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How do we help young women and girls feel better about their bodies? It's a complicated question and there's no right answer. But could a new initiative from the Girl Scouts of America be hurting more than helping?

Recently the Girl Scouts paired up with Wilhelmina Curve -- the plus-size wing of Wilhelmina models -- to present a series of videos called "The Changing Face of Fashion." The series features of plus-size models talking about their bodies, their careers and self-esteem and aims to give young girls an alternative look at what fashion models and the fashion industry is about.

The initiative was launched in response to a disheartening new study sponsored by the GSA: 90 percent of the 1,000 teenage girls they surveyed said they felt pressure from the media to be thin.

"Teenage girls take cues about how they should look from models they see in fashion magazines and on TV and it is something that they struggle to reconcile with when they look at themselves in the mirror," explained Girl Scout Research Institute senior researcher Kimberlee Salmond in a press release about the study. Thus, the video series, which features plus-size models Lizzie Miller, Leona Palmer, Anansa Sims and Julie Hendersen, apparently aims to give young women and girls an alternative look at fashion and beauty through the model's friendly and approachable voices.

Given that nearly one in three girls surveyed said they've starved themselves or refused to eat in an effort to lose weight, it's admirable of the GSA to try to arm young women against the negative effects of the media on body image. But are models truly the best emissaries of that campaign?

Watching the videos, it almost seems like the series is a recruiting campaign.

"Modeling actually got me in my body in a whole new way," says model Leona. "I cared a lot more about my body and how I was taking care of it." That's great, but is it realistic or responsible to promote that notion to an audience of young women who already have mixed messages about the fashion industry?
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Rather than use models -- whose very profession reinforces negative notions about beauty (even plus-size beauty) -- why not have regular women talk about body-image issues? Instead of fashion models, give girls examples of women whose goals, priorities and marketability go beyond what their bodies look like.

The "Changing Face of Fashion" campaign is only one part of the Girl Scouts' overall drive to inculcate young women with positive messages about their bodies. They've also partnered with the Dove Self-Esteem Fund to offer self-esteem and leadership classes to girls. And the GSA is also leading the charge for the Healthy Media for Youth Act, which aims to promote healthy images of women in the media.

And while the Girl Scouts is clearly well-intentioned, they may need to realize that models aren't the best role models.