Media

DrRobynSilverman. "Dr Robyn Silverman- Body Image Expert on ABC News Now." //YouTube//. N.p., 2 Sept. 2011. Web. 1 May 2011. .

Dr. Robyn Silverman is a body image and child development expert, a speaker, and author of the book //Good Girls Don’t Get Fat// a book about adolescent girls and body image. She has also been an expert consulted for several televisions shows, magazines, and books on the topic of body image. This video is an informational report- its purpose is to give parent information on how to reinforce healthy body image in their daughters. The video’s intended audience is the lay person- it appears on an ABC news show, which the general public may watch.

Dr. Silverman’s thesis is that the message “fat is bad, skinny is good” is a part of children’s mindsets as early as preschool or kindergarten and that parents play a major role in shaping a healthy body image. Kids who are even only slightly heavy may become a target for teasing as a result. One of her major arguments is that the mother plays a very important role in terms of what children eat and how their direct or indirect comments and behaviors (directed at the child or themselves) can influence the child’s body image. Another major argument is that a strong father-daughter relationship can impact body image as well- daughters can take fathers’ comments towards body image as a masculine perspective on body image and apply it to how they think other men see them. Fathers joking about their daughters’ weight can be harmful, just as not saying anything when women start to criticize other women’s weight/ body image can be harmful. The message of not saying anything could mean, as a daughter might interpret it, that men also think this way, even if this is not the case. Dr. Silverman then discusses ways parents can help their children form a healthy body image such as looking at some of their own behaviors towards body weight, not talking about their weight or the weights of others within the house, showing children a wide definition of beauty that includes personality traits and valuing women of all shapes and sizes as well as encouraging children’s media literacy. She covers the individual role of both parents in forming a healthy body image and ways parents can help their children do so.

Dr. Silverman cites studies by major universities and the resulting statistics in regards to body image. For example, a study found 95% of girls between the ages of 16 and 21 want to change their body in some way. In addition, she cites specific ways mothers, fathers, and the media can negatively influence body image. Specifically, the information on the role of the media, and how parents can counteract its negative role are helpful in terms of discussing how the media influences adolescent girls’ body image.

The video is very clear and easy to follow, and Dr. Silverman cites a lot of her research and the research of others to support her arguments. She adequately addresses the role of both parents and the media in the formation of body image, as this is what she was to discuss on the show. Dr. Silverman seems fairly objective in terms of the roles of both parents, but seems very anti-media, as this is often a root cause of body image issues.

This source not only addressed the media’s role in adolescent girls’ body image, but how parents can either exacerbate or deescalate this issue based on their own behavior. The statistics cited by Dr. Silverman would be helpful in my own topic, as they address the narrow view of beauty set forth by the media. This information also helped me develop my own argument as it not only provides support for it, but also adds another element to the media’s negativity- the role of parents in either worsening or ameliorating their daughters’ body image issues.