June 1999

Dads and Daughters

Are We "Dissing" Our Daughters?

The billboard says it all: an impossibly thin and scantily clothed woman beneath the message, "Inner beauty only goes so far." Advertisers spend millions of dollars each year on messages like this to convince girls that, regardless of their body type, they don't look "right." Fashion magazines, TV sitcoms, movies and beauty pageants all promote an image of young girls that doctors say is far too thin to be healthy and that makes even healthy girls feel overweight. Recent research shows that:

• Girls ages 9 through 13 fear being fat more than they fear losing a parent
  
  
• Girls begin dieting as early as 8 years of age, just at the time when doctors say they need most to put on body fat to become strong, healthy adults
  
  
• Obsessions with weight loss carry over into middle age, with 33-40 percent of all adult women trying to lose weight at any given time
  
  
• Weight-loss worries result in serious physiological and psychological disorders, including anorexia (self-starvation), bulimia (overeating followed by self-induced vomiting), depression and low self-esteem
  

As the nation debates the media's many forms of influence on children, voices have emerged to challenge advertisers and TV and movie producers to stop promoting images that drive our daughters to defy nature and endanger their personal health. Among the strongest of these voices are those of fathers. Research reveals that daughters of active, hard-working fathers are more ambitious, more successful in school, and are more likely to attend college to attain careers. They are also less dependent, more self-protective, and less likely to date or marry abusive partners.

Fathers are part of a new national movement to transform the pervasive messages that value our daughters for how they look rather than for who they are.

The Mainstream Media Project offered interviews with leaders of the movement to encourage healthy fathering of daughters, and the use of positive body-awareness programs in schools. They also shared experiences of dads seeking to raise healthy daughters. In three weeks, MMP arranged 85 interviews featuring leaders from the organization, "Dads and Daughters." The campaign culminated on Father's Day, 1999.

Guest Speakers

Dr. Alison Field, Lead Researcher, Harvard Medical School study on correlation between media images and eating disorders/body image distortion

Will Glennon, Author, Fathering: Strengthening Connection with Your Children No Matter Where You Are and 200 Ways to Boost a Girl's Self-Esteem

Joe Kelly, Executive Director, Dads and Daughters (DADs); Founder and Former Editor, New Moon Network: For Adults Who Care About Girls

Michael Kieschnick, President, Working Assets Financial Service; Founder, DADs

Margo Maine, Director, Eating Disorder Program, Institute of Living; Author, Father Hunger: Daughters and Food