Roberts covers topics including:
- How the Internet has made pornography affordable, accessible and anonymous
- How body image ideals and being “perfect” is shaped by the media
- The toddler pageant circuit
- One teenager’s campaign aimed at Abercrombie & Fitch, and the surprising outcome of her efforts
- Aspiring actresses/models and what they will do to be famous
- How addiction to porn is changing expectations of sex for young men
- The mixed messages of safe sex versus abstinence
- Rape on college campuses: how universities have been ignoring the epidemic
- One in five women have been sexually assaulted, yet often little is done about it.
“I did the first film on the beauty myth as a personal journey of understanding, but then I realized exploring issues that affect our youth is my real purpose. The objectification of our youth creates such serious mental health issues and our desensitization to these issues, especially to violence towards women, may be impossible to reverse if we don’t change how images are presented in the media and advertising. I want to shed light on these issues and bring organizations together to help eradicate the problem,” Roberts said.
Monte Nido & Affiliates Eating Disorder Treatment Centers, is the sponsor of the theatrical release and Carolyn Costin, founder/chief clinical officer, has partnered with Darryl Roberts on all three films: “Each documentary explores how our culture objectifies females and undermines their self esteem, leading to serious psychological and social consequences. His first film explored our culture’s obsession with beauty, his second focused on our relentless pursuit of thinness, and now his third examines our fixation with sex. Darryl exposes how our cultural obsessions take an insidious toll on our health and well being,” Costin said.
Costin’s life’s work has focused on how to help change the conversation about and our relationship to our bodies, to help people feel empowered rather than objectified or victimized by a culture that promotes image over substance resulting in body shaming: “The series is a wake-up call urging us to speak out and make changes in the things we have come to accept as unchangeable. There are many things we can do, and the young female heroine in “America the Beautiful 3” is evidence that we can turn adversity into activism,” Costin said.
“America the Beautiful 3” premieres in cities across the country and includes local and national outreach campaigns in collaboration with public advocacy groups, universities and health organizations. A Q&A with Roberts and Costin or fellow clinical directors Keesha Broome and Anna Kowalski, will follow each screening:
- Washington DC ~ September 30
- New York, NY ~ October 10
- Los Angeles, CA ~ October 19
- Dallas, TX ~ October 20
- Houston, TX ~ October 22
- East Lansing, MI ~ October 27
- Chicago, IL ~ October 28
- San Francisco, CA ~ November 3
- Portland, OR ~ November 4
- Seattle, WA ~ November 6
- Boston, MA ~ November 10
- Philadelphia, PA ~ November 12
- Atlanta, GA ~ November 17
- Miami, FL ~ November 19
