I am delighted to offer this guest blog by Meagan Murphy, my former student and producer of the upcoming documentary The Breast Archives.
Art by Gaston Casimir Saint-Pierre
This blog is about celebrating breasts.
The media, and our culture, want to define breasts very narrowly—as sexy, as sick, or as a source for milk.
The truth is our breasts are ours to define and they represent the promise of the wonderful experience of being a woman.
When our breasts come in, it’s a brief, precise moment that influences our relationship with our breasts and bodies for a lifetime. This relationship is largely uncharted, and can feel scary for both teens and their parents.
We hear you asking:
- How can I help teens navigate this moment in their lives in healthier ways?
- How do I uplift the girls I’m mentoring so that they can transcend the body-based anxiety they’re experiencing?
- How can I rewrite this story for myself or for my children?
Other people looking at, judging, and objectifying your breasts should be much less important than how YOU feel about your body. How do we get there? What are you doing now to celebrate your body? How can we support the young women in our lives?One way that we think you can plant the seed of love is through a breast care practice, so stay tuned for our next post which will include tips for building your connection to your body.
~ Meagan Murphy
Meagan Murphy is the producer of The Breast Archives (to be released this fall). She brings 20+ years of experience in film and broadcast, including 12 years with PBS. Meagan earned a Communicator’s Award for her work with teens and a Medical Journalism Fellowship. She also completed a 2-year women’s mystery school.
"I believe lasting social change can be generated through storytelling and film. When we share our stories with courage and daring we help create a world where everyone is seen. My journey with The Breast Archives documentary project has awakened and inspired me to develop a concept called "sensual feminism,” which is empowerment that’s derived from the integration of the sensual self with our day-to-day psyche.
Connect with Meagan on Facebook at The Breast Archives.
Watch some clips from the documentary here.
Very nice
I own a lingerie shop in NYC and my superhero name The Uplifter! We provide one on one, personalized bra fittings for women and girls becoming women, and I’m all about feminine power and empowerment. My next initiative is to have moms bring their daughters with budding breasts to their first bra fitting – a Bra Mitzvah, if you will.
In Judaism, a bar or bat mitzvah is a rite of passage when boys and girls cross the bridge from childhood to adulthood, 13 for boys and 15 for girls. I see 12 year olds already with large breasts, F cups for goodness sake, and their still childish minds often can’t comprehend the unwanted attention from grown men who speak lasciviously to them.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if young women could learn the source of their feminine power at young ages, so they can grow up strong, confident and proud of who they are? I believe women will save the planet and humanity, and I want to be one of the love warriors to empower our girls!