Results tagged “Healthy Media” from GSSA Leader Blog: The Virtual Volunteer

As we work to leverage the advantages of being a "high-capacity" council, we have become more aggressive in advocating for girls through our local and state governments and even developed an advocacy alliance with our sister council, Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama.  The first arena we will tackle as a part of this initiative, will be promoting healthy media images.  

Many of you may remember that we had Civic Education Day scheduled for April 28, filled with 100 girls who were going to spend part of their day learning about the legislative process. However, the damage from severe storms and tornadoes from the previous evening intervened, and the event was cancelled.  

As a part of our endeavors to build a higher profile with our state and elected officials, we are holding an installation ceremony for Alabama Honorary Girl Scout Troop 1912.  Troop 1912 is a bi-partisan delegation of Alabama elected officials, formed to help educate our branches of government about issues affecting girls and young women.  They are supportive of Girl Scout initiatives and will serve as a voice for girls and young women.  The inaugural group will be installed in a ceremony at the State House in Montgomery on June 2 at 9 a.m.   Let us know if you are interested in attending. We would love to have you join us for this special event.

Here are the facts: 90% of girls say the media places a lot of pressure on girls to be thin. 46% of girls think that the fashion industry does a good job of representing people of all races and ethnicities. 55% of teenage girls admit they diet to lose weight, and 37% know a girl with an eating disorder.

A bill that supports media literacy programs, promotes research on the effect of media images and encourages the adoption of voluntary guidelines to promote healthier media images for young people was recently introduced to congress. The bill, the Healthy Media For Youth Act (H.R. 4925), was written by Girl Scouts and introduced to Congress by Representatives Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV). Contact your U.S. representative and encourage him or her to become a Voice for Girls and support H.R. 4925. GSUSA has created a draft email for your use. You can edit this to reflect your reasons on why this issue is important to you.