Week One: INTAKE
Intake (noun), a thing or a quantity taken in
“People often say that ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder,’ and I say that the most liberating
thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder.
This empowers us to find beauty in places where others have not dared to look,
including inside ourselves” -Salma Hayek
This empowers us to find beauty in places where others have not dared to look,
including inside ourselves” -Salma Hayek
I chose the first week’s theme, Intake, because I wanted to take a critical look at the images and messages we take in each day, consciously and subconsciously. In 2018 we are bombarded with narratives and images, meant to sell us products – at what price? This week we are going to dive deeper into how our self esteem and body confidence are affected by the mass media and narratives we intake.
The narratives we consume literally create the way we see the world and the ways we see ourselves.
Without stopping and critically thinking about what messaging is being intentionally stuffed
down our throats, we accept those things as truth. As measuring sticks against which to measure ourselves.
The media we take in teaches us who deserves what. It teaches us who deserves respect,
autonomy, health, love, worth, access to education, financial stability, housing, health care, and more.
autonomy, health, love, worth, access to education, financial stability, housing, health care, and more.
It teaches us that beauty defines a woman’s worth in every other way.
It teaches us that beauty is whiteness, cisness, able-bodiedness, straightness, and thinness.
It teaches us wrong.
It teaches us that beauty is whiteness, cisness, able-bodiedness, straightness, and thinness.
It teaches us wrong.
By creating a belief system in our heads about what we must be in order to be beautiful, people make money off what we spend chasing those impossible ideals. The messaging of the world is curated in order to convince us to spend money chasing impossible ideals.
………
MASS MEDIA REPRESENTATION
ACTIVITY
Perhaps the most harmful consistent messaging we receive is from mass media.
TV shows, movies – the stories we grow up watching are the stories we grow up believing.
Think about the stories you hear about fat women – are they the funny best friend?
Are they the revenge body weightloss story (hi, Khloe Kardashian)?
Are they losing weight to become their best selves? Their true selves?
Are any of them fat – but that’s not important –
because they are brave, and wild, and free, and employed, and smart, and trailblazing, and
traveling, and homemaking, and parenting, and loving, and being women? Just being brilliant,
wonderful women?
1. Make a list of the times you’ve felt represented in mass media (film, television, ads)
2. Make a list of media outlets that make you feel amazing:
3. How would you like to see yourself represented in mass media?? What is a character you would love to see on TV? What would rock your world to see??
JOURNAL PROMPT
Look at the top 5 media outlets you pay attention to. Look at the top 5 people you spend time with. Do they reinforce a positive sense of self worth, or do they make you feel less than? Reflect on the media you consume the most and the people you spend the most time with, how does this affect your self worth?
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