Embedded Files
by Lilah S. '28
Speech writer Elly picture above
“The beauty standard. Either straight hair or perfectly curly, not wavy, not frizzy, and no colors. Get surgery, but not too much because then you’ll be plastic. It’s all ‘girls support girls’ and ‘female empowerment’ until you don’t fit what everyone else wants you to look like.”
Do you recognize this quote? These are the first lines of an eighth grade speech by Elly S. ‘26. The topic she chose was body image, which is a very relevant topic in this world today. When interviewed about the speech, she said that her inspiration was that she thought that a lot of young girls felt the same way, but were scared to speak up, so she spoke up for them. She hoped to validate their feelings. A lot of girls are ashamed or embarrassed about their bodies, and hearing someone speak about how it affects a person may help gain a new perspective and relieve the mental stress a person may be experiencing.
Elly started writing the speech in early August last summer. She said that no one has ever said anything on the topic directly to her, but she thinks about it a lot. She says that she hopes to empower girls to reject the notion that they have to measure themselves to be good enough for everyone. To revisit Elly’s speech click this link
Elly says that she wants to make an impact and raise awareness on the negative body image. So the newspaper staff reached out to Ms. Binick to get more insight on this topic. For anyone wanting to dive deeper into this subject see the resource articles that Ms. Binick provided for this article:
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