~springrain

this is unrelated to the above picture... but it's an example of how the media influences...

i am a child of the "wonder years"... i was raised with television as my babysitter... my best friends and role models were the cast and crew of The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, Leave It To Beaver, Little House on the Praire, A Family Affair, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, I Dream of Jeannie, etc. etc. the list could go on and on and on...

of course, in my child's eyes, i did not see the characters as actors and actresses... they were REAL people... and i compared myself and my life to theirs.... they were the "rule" in which i lived by...

that said, there was a Diet Pepsi commericial that started in the late 70's... i can still here the music in my head... "Diet Pepsi just one calorie, now you see it,now you don't" ANYWAY... i was a young teenager... and body image needless to say was a large issue in my life... the model in that Diet Pepsie commercial wore a swimsuit that was the white equivalent the the infamous red "Baywatch" bathing suit... i wanted to be that girl... i needed to be that girl...

in the months that followed, that commerical, as well as every magazine article i could find with a "perfectly" shaped, scantily clad model became my "grading key" so to speak... i contanstly compared myself to those images, truly believing that those pictures... those beautiful women with flawless bodies were the NORM... that was what i needed to strive toward... they were contact reminders of my inadequacies... and thus, i spent the next 15 years of my life in eating disorder HELL.

now don't get me wrong... eating disorders are complex... and i certainly don't blame a single Diet Pepsi commercial for my eating disorder as a whole...
but the influence of the media... and the power it had in my life at that time... GREATLY effected my self perception... not only in the ways i should LOOk... but in ways i should act, feel, and pretty much BE as a person...

i believe, that the media as a whole, greatly effects both our conscious and unconsious mind.
i am an avid NO-CENSORSHIP supporter... and i love the way in the which the mass media has brought this vast world closer together in the past few decades... but as so many people, young and old alike, are encompassed by the ever growing presence of the mass media in our every day lives... i would like to see more accountability... more realistic representations of people in general...

*kicking my soap box back under desk and sitting down with a Diet Pepsi*
*smirk*... some things die hard...