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| Beyond Killing Us Softly: The Strength to Resist (Video) |
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"What happens to adolescent girls that challenges and undermines the strength, resiliency, and self-esteem they show as young girls?" Gloria Steinem, Carol Gilligan and other renowned feminist writers, psychologists and media scholars take up this question in a 33-minute documentary about the advertising industrys "cult of thinness" and its destructive impact on teenage girls' self-image and health. The degrading messages implicit in contemporary advertising and media images of women and girls are exposed through critical analysis. Speakers' commentary is punctuated with dramatic video clips and magazine ads depicting ultra-thin female models dressed in skimpy clothing or arranged in poses of child-like vulnerability to suggest sexual availability. The documentary also points out ways in which the media promotes very limited gender roles for men as well as for women, by repeatedly associating sexual behavior with aggression, control, and violence. Practical suggestions for inoculating girls against the toxic effects of advertising are proposed, along with recommendations for challenging restrictive gender stereotypes and promoting healthier images of women's roles in society. Recommended for women's groups, media advocacy activists, and students in high school and college-level courses in sociology, communications, women's studies, and related fields. 33 minutes.©2000,
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