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Turn
Beauty Inside Out, Maine
 What Is Turn Beauty Inside Out, Maine?
Turn Beauty Inside Out, Maine is a multi-media
educational and community development program focused on girls and
women, body image, media literacy and self-esteem. Our goal is to
develop statewide and community strategies to create a new cultural
definition of beauty for girls in Maine based on:
Good Hearts, Great Works and Activism.
Where Did it Start?
We
collaborate with New Moon Magazine
www.newmoon.org in their ongoing public education effort. Their
project began in 1999 when New Moon's girls' editorial board decided
to challenge People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" issue.
New Moon published its own special issue "25 Beautiful Girls" in May
2000.
The girls declared 'We'll Show You Beauty Day!'. To Learn about New
Moon's May 2003 activities with the most recent 25 beautiful girls
in New York City go to
www.mindonthemedia.org.
Turn Beauty Inside Out, Maine's Vision
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Girls in Maine feel good, safe, strong and
confident and have a sense of ownership of their bodies and
their lives.
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Girls have the resources, skills, and role
models to support them in questioning cultural and media
definitions of beauty. They are aware of what is celebrated as
beautiful in different cultures.
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Girls develop an awareness of the
inner and outer aspects of beauty and realize that they have
choices in figuring out for themselves what it means to be
female, whole, and beautiful.
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All girls are supported to be
fully themselves and live, learn and play in safe and healthy
communities. As girls learn more positive ways to see themselves
and each other, supportive communities help girls see their full
selves reflected in the media and in their world.
Redefining beauty leads to cultural change affecting the very
fabric of families, schools, and communities.
Mission
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To
notice the role that
culture and media play in our disconnecting from ourselves and
each other, as girls and women through limiting cultural
messages and stereotypes about who we are.
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To challenge
these messages with our individual and collective
actions, and our local and statewide education efforts.
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To create
new cultural stories about who we are, what it means to be
female and what true beauty is. We will recreate the definition
of beauty as "good works, great hearts and activism."
Strategies
These changes will come about by:
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creating a
highly visible media and public awareness campaign;
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developing
strategies for individual and collective action; and
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compiling
educational curricula in the areas of media literacy, body
image, leadership, and empowerment for girls and women.
Contact Information
Telephone: 1-800-287-1535 (within Maine)
or 207-324-2814
Fax: 207-324-0817
Postal address:
The Gender Project
University of Maine Cooperative
Extension
41 Shaw's Ridge Road, Sanford, ME
04073
E-mail: General Information:
genderproject@umext.maine.edu back to top |
