Compliments to my Final Project

The pieces that were read for class will compliment my final project very well. Considering my topic has to do with body image and the objectification of women, made into lesson plans and delivered to high school students, it only makes sense that the writings about body image would highlight some key elements I hope to cover during my “unit.”
Something I was yet to ponder is a heavy body when thinking about body image. Until this point I had acknowledged that the ideal body was what high school students were consumed with, but Kathleen LeBesco brought to my attention that the opposite of the ideal plays a large role in the minds of many. I like the comparison she brings up of “citizen” and “non-citizen.” Similarly to negligence in a broader way of thinking was taking into account the race of the ideal body. This point screamed at me through “Black and Brown Bodies Under the Knife.” A claim made by LeBesco that pulled both together for me was, “Widely publicized cases of fat children removed from their homes—their bodies taken as evidence of their abuse and neglect at the hands of their parents—typically involving people of color and the poor or working class” (LeBesco, Citizen Profane, pp. 63). This embodies the opposition to ideal: NOT white and NOT thin.
By opening up the conversation a little further, a multitude of students will be reached and included. It is crucial to relate to students as a teacher if a lesson is intended to be learned. For my final project I will be creating a series of lessons and activities for high school aged students to become engaged in. One activity I am planning is having students bring in a minimum of five images of their favorite celebrity. As a class we will be examining what the media focuses on. What I think will be interesting is to see if non-white students will bring in non-white celebrities. It will be a productive discussion if we could begin to explore the social pressures of body image among cultural and racial backgrounds.
I also found Amy Richards’ article “Body image, Body image: Third Wave of Feminism” to be enlightening. A quotation I will most definitely use in the research of my final project presented by Richards says, “Mention teen magazines, for example, and many young women react viscerally, offering stories of how fat/ugly/ethnic/misfitting/self-hating that magazine made them feel” (Richards, pp.198). This is so significant because this is exactly the audience of my final project. It is these “self-hating” magazines that my students will be reading! It would be idiotic to not delve into the media made for teen consumers. I hope we can take apart some of the images and ask why it is these images and who decides the “beauties” put inside them.
Along with looking at magazines and literature, I will be showing videos and movie clips. A powerful woman who I think depicts a great picture of a woman of color and who breaks some barriers on what body image and beauty consists of is India Arie. I included her video below!