On the recordSeptember 28, 2010
today I am proud to introduce the Healthy Media for Youth Act. The purpose of this bill is to promote positive media depictions of girls and women among our nation's youth. The majority of 8- to 18-year-olds spend about 10 hours a day watching television, on the computer, or playing video games. Unfortunately, the images they see often reinforce gender stereotypes, emphasize unrealistic body images, or show women in passive roles. Positive and realistic female body images remain a problem. A recent survey by Girl Scouts of the USA's Research Institute found that 89 percent of girls feel the fashion industry places a lot of pressure on teenage girls to be thin. Even among girls as young as grades 3 through 5, fifty-four percent worry about their appearance, and 37 percent of these young girls worry specifically about their weight. Women are often portrayed in passive or stereotypical roles, rather than in positions of power. Violence against women continues to be prevalent throughout media. The Parents Television Council reports that between 2004 and 2009, violence against women and teenage girls increased on television programming at a rate of 120 percent, compared with the 2 percent increase of overall violence in television content.
