 Incremental Change is Better than Stasis—By Lori Hope Published: April, 2006 Anytime I can help infuse a little hope into what must sometimes seem like a dim future for smart, strong, and bold girls in our beauty-worshipping culture, I'm there. So when Girls Inc. asked me to be part of a panel on media literacy and body image, I jumped at the chance. Coincidentally, the Girl Scouts of the San Francisco Bay Area had just written to me about a new Dove commercial [see accompanying opinion piece] about building girls' self esteem. The commercial, part of the company's Campaign for Real Beauty, includes ads showing women of different (and often large) shapes and sizes. Moving hangers from left to right as I considered what to wear to the Girls Inc. panel discussion, I realized I was looking for garb that would make me look thinner. Even for media literate "liberated women" like me, old habits die hard. I thought about what I was going to say, knowing that although I was eager to point out how we at BABW News consistently challenge stereotypes, featuring women of all ages, sizes, ethnicities, and socioeconomic strata on our covers and between our pages, I needed to offer some advice, as well. After the panelists, including Emily Schmookler of Youth Radio; Andi Zeisler of Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture; and Connie Sobczak of The Body Positive, detailed problems of eating disorders and other social ills, we turned to solutions. I brought up the Dove campaign, lauding the fact that Madison Avenue was finally parading images not only of Twiggy-thin, impossibly-beautiful women, but also of "real" women. Someone countered that the ads were hawking products designed to enhance beauty, and were therefore, in so many words, part of the problem. Not in my mind. At least Dove broke the "fat barrier" in advertising, and, like it or not, most women will always buy products that make us smell good and feel soft. And even though one of Dove's ads promotes a skin-firming cream and could thus reinforce feelings of low self-esteem among those with cellulite-rich thighs, it does show women of different sizes who are confident enough to pose more than half-naked for millions to see. Even if, as some cynics say, the campaign is just a ploy to sell more soap and lotion, it still marks a small step towards a big change. The ads promote not just products, but an attitude that encourages us to honor diversity and appreciate a wide-range of beauty. Sounds like a triple bottom-line to me: Help Dove sell products; help end bias against heavy people; and help build girls' self-esteem. It is crucial to think critically about the media and always to suspect its motives, but it's also important to encourage positive change, which often occurs much more slowly than we'd like. We can help speed up the process by supporting even incremental change. | ||
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