A Letter to the Media

Dear Media,

Just because you hate yourself doesn't mean everyone else should hate themselves, too.

I'm really getting sick of all these ads I'm seeing lately. It doesn't matter what site I'm on - Facebook, Pandora, the freaking dictionary - they are all full of ads for people with a negative body image.

That or they're designed to give people a negative body image, which is Not Okay.

It's driving me nuts. Imagine how it feels to me. I'm at work, trying to verify a word's definition or spelling, when BOOM: I get whacked in the face with an image of a not-so-large woman shrinking to a size 0 before my very eyes. Even if I'm perfectly happy with my body, I don't want to be confronted with the fact that most people are on diets every time I turn a corner. It's depressing. And since I'm not perfectly happy with my body (as most women and many men are not, thanks to you), all those ads do is make me question my proportions and derail my train of thought, resulting in a less-than-optimal work environment.

Media, you're bringing us all down.

When was the last time anyone saw an ad for a regular, everyday thing and said, "Wow, the world is really improved by that ad"? When was the last time anyone felt better about him or herself because of a commercial?

There are the rare few out there, but the truth is, Media, most of your scheming involves making us all feel bad about ourselves, because that's how you make money. If you manage to make us feel bad about ourselves, we go to buy, buy, buy something, anything, that will make us feel better. We buy diet pills, hair dye, whitening paste, clothes we don't like, and cars we can't afford because you've wormed your way into our brains. You've made some part of us think, "If I can just lose five pounds, if I can just look a little different, if I can just keep others from noticing that I'm aging, then I'll be able to love myself completely." There is nothing wrong with having a different body shape - all we really want is to be healthy, no matter the weight.

But Media, you have skewed the definition of healthy in our minds. You are contributing to childhood eating disorders.

I'm sick of it, I'm sick of you, and I want you out of my life. At the least, I want your presence diminished. And I don't even watch TV.

I don't want to question myself. I want to love myself, and so does everyone else in the world. I want to focus on the things that truly matter in my life and in my world.

Media, you're making that astoundingly difficult, and I think it would be a difficult thing even without your presence.

Media, I don't give a damn what you think of me. Or rather, I don't want to.

Insincerely,
Allison

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