Media Literacy: You Are Not a Butcher (Change Your Thoughts, Not Your Thighs!)

Welcome to my weekly series, “Change Your Thoughts, Not Your Thighs!”  Read on for tips about how to transform body image without changing your size or shape.  And check back every Friday for more ideas.  Or, better yet, subscribe by email or RSS, so that you get body-loving goodness delivered right to you!

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If you’re struggling with body image, it’s likely that you have something in common with the local butcher.  You probably see the world much like he does, by evaluating legs and thighs, breasts and backs, to determine the fat to muscle ratio and to decide which parts measure up, as well as which parts fail.  But unlike the butcher, who performs such assessment only on expired animals waiting to be cleaved, you are doing it to your own body–to your physical home.

When we consider the images surrounding us, it’s not surprising that so many of us think this way; pictures of faceless women depicted only by their parts—parts we’re supposed to covet, or parts we’re supposed to loathe–are ubiquitous.   Trim thighs, dimpled thighs, muscled stomachs, muffin tops—we see the gamut.

For some with acute body image concerns, the only answer is to severely limit media exposure–to cancel subscriptions to fashion and tabloid magazines and cut out most commercial television and cinema.  But given the scope of advertising and the fact that we can be reached nearly anywhere, this solution is somewhat short-sighted.

Just last weekend, I was confronted by a plastic surgeon’s advertisement in the restroom of a restaurant where I ate dinner.  “Feeling a little fugly?” * asked text superimposed onto predictable photos of a (headless) body, ample “before” and much reduced “after.”  I was horrified by this mean-spirited ad, which glared at me from beneath a protective plexiglass cover on the wall.  How many women had lost their appetite after seeing it, and returned to the table reeling in shame?  How many left the bathroom feeling they were no longer entitled to eat that chocolate cake they’d just ordered?

Since we cannot entirely avoid the far-reaching arm of the media, we need a way to deal with it, to defuse its messages so that they lose their power.  One way to do this is to concentrate on the market forces that underlie these images–the fact that money is the primary driver–and to acknowledge that advertising is ultimately about increasing profits through manipulation and pressure.  When we hate our bodies, we are playing right into the hands of money-grubbing industries which both fuel our negative thoughts and then profit immensely from them.  Advertising works because we forget this, or we trick ourselves into believing that we aren’t susceptible to its powerful sway.  News flash:  We are.  How else do you think that legions of people came up with the idea that thin is hot and fat is not?

Second, we need to hone our skills in media literacy so that we understand what—besides that little floral dress or tub of wrinkle cream—is really being hocked.  Typically, ads hope to convince us that we’ll be getting not just the product we purchase, but a set of accompanying intangibles: love, eternal youth, freedom from anxiety or depression, success, happiness, an elevation in social status, and the envy of our peers.  So how could you say no to that bottle of shampoo, when it comes with all that!

Beautiful friends and a boat--yours with the purchase of Tommy Hilfiger!

Another technique involves assessing our reaction to the images we encounter.  It can be incredibly liberating to look at an ad and say, “Is my skin really so awful that I need to buy that high-dollar cream, or is this slick ad working its magic on me?  Would I find those hard-earned lines around my eyes so problematic if I weren’t staring at her airbrushed, impossibly pore-less face?”

Sometimes we buy women’s magazines because it’s fun to look through them—to see clothes that are more fantastic than pragmatic, and to witness the theatrics of fashion.  Or we adore the nuggets of compelling content interspersed in the sea of ads.

If we have fairly good body image, such exposure can be harmless, particularly if we remind ourselves that the images we witness are only weakly tied to reality.  But if we find ourselves experiencing the dark and detrimental effects of advertising, then it’s time to step back and take stock of our media consumption.  Are we overdoing it?  Do we need to spend less time flipping through glossy magazines, and more time interacting with the very real—and varied—women who surround us?  Has our focus on “problem areas” distracted us from the fact that, unlike chickens, our value doesn’t derive from the size of our breasts?

Because unless you’re making sausage, there’s no need to think like a butcher.  And that blood-stained apron is so last year.

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How are you affected by the use of body parts in advertising?  And do you try to limit your exposure to the media?

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Most of you have likely seen this, but if not, here is Dove’s powerful (and quick) demonstration of what it takes to go from au naturel to camera-ready.  (With a little help from the trusty computer, of course, just to ensure that our standards are truly unrealistic.)

* In case you are over the age of 14, or otherwise totally uncool, fugly is a combination of the f-word and ugly.  Charming, I know.

Photo Credits 1. sheffieldhammer via Flickr’s Creative Commons License; 2. source.