A media literacy program for high school females

Abstract Teaching girls and women to become more active, critical consumers of appearance-related media may help to prevent the internalization of societal beauty standards, the development of body dissatisfaction and, ultimately, the development of disturbed eating practices (Berel&Irving, in press). In the present study, 24 female high school sophomores participated in a peer-administered media literacy program and completed a posttest to assess critical thinking about the media and body satisfaction. Participants watched and discussed an excerpt from Jean Kilbourne's film “Slim Hopes: Advertising and the Obsession with Thinness,” after which they were taught skills for challenging the media internally, by questioning derogatory self-thoughts in response to the media, and externally, by asking critical questions about the media and engaging in activism. Compared to 17 female high school sophomores who did not take part in the program, female students who participated