'Ads not only sell products, but also values, images and concepts of love, sexuality and success ... advertising tells us who we are and who we should be'.
Following these phrases that should put us all on alert, is Jean Kilbourne, North American feminist-oriented author, whose works on the image that represents women in advertising have been widely recognized.
Jean is a woman born in 1943 who transmits a great force during her lectures. She graduated from Wellesley College and has a PhD from Boston University. Its dissemination activity includes conferences in educational centers of all levels in the United States.
The video that I share with you today is just a sample of Juan Kilbourne's professional work on public health issues that include eating disorders, addiction, and violence against women.
I think it is very important that parents address these issues at home with our children, and keep in mind that (as we said the other day) 'childhood hypersexualization can turn girls into object women'.
Is the obsession with physical perfection the origin of eating disorders?
During the conference part (it actually belongs to a series) entitled 'Killing us softly', Jean does not hesitate to state that 'girls receive the message that they must be impossibly beautiful from a very young age'.
And they also end up accepting that 'they will fail' (because the image they receive has been previously retouched, and no one, not even the famous one who becomes a model, can resemble such fiction)
The video accuses the trend that emphasizes physical perfection of being one of the causative factors of eating disorders in the United States. It goes without saying that these disorders are occurring in all industrialized countries.
Girls turned into female objects
In a brilliant analysis, Jean is able to make us see that the first step of violence against women through advertising is the 'reification'.
Pretty, sexy, thin girls ... become part of a video game, in a container, in all kinds of objects that represent consumption, Is it tolerable from an ethical point of view?
'The woman's body is dismembered, is there anything more dehumanizing?'
Jean is direct and forceful, but It is also warm and encourages dialogue, even in the face of such controversial issues.. When a good friend shared the video with me, I thought it was a good opportunity to transmit these ideas to you, it seems to me that we all need to know more about these issues, and then talk about it with our children.
His latest book 'So sexy, so soon, the new sexualized childhood and what parents can do to protect their kids' can be found on Amazon for $ 10.20 (although at the time I'm writing this they only have 9 units in stock , but expect more).
