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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!'
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.-
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.
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