Love the Skin You’re In by Brie Mathers

This week we had body-image activist Brie Mathers visit our parent and student community. Brie is an activist whose work is focused on liberating youth from the messages driven by media about what qualities make someone attractive and lovable.  She helps to deconstruct ideas influenced by the media’s focus on sexualized external beauty and highlights the beauty of inner strength, character, and brain power.

Last night Brie Spoke with the parents and gave some useful tips about having good conversations with your child about this topic. She recommends using teachable opportunities to have authentic conversations. For example when you are shopping, watching movies or commercials on TV, magazines that might be lying around your house, passing billboards when you are driving; you can prompt conversation by wondering about how the images are manipulated, what the message to the consumer is about masculinity or femininity, who wins from the message, who loses, and what are the alternatives.

Some great books and movies to stimulate conversations that she recommended were:

The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf
Reality Bites Back: The Troubling Truth about Guilty Pleasure TV Programming
I’m Like So Fat: Helping Your Teen Make Healthy Choices about Eating and Exercise in a Weight-Obsessed World by Dianne Neumark-Sztainer
The Body-Image Work Book by Thomas. F Cash

Documentaries:

MissRepresentation
The Mask You Live In
The True Cost

 

Big thanks to Brie for sharing her passion, recommendations, and message of love with us! For more on the amazing Brie Mathers please visit lovetheskinyourein.net.