Jean Kilbourne Killing USftly Analysis

Throughout the course of the Girlstories seminar, we have discussed many narratives that center around the environments that women develop in. These environments shape their beliefs, their thoughts, and their characterization. The films, Killing Us Softly and Thirteen, apply this idea to a realistic setting that many young girls experience. Around the time of puberty, many young girls find themselves in a vulnerable state as their bodies and their minds develop and mature. These films highlight the enormous pressure and dangers that adolescent girls face due to the environment that society provides. In Killing Us Softly, Jean Kilbourne delivers a powerful lecture on the insane pressure that the advertising industry puts on women. In her lecture, she addresses the fact that the severely photo-shopped images found in magazines lowers women’s self-esteem. These advertisements
It didn’t get better immediately after my family found out; the “friends” that I had left me because they didn’t understand what I was going through and I was alone for most of my sophomore year. However, by the end of my senior year, I had a core group of amazing friends, a more positive outlook on my body image, and a better control of my depression. Coming to college, I was nervous that my depression would get the best of me because I was on my own for the first time. My first few weeks were a rough adjustment; I was left without a constant support system and had to learn how to support myself. The friends that I made the first few weeks resembled the friends that I had my freshman year of high school. They made me feel terrible about myself and I dreaded hanging out with them. It came to a point where I decided that I’d rather be alone than be with people who made me not like who I was. It was like being teleported back to my sophomore year; however, I was determined to not let my depression get the best of