Black and White

After reading Milkie's article on black and white girls self concepts, I realized something that I had always known to be true.  The media plays a large part in how young girls feel about themselves but the level to which a certain group of girls is affected when compared to another group of girls can vary.  The text states that white girls are more negatively affected than black girls when it comes to image.  Magazines directed towards teenage girls seem to have more popularity amongst white girls, who look up to the models in the magazines and read the articles in search of ways to fit in.  Black girls on the other hand, may read the magazines but do not seem to really take any of it to heart.  Being Hispanic myself and growing up in a neighborhood where bigger and fuller is better, I found that I wasn't really concerned with being thin while I was growing up.  On the contrary, I wanted a fuller figure because that was what my culture praised.  Eating disorders would have been impossible in my household or in the house's of my family, friends and neighbors.  Even to this day, if I even dare mention bikini body in my workplace, my supervisor immediately looks at my frame and says, "if you drop any weight, I'm going to start spreading rumors about you."  I don't know what that means exactly, but I know that being thin isn't exactly embraced in my culture.  I never really put thought into this while growing up and I could never understand eating disorders or insecurities about body shape…I was too busy worrying about my acne and stuffing my face with my mothers home-cooked Spanish food!  Milkie's article really put some definition into my thoughts on beauty image and how it can vary across different cultures.