The requests for presentations have been rolling in, the girls and I have been so busy! Self-Esteem and the Media is probably our most popular presentation, and we have been spreading the message of positive self-esteem all throughout Boston. On Friday, March 13th, we had the opportunity to visit an organization called Teen Voices, an awesome magazines for teen girls. It doesn’t include any negative advertisements or articles on how to alter your body by dieting. So with their experience at Teen Voices, these girls were ready to tackle this issue.

Initially the girls and I were apprehensive because we knew we were presenting to a large group of about 30 girls. Usually our presentations are for small groups (maybe 15 girls at the most) so we had to make some changes to our presenatation to accommodate the group. Also, since these young ladies work for a magazine we didn’t know how familiar they were with subliminal messages in the media. Presenting to a large group was definitely intimidating, but with the help of the instructors and peer leaders the group was very dynamic. The girls from took on leadership roles to help other girls in the group feel comfortable and engaged. The discussion around photoshopping and airbrushing women to take away their flaws and make them look “perfect” was intense. These young women were outraged about the lies of media. Knowing the truth about media images made the girls feel much better about themselves.

We hope the girls at Teen Voices continue to empower young women through their positive magazine. We also hope they take what we’ve taught them about the media and use that to their advantage.

-Nisi