Being a “critical viewer of the media” includes building up your resistance to negative body image messages projected by magazines, billboards, television – all forms of media.  Seeing the truth behind these messages, and being aware that things are not always as they seem in pictures, is part of this critical viewing process.   For parents, it is particularly important to talk to your kids about how magazine covers and other media outlets don’t actually portray real bodies.  Recently, the LA Times published an article which highlights our cultural obsession with Photoshop and how it is constantly used by the media to create an unrealistic definition of beauty and perfection.  Read the LA Times article , Photoshopped images: the good, the bad and the ugly, and then join in a discussion about it on our Facebook page or our discussion board.

Above image courtesy of blogocrats.files.wordpress.com