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Dr. Robyn Silverman on WITF’s SmartTalk Hi everyone! Join me via the web or on the radio in Harrisburg, PA, for an hour long discussion on body image on June 15th at 9am EST.  We’ll be mainly focusing on girls but will touch on the challenges for boys as well.  “Smart Talk” is on the [...]

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Have you seen this?  In the Netherlands, Fitness First,  a large privately owned health club group, decided to make an interactive advertisement as a push to get more people in the gym.  What do you think? Barbaric and body bashing or necessary to make people more aware of their weight (as if they already aren’t???). [...]

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Reflecting on the New Normal: Today’s ultra thin standards for the ideal body Dr. Robyn Silverman Ahh, it’s been quite a year, hasn’t it? New actresses- new entertainers– more ultra thin body ideals saluted. We all know standards of beauty change. Model and actress Marilyn Monroe, who reigned supreme in the fifties as the symbol [...]

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Dr. Robyn Silverman I’ve been talking to a bunch of girls lately about how girls talk badly about their bodies…all…the…time.  Why? Here are some of the answers I’ve received: “They think you’re all high and mighty if you don’t” “Nobody’s happy with their body because we don’t look like the celebrities.” “It’s just what girls [...]

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Why is being called “plus-sized” so offensive? So here’s my issue with the whole Meghan McCain “Body Bullying” issue. Yes, “conservative” radio host Laura Ingraham was in the wrong when she mocked Senator McCain’s daughter about her weight. Yes, very high school. As we all know, that’s most women’s hot button. But why is being [...]

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Something is clearly screwed up.  In the Boston paper today, the results of a survey tells us that almost half of the Boston teenagers interviewed in a poll by Boston Public Health Commission said pop star Rihanna was responsible for her own beating. Yuck. Perhaps you remember that Rihanna has granted Chris Brown continuance after [...]

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Happy Birthday Barbie? Begrudgingly Giving our Nemesis Doll the Nod Dr. Robyn Silverman Today isn’t any old day. It’s Barbie’s birthday.   But before you get out the paper streamers, party hats, and blow torch, let’s pause to reflect on the controversial yet ever present plastic bit of perfection in every girl’s life. Yes, you might [...]

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Body Image: As a mother of a new baby girl…

by DrRobyn on March 2, 2009

I just became a new mother through adoption to our newborn daughter, Talia Paige Silverman, who was born on 2/19 at 10:19am, weighing just 5 pounds 6 oz, and measuring 16 inches long.  We couldn’t be happier. Well, this puts things into perspective, doesn’t it?  As someone with a keen eye on media and body [...]

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Why all the hype over Mary Kate Olsen?

by DrRobyn on February 3, 2009

I know Mary Kate Olsen has been a favorite “thinspiration” model for so many hopeful wannarexics and pro-ana girls but I really don’t get it. Could someone please explain the fascination with this girl and her body? Can one get any thinner?  Or is that the point? If you want to talk about thinness in [...]

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What's your weight secret?

by DrRobyn on February 2, 2009

Dr. Robyn Silverman I’ve been talking to some women and girls lately about their “weight secret.” It started because, even though they say they were outraged by the flack Jessica Simpson is receiving over her recent weight gain, some say that would like to be thinner. Here are a few of the latest weight secrets: [...]

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