Healthy Media for Youth Act
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Legislative Advocacy
Lisa Beth Kurz, MD
The bill: #H.R. 4925
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Introduced: 3/24/10 - Healthy Media for Youth Act
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Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to award grants to nonprofit
organizations to provide for the establishment, operation, coordination, and evaluation of
programs to:
• Increase the media literacy of girls and boys
• Support the empowerment of girls and boys in a variety of ways
• Permits giving priority grant applicants providing for non-federal matching funds.
• Directs the Secretary, acting through the CDC and NIH, and in coordination with
the Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development, to review, synthesize, and conduct or support research on
the depictions of girls and women in the media on psychological, sexual,
physical, and interpersonal development of youth.
• Directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to convene a task
force, to be known as the National Task Force on Girls and Women in the Media,
to develop voluntary steps and goals for promoting healthy and positive
depictions of girls and women in the media for the benefit of all youth
Referred: 3/24/10 - The bill was referred to the House Committee
on Energy and Commerce.
Why is this so important?
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According to the Kaiser
Family Foundation Study,
Generation M2 Media in
Lives of 8- to 18-YearOlds (2010), most 8- to
18-year-olds spend
about 7-10 hours a day
using just recreational
media.
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What percentage of girls report being
dissatisfied with their bodies?
a)
b)
c)
d)
15%
30%
65%
85%
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Girls feel pressure from mainstream media to have the
“ideal” body type causing only 34% to be satisfied with
their bodies. (Girl Scout Research Insitute’s, The New Normal, What Girls
Say About Healthy Living (2006)).
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This dissatisfaction increases risk for disordered
eating, depressed mood, and low self-esteem
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Up to 10% of girls suffer from disordered eating
Defining “normal”
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A girl’s definition of “normal” varies based on age, race,
household income, peer group, adult role models, and
self-perception
African American and Latina girls are more satisfied
with their bodies, but are also more overweight
White and asian girls have lower obesity rates, but less
satisfied body perception
Older girls are more satisfied with their body image than
younger girls
Self-evaluation
Sick
Addicted
Overweight
Underweight
Unkempt
Insecure
1
Vegetarians
Athletes
Health zealots
2
3
4
“Nobody wants to be that healthy.”
*Girl Scouts Beauty Redefined slide
5
Healthy
Unhealthy
“Normal”
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60% of girls compare their bodies to fashion models
and 90% say the fashion industry places a lot of
pressure on girls to be thin
The Girl Scout research finds that this body
dissatisfaction leads to unhealthy eating/dieting
habits with over half of the girls (55%) admitting to
diet to lose weight
Even 3rd - 5th graders worry about their appearance
(54%) and specifically their weight (37%). (The Supergirl
dilemma:Girls grapple with the Mounting Pressure of Expectations (2006)).

What percentage of overweight girls
believe they are of normal weight?
a)
b)
c)
d)
25%
45%
10%
33%
At Odds with Reality
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As many as 1/3 of girls age
8-17 have a distorted
perception of their weight:
 45% who are overweight
by BMI
believe they are normal
weight
 14% of normal weight
think they
are overweight
 30% of normal weight girls
age 16-17
are trying to lose weight
Stress due to body image
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Girls worry more than boys especially about
appearance
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Being teased and made fun of is one of the top
worries for girls, especially if overweight
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More than 1/3 of girls age 11-17 report eating
more when stressed out
Physical activity
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Physical activity is positively
correlated to self-esteem
regardless of a girl’s weight
83% of very active girls report
physical activity making them
feel good about themselves
Many girls do not participate in
sports:
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40% do not feel competent
23% do not like the way they
look
Influence of Fashion
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73% of girls with negative body image wish
they were as skinny as the models (compared
to 40% with positive body image)
Girls with neg. body images:
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More likely to starve/refuse to eat (50% vs. 25%)
Vomit after eating (18% vs. 10%)
19% have taken appetite suppressants
15% have taken a laxative
What can fashion industry
change?
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“Real” models
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81% of girls would
rather see natural
photos
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75% are more likely to
buy clothes on real
sized models (85%
African American)
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The American Psychological Association’s report on
the Sexualization of Girls (2007) describes that three
of the most common mental health problems among
girls: eating disorders, depression, and low selfesteem are linked to the sexualization of girls/women
in the media.
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The report also shows frequent exposure to sexualized
media can have negative consequences on sexual health
and avoidance of sexual risk including sexting
These messages and images of girls impact boys as well
• Boys develop unrealistic and unhealthy expectation’s of girls’
and women’s physical appearance.
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Portrayal of women in the media
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Women and girls are underrepresented in leadership
roles in the media.
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Geena Davis Institute on Gender in the Media reports less
than 1 out of 3 speaking roles in children’s movies are
female.
57% of music videos feature women portrayed exclusively
as a decorative, sexual object.
Most adds of leadership or success display Caucasian
women
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This graph depicts a comparison of over 400 films from
1990 - 2006
Smith, S. L. (Annenberg School for Communication); Cook, Crystal A. (The Geena Davis Institute on
Gender in Media): Gender Stereotypes: An Analysis of Popular Films and TV. p. 12-23
This graph depicts randomly sampled 1,034 shows from 12 networks (public and cable) to
include 534 hours of programming from June 12 and August 18, 2005.
Disney's portrayal
Smith, S. L. (Annenberg School for Communication); Cook, Crystal A. (The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media):
Gender Stereotypes: An Analysis of Popular Films and TV. p. 12-23
Healthy Media for Youth Act

Girl Scouts and the American
Psychological Association worked with
Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Shelly Moore
Capito (R-WV)
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Focus on improving youth’s media literacy
and promoting healthy media messages
So what does the bill do?
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Due to the alarming side effects of youths’ exposure to negative messages
about girls/women in the media this bill is urging Congress to support
efforts to ensure efforts to improve youths’ media literacy skills and youth
empowerment programs
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Education tools via critical thinking
Promoting positive depictions of girls/women in media
Countering the perpetuating and damaging effects of gender
roles/stereotypes
Funding projects and organizations
Supporting further research
What’s being done now?
Much research is being done to combat
these issues and get a better grasp of the
effects of media
 Dove has already begun their “real” model
campaign
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Dove Real Beauty
Discussion
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Do you think this bill can appropriately address the
problem?
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What can improve it?
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What can we do as pediatricians?
How do we support the bill?
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Support Healthy Media Images for Girls
References
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American Psychological Association, Task Force on
the Sexualization of Girls. (2007). Report of the APA
Task Force on the Sexualiza- tion of Girls.
Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association. Retrieved from
www.apa.org/pi/wpo/sexualization.html
Beauty Redefined Girls and Body Image
SurveyGirl Scouts of the USA (New York, N.Y.: Girl
Scouts of the USA and The Dove Self-Esteem Fund,
2010)
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Rrrl Girls. “Girls, Sexuality and the Media” 2006.
Smith, S. L. (Annenberg School for
Communication); Cook, Crystal A. (The Geena
Davis Institute on Gender in Media): Gender
Stereotypes: An Analysis of Popular Films and TV.
p. 12-23
Victoria J. Rideout, M.A. Ulla G. Foehr, Ph.D.
and Donald F. Roberts, Ph.D. Generation M2:
Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds.
2010.