ABSTRACT
This chapter examines advertisements and how they contain destructive and negative cultural messages to girls and women. Many food ads are geared toward women, and increasingly automobile ads are targeting women with the promise of safety and security. If a woman feels too controlled, or has too few avenues for nurturance, she may turn to food as an unhealthy way to relax. Eight million suffer from an eating disorder, and as many as 10 percent of all college women are bulimic. All addictions for women are rooted in trauma. Shame affects women because women have been objectified for ages. Our culture places on women a feeling of shame and complete responsibility for how their children turn out. Research by Carol Dweck and Carol Licht found that girls were less successful in responding to failure initially and less resilient in recovering from it after the fact.
