kids?

-What posts will you be immediately deleting after reading
this?!

Our children are the bloggers of the next generation.

-As the bloggers of this generation we have the power to influence positive change.

-But that change can not happen until we accept ourselves (cellulite
and all!)

Action!:

-How can we unite on this cause?

-How can we collectively promote self esteem and positive body image?

mamaVISION(http://mamavision.com) will lead this discussion joined by a panel of health and body image bloggers sure to set off a lively discussion! Her blog community is composed of teens and young adults who share their perspective on the topic, which will serve as a basis for discussion.

------------------------

BIOS:

MamaV (http://mamavision.com)has been blogging on body image and disordered eating since 2006. As a teenage Paris model, she lived every girls dream, which turned out to be a starvation nightmare. This 39 year old Midwestern mother of two, shares her personal story to be a “voice of reason" to today's youth. Her volunteer work includes the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) speaker/workshop leader, Dove Campaign for Real Beauty Trainer, Girl Scout Leader, and serving on the Women's Fund Communications Committee. MamaV has been featured in The Onion,Parents Canada, REAL Magazine, and USA Today online.

Roni (http://ronisweigh.com )started her blog to help herself stay accountable on her 999th time trying to lose weight. Now, almost 4 years later, she not only reached her weight loss goals, she became a mother, and left her Assistant Professor position to become a full time blogger. Her mission is simple, inspire and share her weight loss ideas and funny toddler tales in order to help her readers to live a lighter, healthier life. Roni is the woman behind Roni's Weigh, GreenLiteBites, SkinnyMinnyMedia and BlogToLose. These blogs combine her passion for web development, design, cooking,health, social media and communication.

Carla Birnberg (http://mizfitonline.com)
is an award winning author, bodybuilder, personal trainer and fitness expert. Her writing can seen in the Atkins Nutritional
monthly newsletter, Experience
Life Magazine,Austin Monthly Magazine and as a monthly health column inGood Life Magazine – plus she is the author of the book The Whole Megillah: Miztvahs, Matzo Balls & Everything in Between(Bluegrass Publishing, May 2007) and
contributes feature stories and advice columns for elementary school
aged children and tweens in the Austin American Statesmen.

StephanieQuilao (http://backinskinnyjeans.com)is the voice behind Back in Skinny Jeans, a healthy living blog about getting fit, mind
,body and spirit. She has been very open about her own healing with body image issues and an eating disorder, and uses those experiences through blogging to help others in their journey to living healthier lives. Some of Stephanie's work can be seen in
USAToday.com, Reuters.com, FOX News Online, iVillage, AOL Diet & Fitness channel, Livestrong.com and About.com. She has been featured on CNBC, Glamour, and Women’s
Health magazine.

Claire Mysko (http://clairemysko.com) and Magali Amadei are the creators of 5 Resolutions to Transform the Fashion and Beauty Industries (http://5resolutions.blogspot.com) and Inside Beauty (http://insidebeauty.org), a blog and outreach program that have garnered international acclaim for responsibly addressing the intersections of health, body image, fashion, and beauty. They are the co-authors of Does This Pregnancy Make Me Look Fat? The Essential Guide to Loving Your Body Before and After Baby, which will be published by HCI Books this fall.

Magali Amadei is a model who has appeared on the covers and pages of virtually every fashion magazine in the world. Claire is a writer and girl advocate who has held senior positions at the American Anorexia Bulimia Association, SmartGirl, and Girls Inc. She is the author of You're Amazing! A No-Pressure Guide to Being Your Best Self (Adams Media), an award-winning guide for girls.

Melissa Henriquez (http://TalesofaDisorderedEater.org )started
her blog in an effort to overcome her own struggles with disordered
eating. Between traditional therapy and blogotherapy,she's been an
advocate for women struggling with similar demons. She's been featured
as a guest blogger at Elastic Waist and Back in Skinny Jeans,
DietsInReview.com, as well as two Glamour.com mentions.