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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 equips women and girls with tools to understand and resist harmful media messages that affect their self-esteem and body image. We do this through our three programs: Education Into Action media-literacy workshops; Take Action, which enables girls and women to develop and execute their own actions; and About-Face.org, our web site.
About-Face is based in San Francisco, California (USA). At this time, our workshops and action groups reach throughout the San
Francisco Bay Area. Our web site 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 the burden of body-image problems so they will be capable of fulfilling their
varied and wondrous potentials.
The time for this change is now. Don't you agree? Click here to find out how you can support About-Face's work.
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