[Sierra]

Objectification of women is nothing new, and certainly was not created by the media. Women have been fighting for decades just to be paid the same wage for the same work. In my grandmother's time they fought to join the workplace at all. In her grandmother's time a wife was essentially an indentured servant. A woman's identity was tied up with a man's her entire life - father, then husband.

Now it's not the men who are dictating that we should all be so thin our ribs show. Most men like a woman to be fit and healthy, with enough curves to show she's a woman. We teach body-loathing to to ourselves and to each other.

I didn't raise a teen-aged girl, by the way, but it hasn't been THAT long since I was one. I remember being distressed with my body - first because I had no bust, then because when I acquired one it was bigger than the "ideal". My mother didn't help much (she was a mean drunk), but I finally learned to accept my body for what it is.

And I did help the cause by raising sons with an appreciation and respect for women as people - and by teaching them acceptance of the endless variety of body shapes and sizes.