An Interesting Barbie Campaign

My readers will recognize my response as an excerpt from one of my blogs.  This is my response to this article in the Huffington Post. Dear Galia, I applaud your effort!   I wish I’d been influenced by someone like  you when I was a young girl just beginning to get assaulted by  unrealistic expectations of […]

My readers will recognize my response as an excerpt from one of my blogs.  This is my response to this article in the Huffington Post.

Dear Galia, I applaud your effort!   I wish I’d been influenced by someone like  you when I was a young girl just beginning to get assaulted by  unrealistic expectations of what my body should look like despite what  my body was able to do. Despite my abilities, I too often heard the  phrase, “You’d be great if you lost __# of pounds. I have scoured every  corner of my mind, looking for one scenario when I actually asked  someone, “What do you think would make me great?”  I came up with Zilch,  Zippo, None! And yet my mind is filled with anecdotes and events in  which I advised, “You’d be great if you lost ___# of pounds.” I heard  this from Miss Peterson, in Junior High School when I tried out for the  Booster Squad.  My jumps were perfect, my splits dead on; and my voice?  Booming, loud, and projecting. I had spirit, I had agility, I had fat. I  didn’t make the team… “You’d be great if you lost….”  I’ve since spent  my career addressing these early influences. Perhaps if I had the type  of peer support you are providing for young girls I would have  confidently looked Miss Peterson straight in her eyes and said, “The  only reason you don’t want me on this squad is because you don’t like  the way I look in the uniform, it has nothing to do with my ability to  execute the moves.” Warmly, Dr. Deah Schwartz, leftoverstogo.com.