I’ve written a bit on the socialization aspect of homeschooling in the past few weeks. One of the serious downsides of our culture is how it defines ‘beauty’ for girls and young women. It’s a consequence of life in a brick-and-mortar school we’ve avoided by homeschooling. Our daughter missed out on the constant self-comparison and comments on appearance and clothing and style that occur daily in our schools. For that I am glad. At 18, she has a healthy self-image with no hints of obsessions or eating disorders. We attribute that to a few things, being protected from the aforementioned environment, a loving home, and above all, her own relationship with God.

I don’t say any of this smugly because I know several young ladies from great families, from a variety of schools including homeschool, who have struggled with self-image and the eating disorders and emotional issues that go with it. That brings me to the latest video released by the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty and the Dove Self-Esteem Fund. This one is called Onslaught.

[youtube JaH4y6ZjSfE]

Dove has produced great resources for those who struggle with this problem and for parents and mentors. If you missed their first video, Evolution, you can see it here (click on ‘Evolution’ in the left column). It’s a jaw-dropping look at how the images are created. The message is this: it’s impossible to measure up with the phony paradigms of beauty.

Ypulse has some great stats and thoughts on the advertising industry’s role.

HT: Tim Schmoyer

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