Ava and her mentor, Tonya, take a break between workshops at the TBIO conference in L.A.
	What Is It? The "Turn Beauty Inside Out" onference engages girls' ages 8-16 and their parents/mentors in active learning workshops where they interact with industry professionals. The conference is part of the grassroots "Turn Beauty Inside Out Campaign" run by Mind on the Media, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising our awareness of images of girls and women in the media. The next TBIO Leadership Conference is May 5-7, 2006, in New York City and will focus on why women and girls are not equally represented in the music industry as performers, writers, musicians, and producers; the conference will also give participants resources, knowledge, and skills so that they can create their own opportunities. Want to get involved? Check out www.tbio.org for more information.

Making Over Hollywood
Modifying the Beauty Image at Its Source

By Ava, 16
By Girls, For Girls National Advisory Committee member

The 2,459 miles between New Jersey and California make for a long trip for seasoned travelers—it's even longer for first-time travelers like me. I'd never been on a plane before, but when I was given the opportunity to be a part of a conference in Los Angeles that addressed how women are portrayed by the media, I couldn't say no.

The Word with Many Definitions

What is beautiful to you? Are you your own ideal image of beauty? Is your mother? Your best friend? Or is your definition of beauty the image of a tall, skinny model?

The old saying, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," is true; every person perceives beauty in a different way. Unfortunately, the media defines beauty as the tall, skinny model. Our goal at the "Turn Beauty Inside Out" (TBIO) Conference was to focus on this definition and brainstorm ways to redefine it.

Ambitious? Certainly. Could a group of 100 women and girls really change society's view of what is beautiful?

Redefining Beauty

Actresses like Geena Davis (Beetlejuice, Stuart Little) and America Ferrera (Real Women Have Curves, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) shared their stories of how difficult it is to be "beautiful" in Hollywood. With helpful insights from speakers like Geena and America, and Q&A sessions with producers and writers, we examined the media's image of beauty.

As a group, we came to two conclusions:
1) The media's standard image of beauty is an airbrushed model.

2) Our definition of beauty is one where females of all races and sizes are included.

Workshops with industry professionals really brought us directly into the process of how images of beauty are presented to the public—and what we can do to make the images more universal.

Here are some things the group suggested to Hollywood executives who were present at the conference:

• Lose the stereotypes—have more complex girl characters (for example, popular girls aren't always mean, smart girls aren't always "nerds").
• Have girls play roles their own age!
• Cast diversity of personalities, ethnicities, religions, etc.
• Show girls wearing normal (and more!) clothes!
• Show good and bad friendships and relationships.
• Let us see more realistic families—family members should respect each other.
• Characters need to change over time.

Taking Action

Everyone has a qualm or two with society—but when all females have the same qualm, change is bound to happen eventually. Like me, you've probably been disgusted and offended by the stick-thin, makeup-covered, "ideal" female in magazines, movies, and television.

To create change, we must work together to turn beauty inside out. How?

• Support media (TV shows, movies, magazines, etc.) where women are portrayed as real women (different sizes, races, character, and all of the wonderful things that make us beautiful). Don't watch it if you don't support its message.
• Write letters to studios about what you like and don't like.
• Use your consumer power!
• Think and talk with friends about your opinions of TV and movies.

Also, we all must realize how beautiful we are individually. So, right now, take your first step toward turning beauty inside out and tell yourself that you're beautiful, because YOU ARE!