It’s been almost a full year since I’ve been doing Dove Self-Esteem workshops, and every time I host a workshop it just keeps getting better.
One of my favorite parts of the workshop is the discussion about Photoshop and image enhancing. I love watching the faces of the girls as they watch the Dove video, “Evolution”. It never fails; there are always expressions of shock as they see how quickly a model’s face can be changed by make-up, lighting and computer software into an image we see all around us on billboards and magazines: an image that is unrealistic.
Millions of girls strive to look like these models in magazines. And even if the video just puts a little bug in their ear about what self-esteem is, who or what influences it, and how to handle the pressures, that’s more than they had when they walked into the workshop.
I encourage you to host these workshops. You’ll be astounded how much you get out of doing them. At the very end, we close with the “Real Beauty Promise” where the girls write down a promise they’ll keep; something they learned from the workshop. I get goose bumps hearing the amazing things the girls share.
You don’t have to be a professional speaker or any kind of expert to do it. Just a desire to help the next generation be freed from the ridiculous beauty pressures that surround us every day. YOU can make a difference.
Andrea Owen, Guest Blogger for Team Jess; Life Coach and Speaker: Live Your Ideal Life (http://www.liveyourideallife.blogspot.com/)
I signed up ages ago (probably sometime last summer) and never got my materials. Guess I should try and get in touch with someone to see if they were ever sent, and maybe got lost.
Thanks for sharing this. The Dove Workshops are shining a light on the reality that a lot of what girls, and we as women, compare ourselves to is an illusion.
I’d love to hear the discussion that must happen around the role make up plays in body image. My four year old daughter was watching me prep for a dinner out with friends. As I was putting eye liner on, she asked “Mama, is that a crayon? Why are you coloring your face?” Stopped in my tracks by the loaded question, I had to pause. Then I said “It’s an eyeliner. It makes my eyes look bigger.” The wise red head responded “I like them the size they already are.”
Wow, that was a wakeup call. Most women I know(including myself) do wear makeup, and of course the girls in our lives want to be like us. I’m trying to “put my makeup face” on less on a daily basis, but will not abandon makeup altogether. In all honesty, when out at a gathering or performance does make me feel put together, and more confident. It’s a tricky conversation, as we don’t want to send mixed messages to girls. Love to read others opinions on this.