The image of women in society

wow after today's class i was left pretty stunned at how targeted and affected women are by advertising. men really don't get as much push and criticism as women do in terms of what they should look like, how they should act and what the should eat. its even scarier to see the ages of some of the girls in the advertising and being affected by this advertising, you know 7, 8 and 9 year old girls are being heavily influenced by these types of messages. i have a 6 year old niece and she is my life and it really sucks to think that, instead of enjoying life and watching cartoons like a 6 year old should, she is possibly thinking of what beautiful is. i went to visit her after i got outta class i took her to grab some ice cream and i told her she was the most beautiful girl in the world. she looked up at me and asked me are you serious? with a little smirk and smile of uncertainty on her face, and i looked back and told yes I'm very serious. to see how happy she was to hear me say that to her felt good but it was also shocking to hear her question me about if she qualified as beautiful. i think its important to start letting children know especially at a young age that they are what beauty is supposed to be!