The above picture is a 3-D model created using Photoshop and the Centers for Disease Control’s measurements of the average 19-year-old woman. What a fantastic representation of what is real and normal for a teenage girl. I love the article by Scott Stump which I have included in the link below because he sheds light on an issue and topic which is a very real for every teenage girl…body image.
I have mentored teen girls for almost 20 years now and the biggest struggle is body image. And it’s not only teen girls. I believe we as women in general struggle with the issue…I know I’m still often held captive!
Having a healthy body image is very difficult in today’s world where physical beauty defines someone. It was an issue over 20 years ago when I was a teen but now it is even more so because there is no escape from the picture perfect, airbrushed images. No longer is it just on billboards or in magazines, but it monopolizes every social media outlet. Reality TV shouts it loud and clear; if you are not physically beautiful, you are just not good enough.
I find it harder and harder to reinforce the truth of Genesis 1:27: God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
or
Psalm 139:14: I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; I know that full well.
When everything around them screams society and peer groups define your beauty and self worth!
The artist Nickolay Lamm who created the realistic version of a normal teen said this,
“If normal Barbie can be made, I feel she’ll have a more positive influence on girls than Barbie in its current form,’’ he wrote. “Normal Barbie shows that you are beautiful, just the way you are.”
What do you think? If there was a normal Barbie young girls could play with, do you think it might help with the way they see themselves?
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