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about-face: a reversal of direction, attitude, behavior, or point of view
(from Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition)
Everywhere girls and women look, they see messages about their bodies
and their selves, telling them they must be tall, blonde, tan, and
sexually available. In fact, a woman can rarely separate her feelings about her physical body from her self-worth,
especially in our media-saturated society. And the messages even the
youngest girls are seeing and hearing are skewed, sexualized, and
sexist.
These messages -- part of what About-Face calls the
"toxic media environment" -- are contributing to a host of girls' and
women's ills, including low self-esteem, depression, persistent anxiety
over weight and appearance, extremely unhealthy diets and exercise
regimens, and eating disorders. All of these problems interfere with a
woman's ability to function to the best of her abilities.
About-Face's mission is to equip women and girls with tools to
understand and resist the harmful stereotypes of women the media
disseminates. There are three components to About-Face's program,
Education into Action: media-literacy workshops, action groups, and this
resource-filled web site. About-Face is based in San Francisco,
California. Our workshops and action groups reach throughout the San
Francisco Bay Area. Our web site, of course, is available the world
over.
Our ultimate goal, the About-Face vision, is to
imbue girls and women with the power to free themselves from
body-related oppression, so they will be capable of fulfilling their
potential.
The time for this change is now. Don't you agree? Find out how you can support About-Face's work.
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