Hyper focusing on how we look takes away our ability to be compassionate, to see clearly who we and other people are and what we and others need. Avoid media that objectifies women and help others avoid it as well. Voice critiques out loud to help children process what is wrong with the media they are seeing, otherwise we allow media and society to perpetuate ideas that women are only as valuable as they look, that looks should be one of the top things they care about, and that it is normal and acceptable to comment on women's looks in ways that it would never occur to us to talk about how men look.

Dr. Renee Engeln is a professor at Northwestern University, where she teaches about psychopathology, the psychology of women and gender, social psychology, and the psychology of human beauty. She is an award-winning professor, having amassed over a dozen teaching awards at both Loyola University and Northwestern. Do the work to dismantle your own prejudices in this guided workbook from New York Timesbest-selling author and thinker Roxane Gay.A fascinating book on the joys of discovering how the world works, by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Cosmos and Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors.

Recently I was with friends & plastic surgery came up— one said since everyone is doing it, it’s only a matter of time we do too, otherwise we’ll “fall behind.” Another agreed & said her job depends on it. While I vehemently disagreed, I sadly understood where their thinking came from— we do live in a world where beauty is currency & is often valued above most else.Renee Engeln, PhD, is an award-winning professor of psychology at Northwestern University. Her work has appeared in numerous academic journals and at academic conferences, and she speaks to groups across the country. She is regularly interviewed by the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Today.com, the Huffington Post, Think Progress, and other national media, as well as local outlets and college student publications. Her TEDx talk at the University of Connecticut has more than 450,000 views on YouTube. She lives in Evanston, Illinois.