Will The New Diverse Barbies Actually Change Anything? (IMAGES/VIDEO)
Much has been made of Mattel’s new redesign of the Barbie doll to recapture the public’s imagination and pad their shrinking sales. The move has been lauded in such publications as Time and the New York Times as a strong boost to feminism and the continuing battle against women’s body dysmorphia and body image issues, but how strong is Mattel’s message, and is redesigning a doll going to change all that? Barbie is an iconic doll. From her introduction in 1959, where her job was as a teenage fashion model, until now, she has been…
The Benefits of Dialectic Behavioral Therapy for Treating Eating Disorders
This post was contributed by guest author Mel Hollins. Dialectical-behavioral therapy (DBT), as developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan, is a type of therapy that helps patients reduce emotional reactivity and improve thought patterns and interpersonal interactions. The therapy, a hybrid of cognitive-behavioral therapy and tenets from eastern philosophies (primarily Buddhism), was created to help those who struggle with borderline personality disorder and chronic suicidality. However, DBT has also shown promise in the treatment of substance use disorders and eating disorders. DBT is a problem-solving, but accepting approach – one that helps…
The Paradox of #WeighThis
Cyndi Springford is the founder of Love Your Body Project: Peace, Love and Food and an ACE/AFAA Certified Personal Trainer, RRCA Certified Running Coach, Certified Eating Psychology Coach with training from the following organizations: www.acefitness.org, www.afaa.com,www.psychologyofeating.com, www.rrca.org. Having worked in the fitness industry since 1993, her unique background in eating psychology and her own unique journey with food, I felt Cyndi was someone whose words would really resonate with all of you. This is a fantastic post from her blog, Cyndi Lou Running. A friend of mine posted a link on my fb timeline today,…
Weight Stigma Awareness Week 2015: September 21-25
Weight stigma and bias is something that permeates our culture, but is rarely ever spoken about like other forms of discrimination like racism, sexism and homophobia. The subject is so ignored, that many people don’t even know what weight stigma is. According to Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA), weight stigma is: “Bullying, teasing, negative body language, harsh comments, discrimination or prejudice based on a person’s body size or weight.” Once it’s clearly defined, you might recognize yourself as a victim of this sort of stigma. It is an important topic that…
What A Photoshop Class Taught Me About Impossible Beauty Standards
I was sixteen years old when I finally decided to confront the horrible body image issues I’d been fighting for the last ten years of my life. I was tired of looking at advertisements, music videos and magazines that never reflected my body type or features. I was even more tired of being depressed about it. That’s when the idea for BeUtiful came to me, and that’s when I started to release myself from those impossible beauty standards. I tried to educate myself on what was behind those picture-perfect images, but…
