ORIGINAL PAPERThe Dual Role of Media Internalization in Ad.docx
HT500-FINAL-BenKeeler
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Benjamin C Keeler
HT500 - Professor Blatt, Janet Kwok
Final Project
17 December 2010
"Helping Her Be Her": Proposal for a Relationship Education Curriculum
For Adolescent Boys
Introduction:
There have been continuous efforts in American society to reframe adolescent girls'
understanding of their own physical beauty to counter-act the potentially harmful effects of mass
media portrayals of women's and girls' bodies (Kilbourne, 2010). The ultimate goal of most of these
efforts is to show girls that they can still be beautiful without trying to attain the impossible "thin-
ideal" standards portrayed in the media. But without boys involved in this cultural conversation,
girls may be inevitably stuck negotiating between their newfound "inner" sense of beauty and the
still impossible expectations placed on them by boys who also consume the same mass media
imagery. A related issue is that adolescent girls have been shown to exhibit higher body
dissatisfaction when involved both platonically and romantically with boys, depending on their
level of sexual maturity (Compian, Gowen, & Hayward, 2004). Finally, at least one study has
shown that college-aged men who align themselves with Western beauty ideals exhibit higher
hostility toward women (Forbes et al., 2007). It seems crucial, therefore, that a media literacy and
relationship education curriculum be created for adolescent boys that helps them empathize with,
and give support to, girls as they struggle to navigate mass media messages about physical beauty.
If done properly, this could lead to girls' feeling greater confidence rejecting the thin-ideal images
because boys will be perceived as allies rather than as obstacles. This could also lead to more
harmonious and respectful relationships between adolescent boys and girls that could help in
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stopping hostile beliefs from developing later in college and beyond.
Review of Research:
It is important to view media effects research in light of this proposal. Does the media really
effect girls' beliefs about their body, and in turn, boys' beliefs about girls? It has been substantially
proven that humans learn from models as well as personal experiences, and that television and film
can provide us these models (Bandura, 2002). If these models are seen to receive positive
reinforcement for their behavior, we are more likely to mimic them. Cultivation theory further
proves that television viewing can have considerable effects on one's view of reality, although
further testing of the theory has shown that cultivation effects are most expected in "heuristic
judgments" that are made without much thought (Gerbner, 2002; Shrum, 2002). But this does not
invalidate cultivation theory's importance in this discussion, because most judgments made toward a
person's appearance are made within moments of meeting, which means it is highly possible that
cultivation effects will significantly affect boys' attitudes toward girls' appearance.
If it can be assumed that we not only learn from mass media, but that mass media can affect
our view of reality (especially with regard to our judgments made about personal appearance), then
what are the messages being sent to girls and boys about the female body? A recent study of images
of Playboy Playmates, fashion models, and Miss America Pageant winners showed that all three
categories of women were taller and thinner than the measurements of average women from the
1920s through 1990s (Byrd-Bredbenner & Murray, 2003). This is confirmed in another study that
shows nearly all Playboy centerfolds from 1985 to 1997 had body mass indexes at or below criteria
for anorexia nervosa as established by the American Psychological Association (Brown and Walsh-
Childers, 2002). And perhaps most troubling, fashion models seem to be getting thinner: this study
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also found that twenty years ago, fashion models only weighed 8% less than the average American
woman, but now they weigh 23% less.
If the mass media consistently and pervasively portrays images of women who are thinner
than the average, sometimes dangerously so, then this "media world" can be concluded to be an
unrealistic portrayal, and therefore an unhealthy model for girls. Numerous studies have
demonstrated that exposure to thin-ideal media images is related to internalization of the thin-ideal,
increased body dissatisfaction, and eating disorder symptoms in girls (Brown & Walsh-Childers,
2002; Hofschire & Greenberg, 2002), and that by the time girls enter college, 78% are dissatisfied
with their bodies (Brumberg, 1997, as cited in Hofschire & Greenberg, 2002). However, it cannot
be conclusively stated that these thin-ideal images are the exact cause of these negative effects.
Another logical factor to consider is how these thin-ideal images fit within a larger script girls are
taught about how to most successfully relate with boys.
In a content analysis of television from the 1992-93 primetime television season, the second
most frequent message promulgated by the programs was that "men value and select women based
on their physical appearance" (Ward, 1995). This generally manifested itself as male characters
commenting on female characters' bodies, and was present in all but one of the top ten shows of the
season. A study of popular girls' teen magazines showed that the main message given about what it
means to be feminine is that it revolved around one's physical appearance and successful
relationships with boys (Huntemann & Morgan, 2001). Physical and sexual attractiveness was
pervasively presented as a critical asset in this construction of femininity. With all of this research
taken together, there is a distinct possibility that the higher levels of body dissatisfaction found in
girls who have both platonic and romantic relationships with boys (Compian, Gowen, & Hayward,
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2004) could be the result of a confluence of two processes: 1) appropriation of thin-ideal body
images from mass media, and 2) the belief that being thin is the most reliable way to gain romantic
attention from boys.
There is some research to support the conclusion that these thin-ideal images are affecting
boys' opinions about girls as well, but there has been much more research done on men. Studies
have shown that viewing Playboy centerfolds made men view an image of an average looking nude
female as less attractive than a control group. This negative effect also carried over into the
perceived attractiveness of their romantic partners (Kenrick, Gutierres, & Goldberg, 1989). Other
studies show correlations between the reading of men's' magazines and anticipated disappointment
in meeting an overweight blind date (Harrison & Cantor, 1997, as cited in Hargreaves &
Tiggemann, 2003). Greater mass media consumption by men correlates with higher levels of
conformity to traditional masculinity ideology which is further correlated with more negative
attitudes toward the female body and the idea that breasts are sexual, not functional (Ward,
Meriwether, & Caruthers, 2006). And as stated earlier, higher conformity to Western beauty ideals
has led to increased hostility toward women in college men (Forbes et al., 2007). All of this
research taken together points to a potentially problematic trajectory as boys grow into men that
could be changed with proper interventions in adolescence.
As for studies with adolescent boys, 63% of the participants in one study thought thinness
was "fairly" or "very" important in whether a girl was attractive and a dating interest (Paxton et al.,
2005). However, multiple studies have shown that females at both the college and high school level
over-estimate how thin males expect them to be to be considered attractive (Fallon & Rozin, 1985;
Cohn et al, 1987, as cited in Paxton et al., 2005). This could mean that while males are recalling
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these thin-ideal media images when making judgments about female attractiveness, their
perceptions may not be aligning exactly with the unrealistic images they are consuming, which is
perhaps somewhat encouraging. Another study from two Australian high schools showed that boys
who rated in the medium range on "appearance schematicity" (the belief that physical attractiveness
is important for happiness and success) reported higher levels of importance placed on thinness
when judging attractiveness in girls after viewing television commercials that contained thin-ideal
images of women (Hargreaves, D. & Tiggemann, M., 2003). The researchers concluded that this
could reflect that boys with ambivalent attitudes toward personal appearance may be more easily
affected by images of attractive people on television. Many might argue that ambivalence toward
personal appearance is quite prevalent in males of all ages, so this is a potentially significant
finding.
And finally, researchers who have attempted empirical explanations of cultivation theory
have found some interesting conclusions that are relevant to how boys might absorb and use the
messages they receive about girls' bodies. Most social cognition research supports the idea that
information that is most easily accessible in our brains is that which is most likely to be used to
construct a judgment, especially about other people (Shrum, 2002). Factors that affect ease of
accessibility are frequency and vividness (meaning the degree to which an image is emotionally
interesting and pleasing to the senses). When thinking reflectively about the mass media, it is clear
that thin-ideal and digitally altered images of women are seen quite regularly, and there is no
question that these images are emotionally interesting and pleasing to the senses (especially for
males!), so it follows that these images, once made part of a boy's "image bank" in the brain, might
be used more frequently to make judgments about girls. There is also an "availability heuristic" that
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occurs within people, which means that people tend to infer the frequency of a case or probability of
an occurrence based upon the ease with which a relevant example can be recalled (Tversky &
Kahneman, 1973, as cited in Shrum, 2002). If boys more regularly and easily recall images of thin
or digitally altered women, then they may tend to believe that there are more impossibly beautiful
women in the world than there actually are. This could result in them wondering why the girls in
their school or community cannot be that attractive if they believe there are so many beautiful
women out there. They might also falsely believe that this level of beauty is easily attainable due to
its supposedly high prevalence.
Regardless of the paucity of the current research on the effects of thin-ideal media images on
boys, this all paints a picture that boys are, indeed, affected by mass media's portrayal of the female
body. The main belief they tend to hold is that thinness is important in selecting a romantic partner.
Couple this with the previously mentioned research showing that television and teen magazines
send girls the message that in order to be properly feminine and attract boys, they have to be
physically attractive, and it seems there is a clear need for boys to learn exactly how media
negatively affects the experiences of girls to help end a damaging cycle.
Previous Efforts:
There are few empirically studied youth relationships or media literacy curriculums. The
few that are reviewed for effectiveness tend to focus on media's negative effects on relationships as
a small part of a larger whole, which means the absorption of this crucial message could be
undermined. One such program is called Relationship Smarts Plus. The only evidence in this
program of discussing media's influence on beauty ideals is in lesson four, which describes one
activity where "teacher selected pictures from teen magazines are used to help adolescents learn
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about the differences and connections between love and lust" (Kerpelman et al., 2009). This
program was shown to positively impact students' beliefs about relationships, but the study only
tracked changes in beliefs within the context of eventual marriage. There is no way to tell whether
the study had any positive impact on students' understanding of the media. Also, the curriculum is
designed to be taught in co-ed classrooms, so there is no component specifically directed toward
boys.
Another curriculum available from the same publisher is Healthy Choices, Healthy
Relationships, which is designed by a certified family life educator and primarily for health
education classes (Healthy Choices, Healthy Relationships, 2010). Once again, the curriculum only
has one lesson on media messages, and it focuses on "differences in social messages for males and
females" and "realistic vs. unrealistic gender-role expectations." While this may touch upon the
issue of boys' beliefs about girls' bodies, it does not seem to directly address why it is important for
boys to care about girls' experiences, and how they can properly do this. Like many curriculums of
this nature, it focuses on how media affects both boys' and girls' thoughts about themselves, but
avoids discussion of how each gender can help the other in navigating such messages.
A more promising possibility is one set forth in Owning Up Curriculum: Empowering
Adolescents to Confront Social Cruelty, Bullying, and Injustice, created by Rosalind Wiseman,
author of the highly influential and successful book Queen Bees and Wannabees. It features
separate sessions for boys and girls, including a session for boys entitled "What's Up With Girls?"
that directly explores the unrealistic expectations of "girl world" and how this influences girls'
behavior and self-esteem (Ciardiello, 2010). A main theme is teaching students to understand that
the media influences how they value themselves, which then also affects how they value others. It
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also recommends an accompanying training program for educators prior to teaching the curriculum,
which I believe is a crucial component. Lastly, it was evaluated in 2001 for effectiveness in a
sample of over 400 adolescents (The Empower Program, 2001). Although it is clear that this
curriculum directly addresses media influences on boys' beliefs toward girls, there is only one
session on this out of a total of seventeen, and the overarching focus of the curriculum is on
reducing violence in relationships, both romantic and otherwise. Also, the evaluation of the program
conducted in 2001 focused mainly on tracking skills and knowledge related to relationship violence,
such as levels of verbal aggression, acceptance of sexual harassment, and conflict resolution,
through pre- and post-experience testing. It is hard to know to what degree this curriculum
significantly changed boys' beliefs about girls' bodies, and whether or not they came away more
willing to be supportive of girls in their struggles with media messages.
Lastly, there are many media campaigns, films, and websites dedicated to helping address
this issue, but almost none directed specifically toward boys. The Media Education Foundation is a
non-profit organization dedicated to creating and distributing films and educational resources "to
inspire critical reflection on the social, political, and cultural impact of American mass media"
(About MEF, 2010). It certainly houses wonderful films on the impact of mass media on our beliefs
about our bodies, but has nothing directed specifically toward boys on only this issue.
One film, Slim Hopes: Advertising and the Obsession with Thinness, is supposedly designed
for use in classrooms, but is actually a lecture given by famed feminist cultural critic Jean Kilbourne
interspersed with advertising images to supplement her words. I cannot imagine this format would
be very engaging to adolescents, as even I had difficulty focusing while I viewed it. I am further
concerned that boys might have a hard time absorbing the themes of this film because it is a woman
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speaking, and they may have difficulty believing these are issues that concern them as much as
girls. Another film, entitled Tough Guise: Violence, Media, and the Crisis in Masculinity, is a film
for boys produced and directed by a man, anti-sexist advocate Jackson Katz. This is certainly a step
in the right direction, but its main focus is on exposing the difficult and contradictory values
associated with the male gender role in contemporary American society as it relates to violence of
all forms. There is one section of the study guide entitled "Making Violence Sexy" that indirectly
touches upon how media images of women are unrealistic, but its main focus is how media (and
especially pornography) mask the seriousness of violence toward women by making it appear
permissible in the context of sex and romance (Earp & Katz, n.d.). This is still not directly
addressing this issue with the depth and care necessary to change beliefs permanently.
Objectives, Rationale, and Educational Approach:
The objective of the Helping Her Be Her curriculum is to teach boys to truly empathize with
girls in their struggles to navigate mass media messages and be allies in this struggle. Another
equally essential objective is to show boys that by doing this they can actually benefit in their
relationships with girls. By illuminating how these messages often warp girls' perceptions of boys'
intentions and tend to keep feelings of inadequacy at the forefront of girls' conscious thoughts, I feel
confident that boys can begin to see that empathizing with girls around this issue will reduce
unnecessary confusion and frustration they often feel toward the opposite sex. The last, and
probably most difficult, objective is to help boys unlearn messages they have been given about the
importance of physical beauty in their choices of romantic and sexual partners. This will require
careful work to show them the general differences between masculine and feminine approaches to
life, and how the feminine ways of girls can be complementary and beneficial for their own growth
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and happiness, regardless of how physically attractive a girl may be.
It is essential that this curriculum approach boys from a perspective rooted in male strengths
rather than deficiencies. Curricula of this nature often focus on the problems boys and men cause to
women, from domestic abuse to rape to the tendency to focus on sex in lieu of intimacy, without
also mentioning all the other good things boys and men bring to relationships. Therefore, this
curriculum will incorporate approaches suggested by Kiselica & Englar-Carlson (2010) in their
psychotherapeutic work with boys rooted in positive psychology. Furthermore, typical relationships
curricula have so many other topics to cover that it is hard to tell whether boys might come away
understanding why males cause the vast majority of violence and deception in relationships.
Helping Her Be Her will also address this by incorporating lessons based off of Pleck's ground-
breaking work on "male gender role strain" so that boys can understand how societal and early
developmental pressure have contributed to the problematic behaviors predominantly associated
with their gender (1995). Lastly, rooting boys' understanding of girls in a conceptual framework
about masculine and feminine modes of interaction could prove fruitful if incorporated carefully.
There is a long history in esoteric traditions of opposite but complementary forces (for instance, yin
and yang in the Chinese Taoist tradition) that are often connected to the traditional ways in which
males and females interact. A fascinating modern interpreter of these themes is David Deida, who
grounds much of his work in his former experience as a brain researcher as well his extensive
spiritual training in eastern philosophy and meditation. His book entitled The Way of the Superior
Man approaches relationships between men and women from the context of modes of interaction
we all embody, regardless of our gender or sexual orientation. I feel very strongly that incorporating
some of the key ideas from this book in a way that makes them accessible to adolescent boys could
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provide them a base of pride and power in their understanding of masculine virtue. This will be
important to establish before attempting to change their attitudes toward girls because there will
most likely be initial defensiveness and fear surrounding letting go of these widely held cultural
beliefs that, on the surface, seem to provide boys and men so much power and benefit in
relationships.
It is also essential that this curriculum incorporate research on how boys learn and the best
ways to approach teaching empathy to boys. Work by Michael Gurian (1996, 2005) that balances
discussion of innate biology with the nurturing forces of socialization in creating the male gender
seems most appropriate here. This curriculum will take careful consideration of the latest research
on the male brain, male learning styles, and how to best approach teaching moral values to boys in
the context of sex and love.
This curriculum will also directly show boys how mass media affects them by showing them
the results of some of the studies mentioned in this article. I feel too often that we underestimate
adolescents' ability to absorb this kind of information. We should trust that they will be interested in
these research findings because they allow adolescents to understand more about themselves and
also how society affects them, two processes most adolescents are already doing during these years
of crucial identity development and differentiation from parents.
As a final piece, I think it would be very powerful for boys to experience facilitated
conversations with girls their age as well as older women as part of the curriculum to get a clear and
honest sense of how tough this is for women of all ages. Discussion with older women would also
create, I hope, an aspirational quality to the curriculum that would give the boys a sense of who they
will need to be, and how they will need to think, later on if they want to find romantic success in
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college.
The environment of the classroom must be carefully considered in order for emotional buy-
in and comfort to occur. I feel strongly that a man should be the facilitator and teacher of this
curriculum, preferably one who has done a fair amount of personal reflection and growth in
understanding how media and culture has negatively affected his beliefs and attitudes toward
women. Without an open and understanding teacher who can regularly relate personal anecdotes
from his adolescent years and convey the struggles he faced, and continues to face as an adult man,
this curriculum could very well fall flat. I also feel that everyone in the room, including the teacher,
should be allowed to speak as freely and openly as possible, even if this includes words commonly
off-limits in a traditional school classroom. I believe this will facilitate the highest level of honesty
and authenticity and break down artificial teacher-student barriers that could limit the program's
effectiveness.
As for pedagogical approaches and tests of the curriculum's effectiveness, the latest research
on best classroom practices will be incorporated into the curriculum, including the use of "mastery
learning" assessment practices and "backwards planning" principles of curriculum design (Guskey
2010; Wiggins & McTighe, 2001). A modified version of the Adolescent Masculinity Ideology in
Relationships Scale, first developed by Chu, Porche, and Tolman (2005) will be used to gauge
changes in beliefs boys hold about girls in the context of relationships. This test will be
administered before conducting the curriculum and again at its conclusion.
A last point to make is that adolescent boys' media habits must be taken into consideration
when constructing the curriculum to make sure the activities and discussion line up in an authentic
manner with what boys are actually experiencing and doing with media. Therefore, extensive
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research on how boys are actually interacting with media will need to be studied prior to creating
the curriculum (Rideout et al., 2010).
For a curriculum overview and sample lesson, see Appendix.
Conclusion:
The Helping Her Be Her curriculum is an essential component of any work done with girls
on increasing their sense of self-esteem and "inner" beauty. Without this, they will inevitably be
stuck between wanting to stay true to their newfound confidence and having to continue navigating
unrealistic expectations from boys in their lives. This curriculum should most likely be piloted in a
progressive private school where experimenting in the classroom and leeway in teacher-student
verbal interactions is provided for in the school culture. I doubt that the public school environment
would be the best place to start this without first piloting and proving its long-term effectiveness
through data collection before and after conducting the program.
There are potential next steps that could be effective if used in conjunction with the
curriculum. A component that should grow out of this are teacher-facilitated discussion groups with
both boys and girls that center around body image, self-esteem, and how this affects friendships and
relationships. Another exciting possibility could be a national ad campaign that gets boys thinking
about how this issue of body dissatisfaction affects them in their relationships with girls. I think an
interesting idea would be to use boys from the pilot study as actors in the advertisements. The ads
would focus on candid, unscripted interviews with boys and center on how helping girls with this
issue can help all boys and men.
References
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Byrd-Bredbenner, C, & Murray, J. (2003). A comparison of the anthropometric measurements of
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Chu, J., Porche, M., & Tolman, D. (2005). The adolescent masculinity ideology in relationships
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Ciardiello, S. (2010) 'Owning up curriculum: Empowering adolescents to confront social cruelty,
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APPENDIX: Curriculum Overview and Sample Lesson
The Helping Her Be Her curriculum will be designed for boys in middle adolescence (aged
12 to 14) and comprised of 10 lessons. Progression of lessons will be as follows:
1. Why We Matter To Girls and Women: Returning a Sense of Pride In Being a Guy
2. Why We Like Looking: Breaking Down and Accepting Male Attraction
3. Seeing Is Not Believing: Digitally-Altered Beauty in Mass Media
4. Looking Critically at The Messages: Films, Television, and Print Ads
5. Media's Effect on Males: The Third Person Effect, Playboy Centerfolds, and Beyond
6. Media's Effect on Females: Thin-Ideal Images, Body Dissatisfaction, and Depression
7. "Why Are Girls Such a Pain?": Media's Effects on Our Relations With Women/Girls
8. What's In It For Me?: Discussing Why We Need To Understand Girls' Perspectives
9. In Their Voice: Facilitated Discussions with Teenage Girls and College Women
10. What Can We Do?: Formulating Compassionate Responses
Sample - Lesson 3: Seeing Is Not Believing
Objectives:
To begin questioning the harmful assumptions we make about girls and women in our
relationships with them;
To illuminate how drastically altered both men's and women's bodies usually are in print and
television media;
Time Requirement: 60 minutes
Materials:
Computer with access to Internet
LCD projector and screen
Scraps of paper
Quick Quiz on yesterday's lesson (to be created later)
Preparation:
1. Connect the computer to the LCD projector
2. Bring up the following website addresses on the computer:
a. Pop Culture Magazine Retouching - http://www.frankwbaker.com/isbmag.htm
b. Interactive Cover Model Photo - http://demo.fb.se/e/girlpower/retouch/
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c. Greg Apodaca Photography -http://homepage.mac.com/gapodaca/digital/bikini/bikini2.html
d. Dove "Evolution" ad - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hibyAJOSW8U
3. Set up chairs and tables so that the boys will be sitting in groups of three or four with tables
spread out around the room.
4. Have ready two short anecdotal stories from your personal experience. One, a time when you
either silently or openly judged a girl in middle or high school on her personal appearance. Two, a
time when you did this recently.
Procedures:
1. Begin with a "Quick Quiz" (ungraded) on three aspects of yesterday's lesson on the biological
and socially constructed reasons for men's attraction to beautiful female bodies. Collect these papers
for later review (to assess how well they "got it" yesterday). Reiterate the main message of
yesterday's class: Most of this attraction is socially constructed, not biological, and therefore
something to look at critically.
2. Have boys share their homework assignment: What did the girls and women say in response to
the questions? (Below)
a) "What makes you feel attractive?"
b) "Do your thoughts change when a man/boy you find attractive is near you?"
c) "What do you feel when you look at a magazine cover of a beautiful woman?"
3. Ask yesterday's wrap-up question, with last night's homework now in mind: "How can focusing
so much on physical beauty in women/girls limit us as boys and men?" Add a new question: "How
might it harm women and girls?"
4. Get the boys thinking about the judgments they make about girls' appearance. Begin by sharing
your two personal stories.
5. Have them each think of a time they were either silently judgmental about a girl's body or openly
expressed it in words to another person (either the girl or a friend). Give them 5 minutes to think on
their own, jotting down notes in their journals to remember the key story points, if necessary.
6. Give them 15 minutes to share their stories. Teacher should cycle around the room and listen in,
looking for common themes to share with whole group.
7. Have four or five boys share their stories. Ask: Is there a pattern emerging?
8. Take a 3-minute "brain break" by getting the boys up out of their chairs, moving to new desk, and
then doing ten pushups each. (You do them too!)
9. Tell group: "We're going to take a look today at how celebrities and models are significantly
19. Keeler 19
digitally altered to look flawlessly perfect in most every photo you see in magazines. Let's keep all
that we've discussed in mind while we look. Write the guiding question on the board: "What
function does this digital alteration serve in celebrity culture?"
10. Tell boys they have the option to stand in the back of the room and quietly move around while
they look at the images as long as they're respectful of others' line of sight to the screen.
11. Cycle through all of the online resources, stopping for comments and reflections when
appropriate.
12. Wrap-up discussion: Potential lead-in questions: "What was most shocking?" "Was anything
funny to you?" "Was anything upsetting?" "
13. Three-Minute Free Write: Have boys write on a slip of paper the one message they got from
today's lesson. Hand it in to teacher.
13. Explain homework assignment: Two parts...
Part 1: Find the following three images from color magazines: 1) a photo that features a
woman most prominently in the image, 2) a photo that features a man most prominently in
the image, and 3) a photo that has a man and a woman in the image, with relatively equal
'weight' given to each.
Part 2: Go back to one of the girls or women you spoke with last night and tell them about
what you saw and learned today. Ask them: "Are you aware of how much digital alteration
happens in these images?" Also ask them: "How often do you remember this fact when you
look at these images?"