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Kathy Bruin
Founder
Kathy has long been
frustrated with the limited and limiting ways women are depicted in
popular culture. She believes that our culture's focus on physical
appearance and consumerism has far-reaching negative implications for
our society. She is also convinced that there is a profound relationship
between our culture's obsession with physical perfection and the decline
in girls' self-esteem as they reach puberty. It breaks her heart that
at the moment girls develop the true characteristics of womanhood --
hips, breasts, and rounded bottoms -- they begin to hate their bodies. In
the summer of 1995, she decided to do what she could to change that.
Using an image from a Calvin Klein ad, she created a spoof poster
reading "Emaciation Stinks" and plastered it around San Francisco.
About-Face was born. Her single act has grown well beyond what she could
have imagined. For more than a decade About-Face, has been a leading
voice in body-image issues -- issues it helped bring to light. She is
particularly proud that About-Face encourages women and girls to voice
their own disenchantment, to make changes in their own lives, and to
launch their own rebellions.
Kathy's involvement with About-Face has been profoundly gratifying
for her, and perhaps most importantly, it has taught her that all of us,
as individuals, have the power to make significant societal change.
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