Beautiful

By Mark Reidy
Record Reporter
ONE of the organisations answering the 2008 Senate Standing Committee’s recommendation to counter the inappropriate sexualisation of children has been the Catholic media company, Choicez Media.

Their latest DVD resource Beautiful, created for schools, parishes and groups that support women, is designed to provide an insight into the powerful media forces that are aggressively and often unconsciously shaping young women’s self-perception.
Choicez Managing Director, Jonathan Doyle, said that the three part DVD and accompanying support manual provides young women with strategies on how to deal with these forces and how to create changes, both in their own lives and in the wider culture.
Mr Doyle, who, along with his wife, Karen, established Choicez as a way to empower and equip young people with the skills and motivation to make positive and informed choices, has produced a number of high quality and acclaimed resources but is particularly excited about their latest product.
Speaking to The Record from his office in Canberra, Doyle said that since its release in February this year, over 180 schools from around Australia have ordered Beautiful and he expected that number to grow to about 500 by June.
The series combines the observations and ideas of high level academics and professionals with the experiences and reflections of young women to provide an awareness as well as an alternative to the negative influences that are subtly and deceptively wringing the innocence from today’s children.
The toxic messages being promoted by the popular media culture, according to Doyle, “are having profound effects on young women across a range of indicators from self-harm to eating disorders to early initiation of sexual activity” and he believes that Beautiful will be able to provide a counter-cultural alternative that will assist young people in understanding the deeper meaning of what it means to be a human person created in God’s image.
To view video extracts and interactive pages of the manual or to purchase the Beautiful resource, visit the Choicez website – www.choicez.com.au.