Program We Love: About-Face

Everywhere women turn, there are images and messages from the media basically telling us we’re not good enough. We’re not skinny enough, not pretty enough, our hair isn’t shiny enough…you get the idea. We just love to see beautiful perfect looking women on TV, and the media loves to comply. But what is this doing to us? To adult women, and especially young girls who can’t measure up to model frames, and airbrushed skin? About-Face knows exactly how these messages are affecting girls, and they’re working hard to do something about it.

About-Face is a program aiming to boost self-esteem and stifle destructive behavior in young women. They blast what they call a “toxic media environment” and cite it as the reason so many girls feel inadequate and turn to unhealthy outlets like sexual promiscuity and eating disorders. From their mission statement:

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.

Through various programs and its website, About-Face encourages girls to take a stand against the media portrayal of women, and gives them the advice and encouragement they need to improve their own body image. We think that is absolutely awesome. This is something girls should really be speaking out more about. We should not let the media dictate the way we feel about ourselves and we need to help young girls realize this before they turn to unsafe methods of dealing with their insecurities.

You can find out ways to support the About-Face cause here.