Dove's "Onslaught"

Thanks to ysmarko for this one. This newest short film in the dove “real beauty” campaign comes out of England and is hard hitting. When I watched it I felt a profound sadness roll over me. Is there any hope for our daughters when our mothers and sisters are already so unhappy with their own bodies? I also felt rage, rage that women are daily hit with so many messages telling them what they should like that they almost have no hope of building a healthy self concept of themselves. How many women are truly OK with how they look? I'm not sure if I've met any. As a man who loves his daughter, I'm truly scared.

See more on this at CNN: Pressure to Look Perfect Drives Girls to Destructive Behavior: Dove(R) and Hollywood Team Up to Give Girls a Reality Check About What Goes on Behind-the-Scenes

Some Chilling Statistics:

- The average person sees between 400 and 600 advertisements per day - equivalent to more than one message for every waking minute.
- The average US girl has the opportunity to see an estimated 77,546 commercials by the time she is 12 years old.

This growing phenomenon is having a direct impact on girls’ self-image and even causing some to engage in destructive behavior. The Dove Self-Esteem Fund/Seventeen Body Image Survey also revealed:

- 93 percent of girls and young women report feeling anxiety or stress about some aspect of their looks when getting ready in the morning
- This could explain why more than 70 percent of girls and young women avoid activities when they feel bad about their looks including giving their opinion, attending school and even going to the doctor.
- 76 percent of girls and young women admit to partaking in unhealthy activities when they feel badly about their bodies
- 58 percent of girls describe themselves in negative terms, including words like “disgusting” and “ugly,” when feeling badly about themselves.
- Nearly four out of 10 engage in unhealthy eating behaviors, such as anorexia or bulimia.
- More than one out of 10 girls has used cutting or self-inflicted injury as a coping mechanism.

For those of us who are Christ followers, what can we do about this? God help us!

Please.

May Light increase!