Beauty Pressures

      This DOVE Commercial would definitely be good to utilize in counseling groups and on school websites for parents, teachers and staff to see. It is important that we discuss the beauty pressures out there and make an impact, so self-esteem isn't as big as of an issue in the future. The more advocates and educators for this the better!

      In several of my internship experiences, I have found that even students as young as 6 years old have already been exposed to the pressures of the beauty industries. It is amazing listening to their stories and what has already sunken in. I worked with a group of second grade girls on self-esteem and their constant fears of not being pretty enough, thin enough, tall enough and so forth. They battled each other daily on who "looked the best" which caused immense fiction amongst the group of friends. They would argue and down each other all based on their looks. Some of the girls even disclosed that the harassment would be the worst at lunch time in the cafeteria. During these times they would be made fun of if they ate and for what they ate if they chose to. I WAS SHOCKED to hear these things were going on, but the fact of the matter is as school counselors we must not only advocate but EDUCATE students on these issues. Our group lasted over 6 weeks long, where we talked about self-esteem, body image, made goals and talked about appropriate behaviors.
     
      By the way, it can be misleading sometimes that self-esteem is gender bias and prominent in females, but the fact is that males are also effected by these stigmas and should be informed also! 
   
      Sidenote: DOVE Commercials are my favorite! Youtube has several that are just simply amazing :)