Alumna, Former Model Brashich Discusses Healthy Body Image
MOLLY DINCE
Issue date: 10/24/06 Section: Features
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While at Trinity, Brashich designed her own major in American Studies with help from two professors in the History Department. She then proceeded to receive a Masters in American Civilization with special emphasis on women and popular culture from Brown University. She attributes her professional pursuits to both her undergraduate years at Trinity and her ensuing experiences in modeling and at magazine companies, such as Seventeen, Elle Girl, Teen People, and Mademoiselle.
Brashich explains, "I was receiving letters from young girls with photographs of themselves asking me about their potential to become models -- this crystallized for me the desperate need for a change in young girls' mentalities about body image, future aspirations, and self-esteem."
The evening began with introductions by Laura Lockwood, the Director of the Women's Center, and Sandi Gollob, an active member of PHAB. Brashich began her lecture by discussing celebrity hype, asking the audience to name celebrities, products, and brands that immediately come to mind when thinking about the topics of beauty and stardom. She admitted to once having bought into the hype because she, like many other adolescent girls, wanted the recognition and status that our society assigns to models and actresses. The problem lies therein -- models (and unfortunately more and more actresses) are receiving this recognition for how they look, not the quality of their work. This is the message our culture is sending to future generations. Brashich believes that society's obsession with fame provokes many young girls to want to become models and actresses, (a feeling with which she can personally empathize as she once was an aspiring teen model).
Exorbitant salaries, gifts, and rewards further compound the problem by making the celebrity lifestyle appear so appealing. Brashich demonstrated that, in comparison to the pitiful salaries of professionals like teachers, firefighters, and nurses, celebrities are paid fortunes that encourage adolescents to seek fame instead of esteemed professions that are indispensable to the functioning of society.
Brashich then discussed the concept of beauty as being commercially driven. She showed statistics proving how much the media influences teens as they on average use some form of media 44.5 hours per week. She explained that a major problem with that amount of exposure to the media is that marketers can use tactics like digital enhancement and product placement to manipulate images and photographs, and consequently influencing the viewer.
Brashich revealed that eating disorders are beginning earlier and earlier in young girls. She urged students to educate themselves and understand who owns the media, what their agenda is, and which products they are manipulating. Brashich also addressed the importance of speaking up through blogs, letters to editors, podcasts, and Op-Eds to counter the message of the media and to show that teens are not willing to comply with its high standards of beauty and misrepresentations of body image. Although she believes it is ridiculous to waste time copying the styles and habits of celebrities, Brashich recognizes that popular culture is ubiquitous and unavoidable. "We don't have to boycott pop-culture all together, we simply have to understand where it is coming from and learn to neglect its absurd expectations."
Brashich concluded the event with a question-and-answer session. One member of the audience asked Brashich what she suggested young men and women do to promote the type of thinking she had just finished advocating among their peers. Brashich responded that "smart, sophisticated, worldly students like those here at Trinity need to be vigilant in understanding and exposing the intentions of the media in order to help foster positive self-images among their peers."
Laura Lockwood added to Brashich's point, urging students to use the resources at the Women's Center. She encouraged students to talk to their friends and consult members of PHAB. In her opinion, "The biggest problem is that students don't know how to talk about these issues … if you sense that you or a friend is suffering the worst thing you can do is to ignore the problem." Lockwood conveyed her dedication to the well-being of Trinity students, as Brashich will continue to do with her travels to other colleges and communities. More information and advice can also be accessed on Brashich's website at AllMadeUp.Net.
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