Hardy Girls Healthy Women

A T-Shirt With A Different Kind Of Message

2010-10-20T10:47:00.011-04:00

This article has been cross-posted from Jezebel.com’s blog.

This weekend, girls ages 14-22 will talk sexualization versus healthy sexuality — including Aleah Starr, an eating disorder survivor whose Projection project pushes back messages projected on girls' (and guys') bodies. Here, some arresting images from past efforts.

Take part in the SPARK Summit or to offer your original words to the Projection project.

Spirit Day and Other Strides Forward

2010-10-19T22:40:00.002-04:00

In honor of the LGBT youth we've lost to suicide, GLAAD is orchestrating a "Spirit Day" scheduled for tomorrow (October 20th, 2010). Like many social media campaigns, you can participate in a number of ways:

1. Wear purple tomorrow, signifying your support

2. Post a status update via Twitter or Facebook

3. Turn your profile picture purple

4. Share these numbers with any LGBT youth in need of immediate help: The Trevor Project's 24/7 Lifeline at 866-U-TREVOR or the National Suicide Prevent Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

5. Check out our community action kit and documentary titled Ugly Ducklings, which speaks directly to the harassment and bullying experienced every day by gay, lesbian, and transgender teens.

Finally, watch Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her address to the LGBT community on October 19th, 2010 (below). In this video, Clinton calls Americans to question their own bigotries and prejudices. She even credits the growth of this country to our increasing acceptance of marginalized groups. Such wise words from a national leader!

And the Winner is...

2010-10-17T20:36:00.004-04:00

Rachel Raasch from Appleton, Wisconsin for her hilarious, clever, and creative costume, "Eminem the M&M." Congratulations, Rachel! To honor her winning submission, we'll be flying Rachel out to New York City for the SPARK Summit on October 22nd. She'll be joining the likes of Geena Davis, Shelby Knox, Amber Madison, and many other special guest speakers.

Rachel writes, "I am so excited to go to the SPARK Summit in New York City! As a feminist advocate, I'm very passionate about the cause that SPARK is supporting. Thank you to Shelby Knox, through whom I heard about this contest. What a great way to show support for the movement to resist the sexualization of women! Thank you also to SPARK for holding this contest. Now, to start planning this year's Halloween costume..."

Rachel wasn't the only one with a brilliant costume idea. We received a ton of entries for the first ever Intervene on Halloween Costume Contest (by the way, you can check them out here), and although we wish we could send every single contestant out to NYC, each picture submitted will be included in a slideshow during the summit.

Did you miss out on this contest but want to learn more about it? Here's a little rundown!

Anti-Sex Versus Anti-Sexualization

2010-10-14T21:00:00.003-04:00

As the SPARK Summit draws near, it is important for us to address a question that many HGHW supporters are asking: is our organization anti-sex? Given the fact that SPARK stands for Sexualization Protest: Action, Resistance, Knowledge, it is no surprise that such a query has been raised. After all, our blog posts often point to the cultural landscape that encourages, if not glorifies, evocative portrayals of girls and women. Does this mean that our mission is intrinsically against sex?

So, what makes anti-sexualization different than anti-sex? The former is defined as a movement against the prominent messages sent to the female populous, ones that impose very specific, very radical notions of sexuality. Unfortunately, girls are exposed to these expectations at a young age, thus prompting a premature entrance into sexual behavior, or at the very least, pressure to emulate their older "role models."

If this isn't enough of a reason to counteract early sexualization, we need only reference the countless studies that draw a clear correlation between media objectification and an array of issues unique to adolescent girls: low self-esteem, body dysmorphic disorder, and excessive dieting, to name a few. Rather than use this research to improve representations of women, media industries continue to exploit, objectify, and prioritize their cash-flow over the well-being of girls. The cultural landscape in which we live, regardless of gender, is one of harmful images and damaging messages. Since female objectification is prevalent on TV, in movies, and all around us, so too is a hyper-sexualized version of femininity.

Sex, on the other hand, can be a positive element of a person's life, one that should be celebrated and honored. To that end, Hardy Girls Healthy Women strongly supports the inclusion and acceptance of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals in society. We even sell a documentary and community action kit called Ugly Ducklings, which focuses on the unique challenges affecting LGBT youth. Recent statistics tell us that nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT teens experience bullying . Harassment and suicide are continually linked, as in the case of Tyler Clementi, whose private activities were broadcast online. We are sex positive insofar as we condemn the shaming, bullying, and blatant disregard for privacy as a result of sexual orientation. We promote the theory that sex can (and should) be a healthy dimension of life.

Whether straight, queer, or questioning, our Lending Library offers many resources that educate about sex and sexuality. Books like The Secret Lives of Girls and Fast Girls: Teenage Tribes and the Myth of the Slut expose the double-standard girls are subjected to, while Body Language teaches female autonomy in a teen-friendly manner. Kofi Annan said that "Information is liberating," and we wholeheartedly agree. Rather than demonize sex, we encourage girls to learn about their bodies, health, and safety.

Sex is an expansive subject and a different experience for each individual. The media, however, broadcasts a very narrow interpretation. When girls are pressured to assume this pre-packaged version of themselves, we must protest. We must resist. We must act. This is why we hold an annual Freaky 5K Fun Run & Walk and how the concept of SPARK Summit came to fruition.

We invite you to join the SPARK movement!

Stop Selling Halloween Costumes That Sexualize Girls!

2010-10-13T12:13:00.002-04:00

Petitions by Change.org|Start a Petition »

By SPARK (Sexualization Protest: Action, Resistance, Knowledge)

Join the movement at www.sparksummit.com

Halloween used to be about neighborhood trick or treating in creative and scary costumes. But recently the holiday has become about a different type of consumption than eating candy, as girls are peddled costumes that are more and more sexualized.

That Halloween has gone from scary to sexy in recent years is a reflection of a profound and problematic societal issue: the sexualization of girls. Portrayals of young girls as sexy are so familiar to us and to girls themselves that it almost seems normal, harmless, and simply the way that girls are nowadays.

So why should we be concerned? A 2007 American Psychological Association Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls found compelling evidence that when girls and young women are sexualized - and worse, when they learn to sexualize themselves -they experience lower self-esteem, higher levels of depressed mood, and discomfort with their own bodies, thus undermining their ability to participate as full citizens.

Liberty Media Corporation subsidiary BuySeasons, Inc. proudly claims to be "the largest online retailer and supplier of costumes, accessories, seasonal décor, and party supplies in the world!" Its flagship brand "BuyCostumes.com...[is] the leading costume and party retailer on the web."

BuyCostumes.com sells girl costumes in adult packaging (Naughty and Nice toddler costume, Miss Wonderland child costume in mini skirt, and corset bodice, Little Bo Peep ‘tween costume in corset bodice and black fishnets) and sexualized versions of popular children's characters for adult women (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cookie Monster, and SpongeBob).

Tell Liberty Media Corporation to stop pushing the envelope when it comes to creating costumes for little girls and to stop sexualizing beloved childhood characters with their adult costumes!

Sign the petition today!

Projection

2010-10-12T22:42:00.000-04:00

“I am a CANVAS. Every day society projects certain standards, messages, and images UPON ME. Society tells me how I should look, act, and feel. So when you ask me who I am, I don’t always know what to tell you. But I am learning to step away from these projections, and use them to make a statement of MY OWN.”

Developed by Colby College student Aleah Starr, Projection invites us to speak up, to say what we feel and think, and to have our words projected onto others, who then stand with us and for us.

PBG (that’s Powered By Girl) and Projection offers girls and their allies a way to talk back to sexism, stereotypes, and sexualization in our media.

So if you could talk back to this media, what would you say?

If you’re between the ages of 14-22 and you’ve got something to say to the media, here’s your chance!

Step 1: “Like” our PBG Facebook page

Step 2: On our wall, write “Projection” and post your 6-10 words (has to fit on a t-shirt!) rants, statements, poetry, music lyrics, or illustrations. Say what you like, don’t like, want, feel, think

Step 3: Invite your friends to join the movement!

Your voice will travel to NYC, where it will be projected onto girl “canvasses” by Aleah herself at the SPARK Summit on Oct. 22nd

SPARK: Sexualization Protest: Action, Resistance, Knowledge

If you’re a teen girl between the ages of 14-22, we want you to attend the SPARK Summit too. While you’re there, drop by the Projection Action Station and become a living canvass for someone else’s story!

FYI: All submissions to PBG/Projection are anonymous. We will not use your name unless you ask us to, and then it’s first names and cities only. If you use a quote, poem or lyric, please submit the full name of the author.

Be sure to check PBG and SPARK after October 22nd to catch our photo album

and find out who stood up to be photographed with your story!

Mirror, Mirror On the Wall...

2010-10-10T19:59:00.006-04:00

Do you ever walk into a dressing room, try on a piece of clothing, and feel a rush of dissatisfaction? Is this emotion directed at the outfit you picked out or the body underneath?

The likelihood is, at one time or another, a girl looks into a mirror and hates the image reflected back at her. Maybe she notices that the pants fit smugly around her hips and thus, she inwardly criticizes herself. Maybe a bully at school insulted the figure she was born with and the comment left a lasting mark of her self-worth. In a culture that worships stick-thin models and flawless actresses, a shopping trip like this can easily turn into a comparison war, in which the teenage girl will always lose.

Until now.

In small but deliberate ways, we can change the way girls view themselves. Inspired by About Face's Covert Dressing Room Action, teens from the Girls Advisory Board (GAB) pasted removable stickers on JCPenney mirrors with encouraging messages, praise for inner beautiful, and compliments. Check out the action in the video below!

If you'd like to join the fun and boost the self-esteem of girls and women, grab these stickers from About Face and bring them to your nearest dressing room! Isn't it wonderful that such a small act can change a girl's day and perhaps even improve the relationship she has with her body?

"I like it hanging neatly on its designated hook in my foyer. I support breast cancer awareness, not sketchiness."

2010-10-07T00:15:00.004-04:00

Or in other words, how can we spread awareness about a disease without turning it into a sexualized campaign that mystifies, even tantalizes, but never actually educates? Surely, as bright young women (or middle-aged women or older women or men, even!) we have what it takes to successfully campaign for a cause without the use of sexual innuendos.

By scanning online forums and blogs, it is easy to see how upsetting this type of "activism" can be to others. As one woman writes on Jezebel:

Seeing Facebook stunts doesn't make me feel supported, it makes me think that the people who post them are immature and shallow. Breast cancer has the odd predicament of being a terrible disease that strikes a "sexy" body part. Well, my diseased breasts are gone, replaced with implants and the latissimus dorsi muscles from my back. I'll be aware of breast cancer every day for the rest of my life. Someone using it as a reason to act flirtatious under the banner of awareness just makes me resentful.

Others have called attention to the fact that while Breast Cancer Awareness spans October, other months dedicated to serious diseases lack a comparable fanfare. For example, prostate cancer (September) receives less media attention and less research money than breast cancer even though it is statistically more prevalent and more deadly. As Arun Gavali of the New Agenda explains:

Prostate cancer is more serious than Breast Cancer because, although the death rates are both about 2.8%, the chance of a man getting prostate cancer is over 30% greater than the chance of a woman getting breast cancer. That means that even though the life-time percentage chance of dying from either cancer is the same, the percent chance that a man will have to fight prostate cancer is greater and there are more cases of prostate cancer for the “sick care” system to have to deal with.

The need for stronger awareness efforts on the prostate cancer front does not, of course, negate the importance of October and the many ways in which we can honor survivors and victims of breast cancer. Typing out a suggestive Facebook update does not, however, accomplish this task. Perhaps knowing where you "like it" will eventually lead someone to research and extrapolate the correlation between sexed up statuses and breast cancer, the thought process will probably end there. Putting aside the issue of using one's (female) body and teasing references to garner interest in a tragic disease, let's consider the proactive and direct avenues by which knowledge can be spread. You might, for example, follow one blog commenter by writing:

Today, let's all donate to breast cancer causes like http://www.cityofhope.org/patient_care/treatments/breast-cancer/Pages/default.aspx or http://ww5.komen.org/ & do self exams instead of updating our status.

Whichever way you decide to raise awareness, do it with dignity. Share facts, provide hospital locations where mammograms are free or discounted, give to a charity, volunteer. Honor your own body by talking to your doctor about reducing your risk of cancer in general. Because after all, "I like it" when women are informed about their health.

Will sex sell this Halloween?

2010-10-04T23:49:00.003-04:00

We sure hope not! Halloween, for girls and women, is an endless parade of sexualized outfits. Even creative costumes, ones that we might otherwise deem age-appropriate, are reduced to raunchy, skin-exposed replications. Nothing could be more representative than this Spongebob Squarepants mini-skirt and tiny top marketed to teenage girls:

Ready to stop this non-sense? Come on over to our SPARKwatch Facebook Event page and post any and all costumes that you think should be taken off the shelves. We'll send a message to the store, along with a photo of the costume, asking for it's prompt removal.

Brought to you by SPARK Summit (Sexualization Protest: Action, Resistance, Knowledge).

SPARK’s Very First Annual Intervene On Halloween Costume Contest & SPARKwatch!

2010-10-01T09:06:00.013-04:00

One of the best moments in the movie Mean Girls has to be when high schooler Cady enters her friend’s Halloween Party dressed as a vampire bride, complete with gory make-up, ghastly wig, and a mouth full of broken teeth. As she looks around at the array of strip club dancers, Playboy Bunnies, sexy mice, sexy cats, and sexy witches, her girl friend, horrified, corners her: “Why are you dressed so scary?” “In the regular world” Cady comes to see, “Halloween is when children dress up in costumes and beg for candy. In Girl World, Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it.”

Not even close. Girl World and regular world collided years ago, and in a perverse co-optation of Girl Power, mini versions of sexy women will be winding their way through the streets of America this Halloween. They’ll have bought their French maid outfits, pink pussycat fishnets, Catholic school girl peek-a-boo skirts, and midriff baring Bad Girl University cheering sweaters at a mainstream box store near you.

This Halloween we’re supporting all those little rebel Cady’s of the world by bringing scary back – along with creative, funny, clever—even sarcastic. Join us by entering the First Ever Intervene On Halloween Costume Contest! Share your outrageous, frightening, brilliant, gorgeous costumes and have the chance to WIN and really get noticed!

Here's the deal: you can submit pictures, past and present, of your scariest and most unique Halloween costumes as a comment here, on the SPARK Facebook page, on the Hardy Girls Healthy Women Facebook page, or on the Intervene On Halloween Facebook Event. Two great categories, two fab prizes: We’ll send the winners (must be over 18) on an all-expense paid trip to NYC to attend the SPARK (That’s Sexualization Protest: Action, Resistance, Knowledge) Summit on Oct. 22nd.

But even if you don’t win, we’ll include your costume in a slide show to be shown on the Summit day and on the SPARK website!

Don't have a photo of yourself decked out in Halloween terror? Have no fear (well, you can have a little - its Halloween after all!). Take part in Halloween SPARKwatch: What’s the most ridiculously sexist, sexy or sexualized costume you’ve seen? Sexy 'Finding Nemo?' Post a picture on our SPARKwatch Facebook Event and tell us where you found it! We’ll send each and every photo back to the costumer's manufacturer, with a SPARKwatch “Stop making Halloween an excuse to objectify and sexualize girls” message!

With LGBT Suicides on Rise, Resource Delivers Support

2010-09-30T22:05:00.008-04:00

86.2% of LGBT students reported being verbally harassed, 44.1% reported being physically harassed and 22.1% reported being physically assaulted at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation.

The month of September was a tragic one not exclusively for the LGBT community but for the country at large. On the 22nd, an 18-year-old New Jersey college student named Tyler Clementi committed suicide. In the weeks prior, three other youth took their lives: 13-year-old Seth Walsh (California), 13-year-old Asher Brown, (Texas) and 15-year-old Billy Lucas (Indiana). The headlines all point to similar motives: Tyler, Seth, Asher and Billy were all gay, and for that reason, they were brutally harassed and publicly shamed.

73.6% heard derogatory remarks such as "faggot" or "dyke" frequently or often at school.

Eventually, the media will move on to another story, leaving these tragedies behind a trail of fresher gossip and erasing the collective conscience of America. Reality, however, isn’t swayed by news trends. Teens who identify as LGBT are faced each and every day with risk. Their safety and dignity - basic human rights we all deserve - are regularly stripped due to their sexual orientation. Whether subjected to degrading comments or tortured with violence, LGBT youth carry a monstrous burden. At the dinner table, during soccer practice, while serving in the military; gays and lesbians encounter prejudice in a myriad situations.

More than half (60.8%) of students reported that they felt unsafe in school because of their sexual orientation, and more than a third (38.4%) felt unsafe because of their gender expression

For Tyler Clementi, loss of privacy and extreme cyber-bullying occurred in his dorm room at Rutgers University. An intimate moment in his life was broadcast on the internet with neither his knowledge nor his consent. This public humiliation happened only days before Tyler jumped off the George Washington Bridge. And unfortunately, Tyler’s story is not an outlier. It is a trend.

31.7% of LGBT students missed a class and 32.7% missed a day of school in the past month because of feeling unsafe, compared to only 5.5% and 4.5%, respectively, of a national sample of secondary school students.

The statistics are staggering but they highlight the need for all of us to continue to fight for environments where all youth can thrive: in families, schools, and communities free of bias-based harassment and violence. I strongly urge you to watch and more importantly share the short video below, which addresses homophobia and intolerance of LGBT teens.

"The closet is kind of a death-in-life experience, a form of suicide... Thank you all for this project." -Anonymous

The Ugly Ducklings National Campaign to Reduce Bullying and Harassment of LGBTQ Youth teaches us that the importance of safe, supportive communities for all youth cannot be understated. It also sends a clear call to action. While we cannot undo the horrific mistreatment of Tyler Clementi and many others, it is within our capacity to spread awareness and to cultivate strong support systems for teens currently facing discrimination. We hope you will take a moment to pass this video along to your family, friends, and colleagues.

For questions regarding the video, campaign, or to purchase of an Ugly Ducklings documentary, please contact Hardy Girls Healthy Women or visit the Ugly Ducklings website. You may also call the office at (207) 233-3427 or send email inquiries to info@hghw.org.

All statistics were graciously borrowed from the 2007 GLSEN National School Climate Survey.

SPARK Ally of the day: Jamia Wilson

2010-09-27T11:11:00.002-04:00

I am an activist, organizer, expat-brat, networker, cartwheeler, truthseeker, and storyteller. I am Vice President of Programs at Women’s Media Center, after serving in several roles related to yo.uth leadership development, grassroots organizing, and communications. After working with coalition partners and campus organizations to help bring thousands of students to the historic March for Women’s Lives in 2004, I was honored as one of the “Real Hot 100″ by the Younger Women’s Taskforce. I recently received my M.A. in Humanities and Social Thought at NYU, where I focused on research and writing inspired by critical race theory and gender studies.

I’m inspired by women’s wisdom -- Words from my mother, my grandmother, my aunts, bellhooks, Audre Lorde, Gloria Steinem and Michelle Obama strengthen me every day. I am also inspired by beauty and its presence in all things, people, and ideas. I love nature, yoga, Kara Walker’s art, Ntozake Shange, Cleopatra Jones, French New Wave, Jean Seberg, French graffiti genius Fafi, Wangechi Mutu, Nina Simone, Billie Holliday, and critical race theory.

I am excited to serve as a catalyst for change and SPARK a movement against the sexualization of girls because we need to revolutionize our minds, own our voices, and conquer fear that keeps us from realizing our power and authenticity. We must accept ourselves and remain committed to our core values in order to engender change. It is imperative that we admit that oppression and marginalization exists with(in) and with(out) of the feminist community. Power and privilege that goes unchecked harms our movement, and alienates those we aim to uplift. We must become a much more “functional” family before equality can ever exist beyond our cadre of activists. We will never prevail unless we actively trust young women (without paying lip service or placing blame) and empower each other to create the kind of justice we purport to believe in. For this reason and many more, I am so excited that SPARK creates a space for girls and young women to actively push back and raise their unique and important voices. I am hopeful that we will share a brighter future as each of our sparks ignite a larger flame.

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Susan McGee Bailey

2010-09-24T08:36:00.002-04:00

"As director of the Wellesley Centers for Women I have spent decades studying the status of girls and women. I’m adding my voice to SPARK because I’m deeply discouraged by the way gender issues are framed in the media. “Girls are doing fine; boys need help academically," is one common construction. The reality is far more complex. The objectification of girls, their sexualization at younger and younger ages, creates a world in which girls are viewed, and learn to view themselves, through a lens that excludes the majority of who they are and can be. This narrow view of girls is just another way to limit their freedom and "keep them in their place." It hurts girls and boys both academically and psychologically, and damages our entire society. We must recognize the need for healthy sexuality as a central ingredient in healthy personhood, and as key to achieving genuine gender equality."

Dr. Bailey is the Executive Director of Wellesley Centers for Women, and a professor of Women's & Gender Studies and Education at Wellesley College.

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back Monday for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs

2010-09-23T08:02:00.004-04:00

"I'm a queer black trouble maker and a writer and educator. I'm a founding co-conspirator of the Quirky Black Girls movement and the instigator of the Eternal Summer of the Black Feminist Mind Educational Series. I'm also between stops on the road trip of a life time....the MobileHomeComing Project...where my partner and I travel in an RV around the US interviewing black queer women and gender non-conforming folks and trans-men about all the brilliant things they've done to be themselves and create community! Hooray! I'm excited about all of the ways that girls can use do-it-yourself media to express themselves. I've been an activist since the age of 14 and I'm allying with SPARK because I want to support all girls and especially girls of color in expressing their radical, world-changing, trouble-making genius!"

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Rochelle Schieck

2010-09-22T07:02:00.003-04:00

Rochelle Schieck loves to move - in her body and around the world. She started dancing as a young girl growing up in Minnesota until she was summoned by the call of adventure. Her love of movement and the desire to explore life’s meaning compelled her to spend the last 10+ years traveling around the world as a student and teacher to places throughout North and South America, Europe, Africa, India, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Rochelle began instructing various yoga styles for all ages and abilities, several dance modalities and NIA. She has lead over 4,000 movement classes and facilitated hundreds of private sessions. On a strong hit of intuition, she decided to move to New York City to further her studies of the divine feminine, sensuality, and other womanly arts. Her movement background and women’s empowerment work coupled with her experience as a personal trainer, certified massage therapist, shamanic energy healer and her degree in Interdisciplinary Fine Arts have all influenced her creation of the movement system, Qoya.

Qoya evolves the way we have been taught to move our bodies as women. Drawn from the wisdom of yoga, creative expression in dance, and the pleasure found in sensual movement, Qoya helps women enjoy and revel in their feminine bodies.

Rochelle is devoted to a life that serves the evolution of women’s consciousness through movement. She encourages all women to claim their right to more than self-love, but reveling. More than hope- the confidence and courage to show up fully present in one’s life. More than happiness- a deep sense of gratitude and fulfillment. She believes these ambitious goals are best achieved through the physical feelings of power, purpose, and pleasure that she offers with Qoya. Rochelle teaches that through movement, we remember. We remember, as women, that we are wise, wild, and free.

Rochelle explains: "I am proud to help SPARK ignite their movement because I believe that the time for women to emerge as powerful leaders is now. There is no longer time to hold back our beauty, radiance and light because of insecurities that are culturally paralyzing women from the full and authentic expression of who they really are. I believe that through movement, we remember. We remember, as women, that we are wise, wild and free. We feel it in our bodies as an embodied truth and then we are able to source from that deeper wisdom to be courageous ambassadors of change, bringing balance back to our lives, relationships, communities and the world."

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Riki Wilchins

2010-09-21T07:44:00.002-04:00

Riki Wilchins has written several books and many chapters and articles about gender stereotypes and their impact on girls (and boys!). As Director of Research for TrueChild she’s currently looking for projects that will help show that when you teach girls to think critically about all the sexualized media messages they’re inundated with day after day, you get better programmatic outcomes in areas like reproductive health, healthy eating and body image than if you don’t. TrueChild even created the first report card on gender stereotypes in children’s television for pre-school and school-age programs. You can check it all out here http://truechild.org/LearnTheFacts.

She’s also led TrueChild in creating a special online clearinghouse of all the research on what media stereotypes do to girls, including those who are of color and/or LGBT. You can read the simple, plain English summaries here http://truechild.org/ReadTheResearch

In her own words: “The SPARK Summit is the realization of work we’ve been wanting to see happen ever since the APA issued its report on media sexualization of girls. We knew this was a major problem, but for the first time there was a big national organization ringing in on the issue and saying, ‘yes, this really is a problem, and it hurts lots of girls.” SPARK is going to help ignite a lot of energy and mobilization to help girls push-back on this issue and I’m really looking forward to being a part of it!”

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Valerie Francisco

2010-09-20T07:05:00.007-04:00

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the sociology program at the City University of New York, The Graduate Center where I'm working on research with Filipino migrant women working as domestic workers in New York City and their families in the Philippines. In the Filipino community in New York, I organize with Filipino American youth and women to raise consciousness about the need for girl and women's voice and representation, especially in popular culture and media. Our community work puts girls and women's presence first in producing new types of visual art, theater and music like hip-hop. We want to reshape the images and roles of girls of color and women of color's roles in hip hop to follow and build from positive women already in hip hop. I want to ally with the SPARK movement to build a better representation of girls and women in hip hop.

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Dr. Robyn Silverman

2010-09-17T08:11:00.004-04:00

"I’m a Child/Teen Development Specialist, Body Image Expert, Success Coach and Author of Good Girls Don’t Get Fat. It’s an honor to be adding my spark to this movement because the sexualization of girls distracts our young people from embracing and sharing the unique and nuanced qualities, strengths, and gifts that they can offer the world. Girls are powerful in mind, body, and voice, yet this power is obscured when media strips them down to mere sexual parts. By standing tall and loudly beside them while encouraging them to speak up and demand the right to embrace their girlhood without sexualized pressures, we are sculpting a generation of assertive, multi-faceted, passionate girls…and boys who respect them for it."

Check out Dr. Robyn Silverman on her website, twitter, facebook, or to order her book click here!

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back Monday for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Sage Salzer

2010-09-16T05:56:00.003-04:00

Sage Salzer is a top plus-size model who has appeared in top-tier publications including The O Magazine, Real Simple, Good Housekeeping, Glamour, People, and in advertisements for Eddie Bauer, JCPenney, Land's End, Lane Bryant, Macy's, Nordstrom's and Tommy Hilfiger. A native of Ventura, CA, Sage started modeling at the age of 15 around the world. While in college at Sarah Lawrence, Sage found it challenging to keep her weight low enough to continue straight-size modeling and subsequently shifted her goal to advocating for healthy lifestyle choices for women and decided to pursue a career in plus-size modeling. Because of her dedication to this healthier approach to living, Sage has become one of the most successful plus-size models in the country. Sage's website is www.sagesalzer.com. Read her insight into the issues that SPARK will be tackling at the Oct 22nd summit:

"One of the most serious issues challenging the healthy development of American girls these days is the over-sexualization of our youth. It's so prevalent in our culture that I think most people and parents are desensitized to it.

One of the best books about this which I highly recommend is: 'So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect their Kids.'"

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the Day: Shelby Knox

2010-09-15T09:32:00.006-04:00

I’m just coming to terms with the fact I’m not a “girl activist” anymore, although the documentary that told my story of fighting to get better sex education into my Texas high school, The Education of Shelby Knox, captured me forever as a bubbly fifteen year-old with questionable fashion sense. Since the film came out, I’ve become an itinerant feminist organizer, traveling across the country organizing campaigns for gender justice and speaking about the next wave of feminism. (It’s probably for this work, not the aforementioned fashion fails, that Marie Claire just named me “The Next Gloria Steinem.” Ummm, pressure much???) My favorite projects turn girls into girl activists; I’ve done this work with the Girls Leadership Institute, the Sadie Nash Leadership Project and The Girl Scouts, among others.

I want to add my SPARK to this movement for the girl I used to be. I hated my body for being too big, my hair for being too curly, and my own supposedly unnatural aversion to the tight, skimpy clothes that were my only hope for a boyfriend. I didn’t know that the media wanted me to hate my thighs so I would buy weight loss products and expensive jeans, my hair so I would buy flat irons and creams galore. I didn’t realize there were forces out there that want young women to think their worth lies in their sexuality and being able to attract a mate rather than their innate ability to take over the world. When I figured out how to decode these messages I got angry, I started the journey to loving myself, and I found my power in activism and plotting to – you better believe it – take over the world. I want young women to embrace their big hips, their big mouths, their big dreams and become the leaders of the next generation of the revolution!

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Deborah Tolman

2010-09-13T22:43:00.004-04:00

I am a developmental psychologist, researcher, mother (of two teenage boys), professor, activist, daughter. I grew up before Title IX and did not know that I could be as strong with my body as I was with my mind. As an adult, I stumbled into body competence by accident and have been pursuing it, along with my emotional and intellectual growth, ever since. I can press 540 lbs on the leg press; I have the biceps of a weight lifter. I discovered the delicious experience of doing Pilates--of being really bad at it, working and working and working and becoming really good at it, which makes me feel fantastic and makes me more effective and anchored in my life. I love feeling as strong in my body as I do in my mind.

I am someone who wants girls to know that 1) their bodies are first and foremost, THEIRS, no matter what media or other people tell them; 2) they are ENTITLED to their own thoughts, feelings, desires, emotions, no matter what media or other people tell them; 3) they are FABULOUS, no matter what media or other people tell them. I support SPARK because we are going to do what it takes to make it more and more possible for girls to connect their bodies with their minds and garner the strength that comes from this connection.

I am inspired by the work of HGHW and PBG, Lyn Mikel Brown and Megan Williams and all of the amazing girls who are making SPARK. I know that the Summit is going to be the first day of the next important social movement for diverse girls and women in this country! I know that making the world a better place for girls and women will also mean that our male allies will have to join us--and in so doing, make it a better place for themselves as well.

Find out more about Deb

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Jess Weiner

2010-09-12T23:41:00.003-04:00

Considered this generation’s “Go to Girl” for self-esteem, Jess Weiner inspires audiences worldwide with her authentic take on living a confident life. She is a best selling author and the founder and Chief Creative Officer of Talk to Jess, LLC and the Actionist® Network, a global online community that recognizes and connects individuals and organizations who are making a difference in the lives of others. As a leader within the confidence community for over 16 years, Jess is best known for bringing public attention to the negative effects media images have on the self-esteem of women and girls. Currently serving as the Global Ambassador for the Dove Self-Esteem Fund, Jess wants to add her SPARK to this movement because she believes in a world where girls are encouraged to be the next CEO or space engineer, not just the next reality TV star.

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Shari Miles-Cohen

2010-09-10T09:00:00.000-04:00

"I am the senior director of the American Psychological Association Women’s Programs Office (WPO). The WPO works to improve the status, health, and well-being of women psychologists and women in the general public. I am adding my spark to this movement because the APA’s Task Force Report on the Sexualization of Girls found that the proliferation of sexualized images of girls in the media is causing harm to girls’ self-image and healthy development, including eating disorders, low self-esteem, and depression. I am also the mother of a four-year old boy and the aunt of teenaged nieces and nephews. I want my son, and all other boys and girls, to get messages that will lead to their healthy psychological and social development."

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Julia Barry

2010-09-09T02:00:00.005-04:00

Julia Barry is the creator of In Her Image: Producing Womanhood in America, a multi-media program addressing the effects of contemporary American images. Julia is a also a successful singer/musician, and wrote a number of original pieces specifically for the project, In Her Image. Talk about a modern-day Renaissance woman!

In her own words, Julia explains why she is contributing to the SPARK summit:
"I want to fight sexualization of girls in the media to create a fairer, more aware society where tolerance, healthy relationships, and authenticity are valued. I want to raise public self-worth and eradicate gender roles oppressive to all genders. This all may sound lofty and theoretical, but I'm taking action on these issues because they affect real, individual people's lives in so many consequences from violence to to disease to poverty. If we can treat each other respectfully as humans (rather than as sexy entertainment objects), we will be much better able to come together to work on all other progressive change."

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: L. Monique Ward

2010-09-08T09:00:00.002-04:00

I'm a psychology professor at the University of Michigan and have been doing research for the past 17 years both on teens' sexual development and on media influences on teens' lives. I was also a member of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls. I have conducted many research studies analyzing the narrow sexual messages in the media and their impact on girls' and boys' body image, self-esteem, and beliefs about sex, dating, and relationships. As I become increasingly aware of how media exposure limits how girls view themselves and women, more generally, I am enthusiastic to help SPARK a change in a different direction.

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Peggy Moss

2010-09-07T17:10:00.007-04:00

Peggy Moss is the author of award-winning books for children: One of Us, Our Friendship Rules and Say Something. She is a former hate violence lawyer who writes and talks about bullying, teasing and relationships.

Peggy also writes "It's time to rescue the media from these pathetic patterns of sexualization that limit girls and cater to a demeaning idea of what men and boys want to see in the world. Honestly, we can do better, and we have to. let's SPARK a revolution that allows girls to see themselves as the complicated, outrageous, fabulous and whole people they are!"

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Nancy Gruver

2010-09-03T01:39:00.006-04:00

Because of my experience at New Moon Girls I'm passionate about girls' self-expression and the need for girls to be respected. When girls are sexualized in the media, it hurts them and boys in many ways that carry into adult life. SPARK gives girls a way to speak up for themselves and speak out against the disprespect of sexualization. It's a critical piece in ensuring that girls take their place as leaders in our world.

Nancy Gruver is the Founder of New Moon Girl Media as well as the author of How To Say It To Girls

You learn even more about Nancy's great work on these sites and networks:
www.daughters.com
facebook: New Moon page
twittering: nancy_newmoon
blogging: Nancy's Blog

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back on Monday for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Dr. Carla Stokes

2010-09-02T11:06:00.004-04:00

I am a health educator, life coach, speaker, and founder of Helping Our Teen Girls In Real Life Situations, Inc. (HOTGIRLS) ®, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health and lives of young women and girls in underserved communities through health education, leadership development, and media education. I am also developing books, products, and curricula inspired by my work with youth and research on the impact of sexualized media on young women and girls coming of age in the hip hop and digital generations. I am adding my spark to this exciting movement because it is my personal mission to inspire young women and girls to embrace their true worth and overcome societal pressures that hold them back from achieving their greatest potential.

Learn more about Dr. Carla Stokes:
http://www.drcarla.com
http://www.helpingourteengirls.org
http://www.twitter.com/drcarla

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Jean Kilbourne

2010-09-01T12:34:00.005-04:00

I've been studying the image of women in the media for over 40 years and made my first film, Killing Us Softly, way back in 1979. I've long been dreaming of a movement that would challenge the objectification and sexualizaion of girls. I'm delighted to help ignite the wonderful PBG campaign!

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Vinitha Nair

2010-08-31T10:32:00.002-04:00

I’m the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Platform Shoes Forum. I co-created Zoey's Room to encourage and retain girls into science, technology, engineering, and math career pathways. The ZR platform aims to provide an alternate focus for girls that is positive, collaborative, and supportive of each other. In the media, no other sub-sector seems to be as over-analyzed and scrutinized as teen girls. To attract this increasingly influential group, marketers lean towards a generalized perception of what is appealing to this age. I'm excited to help ignite this spark in emphasizing a more realistic, if not global, image of girls today!

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Jennifer Finney Boylan

2010-08-30T09:00:00.003-04:00

I'm a writer and a teacher, best known, maybe, for my memoir, She's Not There, the first bestselling book by a transgender American. I have tried to shine a light on gender issues in the media, from the New York Times op/ed page to the Oprah Winfrey Show. Freeing girls from the shackles of media sexualization is not just a good idea, it's a moral imperative. Sex should set us free, not keep us in chains. SPARK will help.

Check out Jennifer Finney Boylan's blog!

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back Monday for our next ally!

This is what a young feminist looks like

2010-08-27T10:54:00.005-04:00

We are absolutely thrilled to be a part of today's ever-expanding blog carnival over at Fair and Feminist showcasing young feminist bloggers . Like many other digital activisms, this event was born out of frustration. As Shelby Knox explains in her entry, Unicorns and Young Feminism, the 20-something generation is cursed with a stereotype of apathy and inaction. Rather than solidarity, young feminists are often met with apprehension from our fore-mothers and routinely made invisible by blanketing statements like "young feminists don't exist."

By perusing the aforementioned blog carnival, it is clear, that our youthful spirit is less than minuscule. We are in Canada, we are part of large national organizations, and we share our musings in personal blogs. This blog carnival illustrates just how limitless we are as a young feminist community.

As we gear up for a movement called SPARK (to eliminate the sexualization of girls) alongside Women's Media Center, Ms. Foundation, and many others, Hardy Girls is inspired by the sisterhood we are seeing today. This kind of passion and exuberance is exactly what drives and empowers future generations. Thanks to Fair and Feminist for pulling this blog carnival together and for reasserting that young feminists do, in fact, exist.

SPARK Ally of the day: Rachell Arteaga

2010-08-27T09:17:00.004-04:00

I am a master’s student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where I’m learning about different types of research that I will use to shift the current kids’ media environment to be a more nurturing, inclusive community for girls and children of color. I want to help spark this movement because the sexualization of girls and women robs us of the right to be treated as equals.

Rachell is also the author of our recent blog post My Trip to the "Capital of Beautiful Women."

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back Monday for our next ally!

My Trip to the “Capital of Beautiful Women”

2010-08-26T11:04:00.007-04:00

By Rachell Arteaga

This summer I traveled to Colombia and stayed in Cali, a city known for being the country’s “capital of beautiful women.” Knowing this I was even more intrigued to see how gender roles and representation play themselves out.

I saw some crazy things:

Reads "Anorexia Style Shop"

Yep, a store named after the devastating eating disorder, complete with tiny bare belly advertising jeans in the window. I was walking around with a Colombian friend who is a bulimia survivor herself and was OUTRAGED. As a mother, she works every day to ensure that her 7-year-old daughter grows up with a healthy body image despite unrealistic beauty standards – and crazy stores like these.

There were A TON of these around -- mannequins with GINORMOUS boobs! Cali is the international Mecca for plastic surgery. Not so surprising with such enormous plastic chests modeling clothes everywhere. Ironically, aforementioned mom even had a nose job and said that plastic surgery is quite common (boo!).

One of the most disturbing things I saw, though, was a beauty pageant for little girls. These children were sashaying around a stage amidst cheering crowds, caked in makeup, wearing bikinis and heels:

But it wasn’t, by far, all doom and gloom. There were some amazingly refreshing things, too. The event that stood out the most was an informative sex ed workshop for teens given by the Christian organization I volunteered with. It was a frank conversation, filled with valuable advice. Teens spoke honestly about their experiences, were told about all options available to them, and there was plenty of emphasis on empowering girls to hold their own and make critical decisions. My favorite part – when the boys were asked about hypothetical situations were girls were pressured into having sex, the boys always said that the girl had the right to say no and shouldn’t be involved with anyone who thinks differently. Woot! Other great efforts include local organizations like Colectivo MEJODA (site in Spanish) who are giving youth the power to take media into their own hands by providing camera training.

Even though it’s clear that the sexualization of girls and women is a global issue, it’s good to know that there is push back worldwide to create an environment where equality is not the exception but the NORM. I look forward to going back and seeing more innovative strategies Colombian girls, youth and their allies create.

SPARK Ally of the day: Amy Jussel

2010-08-26T10:31:00.005-04:00

I’m founder of Shaping Youth, a nonprofit consortium dealing with media and marketing's impact on kids. We’re using tactics of industry insiders to fight fire with fire and excited to help light the fuse to spark the power of media for positive change. I’m a writer/producer by trade and have seen industry devolve into appearance-based cues for both genders, with vapid values that narrowcast and pigeon-hole youth into objectified commodities over healthy, whole human beings. Time to ignite a massive mindshift…let’s spark it!

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days" Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Jaclyn Friedman

2010-08-25T09:26:00.004-04:00

I’m the executive director of Women, Action & the Media, writer, performer, speaker and activist. I'm also the editor of Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape, a book dedicated to creating a safer, healthier world in which everyone can experience their sexuality on their own terms. I’m adding my spark to this movement because the media's ridiculously narrow view of female sexuality limits girls' and women's ability to imagine satisfying sexual possibilities for ourselves. It's time to free the media, our minds, and our bodies.

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days" Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Melissa Wardy

2010-08-24T09:59:00.005-04:00

I am the creator of Pigtail Pals, a company that offers the empowering message to girls to Redefine Girly. I run Pigtail Pals online store, write our blog, design our products, and talk to parents and girls about media literacy and the sexualization of girls. I am adding the Redefine Girly spark to this movement because I am a mom who wants better messages for my little girl, for everyone's little girls. Our girls deserve so much better!

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days" Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Sharon Lamb

2010-08-23T09:34:00.001-04:00

I’m a professor, author, researcher, and media critic who co-authored Packaging Girlhood and the APA Task Force Report on the Sexualization of Girls and is currently co-authoring a sexual ethics curriculum. Girls deserve a sex education that’s real and relevant and critical of sexualizing images so that they can both explore and be safe, get love and be loved, and feel comfortable in their own skin!

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days" Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Gail Dines

2010-08-20T09:00:00.001-04:00

I am a professor and activist who co-founded Stop Porn Culture. Our goal is to raise public consciousness about the harms of pornography. I'm adding my spark to this movement because I believe that girls are being assaulted with images that are sexist, reductive and dehumanizing. We have to do battle with the pornographers because it is time to take back our culture.

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days" Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

SPARK Ally of the day: Rachel Simmons

2010-08-19T09:00:00.001-04:00

I'm co-founder of the Girls Leadership Institute, an educator and the author of two bestselling books about girls. I want to help girls respond to the commodification of their sexuality and redefine sexy. I'm tired of seeing sex be packaged as an avenue to power and confidence for girls and women.

Check out Rachel Simmons on Twitter and Facebook!

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days" Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

Frances Perkins Center Open Door Award

2010-08-18T15:07:00.000-04:00

Megan Williams is the executive director of Hardy Girls Healthy Women. Named one of the ten people shaping the future of Maine's economy by MaineBiz last year, Megan was hired to lead Hardy Girls in 2005, a year after her graduation from Colby College in Waterville, Maine. She has nurtured the ten-year-old nonprofit from its local roots into a flourishing organization with programs featuring mentoring, an emphasis on strength and activism, and national workshops and curricula.

SPARK Ally of the day: Angela Jones

2010-08-18T09:48:00.004-04:00

I am the co-creator of the blog Plus-Size Models Unite, a wife, mother of two children, friend, activist, eating disorder survivor, and a model. I want to add my spark to this movement because I want to see diversity of every shape, size, and age represented in the media. I want to encourage girls and women to be confident in their individual self, to live a balanced and healthy lifestyle, and to ask themselves this simple question daily, "What is one thing I love about myself today?"

Part of the "30 Allies in 30 Days." Learn more about SPARK summit.

Once Upon a Time: Ready to Serve

2010-08-17T13:50:00.002-04:00

It still feels like summer out there, and you better believe that we’ll soak up these warm days for as long as we can, but we’re also thinking ahead to the year before us. It’s almost September, a month that will bring new journeys for students, folks beginning new jobs, and others making exciting transitions. We’re thrilled to be welcoming five fabulous women to our board of directors — Lindy Graham, Stefanie Solar, Mary Madden, Trish Hansen, and Kristin Aiello. The board of directors isn’t the only governing body of Hardy Girls welcoming new faces — below you’ll find the application submitted by 17-year-old Adriana to join our Girls Advisory Board (pictured below), who participate in leadership development, complete social action projects, and generally keep us current on what’s important in the lives of girls. It was just too good to keep to ourselves! (And yes, she’s been accepted.)

I believe that women and girls of all ages should be completely comfortable with who they really want to be, rather than being swayed by gendered social expectations to do anything or be anyone they don’t want to do or be. As a rising senior at Winslow High School, I all-too-often witness young women in my school and group of friends being pressured into fitting some kind of gender stereotype. I’ll hear guys (even girls’ boyfriends) joke around, saying thinks like, “Why don’t you just go make me a sandwich?” or calling girls derogatory names. Many girls even seem to embrace these names for themselves and begin jokingly calling each other (and themselves) profane, misogynistic nicknames.

I have begun to understand that these gender-related stereotypes, behaviors, and mindsets are not always obvious. In most cases, the promotion of gendered social expectations or norms is extremely subtle, which makes the situation even more dangerous. If girls think it’s funny to or cute to call themselves derogatory names, because they think, “oh, it’s just a joke,” it only trivializes the issue. I believe that it is essential to view these issues as real problems that actually exist, rather than simply laughing them off or considering them taboo.

I’ve noticed that, often times, people who question these gender norms are considered “crazy feminists”, or labeled dismissively as gay or lesbian. I want to change this fact. I want to work to make it mainstream – even cool – to question traditional gender roles. It’s hard enough for girls to stand up for themselves in situations, such as relationship dynamics. But I truly believe that every girl can (and should) work to de-normalize these gendered expectations and make the people in her life and community more aware of these subtleties.

I would like to do anything I can to make these issues important to people – both male and female – and to discuss with people not only the most obvious gendered social problems, but the more subtle ones, as well. After all, those are often the most difficult to acknowledge and we often brush them aside as minor details. Especially in high school, the environment is often very unsupportive of these kinds of subtleties and issues. I believe that a young woman should have a safe and supportive place to discuss anything – even the most seemingly minor thing – that makes her uncomfortable or upset. I’m confident that by volunteering with Hardy Girls, I would find a great opportunity to pursue this issue about which I am so enthusiastic and passionate while reaching out to others at the same time.

SPARK Ally of the day: Lyn Mikel Brown

2010-08-17T11:28:00.001-04:00

We're ramping up energy in support of SPARK: Sexualization Protest: Action, Resistance, Knowledge, a growing movement to push back on the sexualization of girls and push forward girls’ right to an embodied, healthy sexuality.

The October 22nd SPARK Summit will launch an intergenerational movement to support and stand with girls. In response to the American Psychological Association’s Task Force Report on Sexualization of Girls, the most downloaded documented in the history of APA’s website, the SPARK Summit will engage teen girls to be part of the solution rather than to protect them from the problem, giving them the tools they need to become activists, organizers, researchers, policy influencers, and media makers.

Activists and organizers around the country are contributing to SPARK already by drawing attention to the issue of early sexualization. In our series called "30 Allies in 30 Days," Hardy Girls Healthy Women is highlighting thirty fabulous individuals who are actively doing their part to ignite SPARK. Our first ally is Dr. Lyn Mikel Brown:

I'm co-founder of Hardy Girls Healthy Women, professor of Education at Colby College, author, and activist. I'm also the Powered By Girl (PBG) campaign organizer, which means I work with amazingly creative and smart teen girls who are contributing their voices and activism to SPARK. I'm adding my spark to this movement because I'm tired of the pornifed images that pass as female sexuality in media and I want to do what I can to make room for girls to say who they are and what they want.

Part of "30 Allies in 30 Days" Learn more about the SPARK Summit and check back tomorrow for our next ally!

A Dad and His Daring Daughter!

2010-06-16T16:02:00.006-04:00

Hardy Girls has long paid tribute to its Founding Othermothers—an amazing group of women who made a financial commitment to the organization way back in the beginning. They’re women who nourish a girl’s hope through acts of love, courage, and commitment to making the community and the world a better place for girls. But we’d be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge another population — this one of male allies — that does the same thing for girls and for Hardy Girls. We’re calling them Otherfathers and this month, in honor of Father’s Day, we’re bringing you a story about one of them. We spoke with Scott Price, who, as a long-time supporter of Hardy Girls and dad to twelve-year-old Maddie, is both an Otherfather and a regular one. And he rocks at both!

Scott’s daughter, Maddie, is a sixth grader at Canaan Elementary. First introduced to Hardy Girls through Adventure Girls programming a couple of years ago, Maddie participated in snowshoeing and frog tracking. She later attended the Girls Unlimited! Conference. Of raising Maddie, Scott tells us: “I think there’s a lot more opportunity than when I was a kid for girls in general.”

Having grown up with five younger sisters, Scott has seen a progression in activities that girls are encouraged to pursue now. “I think with equality, we’ve come a long way. I think there’s more opportunity for sports and education. I think there’s more opportunity for college careers. I like to see Maddie have those chances.”

One of the things Scott says he wants most for his daughter is for her to have a variety of different experiences. “When I had to start making my adult decisions, I was able to see what was out there, so I’m big on trying to get her lots of experiences. It’s most of the things I like to do — outdoor stuff, cultural stuff, travel.” Indeed, they’ve taken Maddie all around the U.S., to Canada, and even to London. They take canoe trips and go on day hikes as a family, and attend shows and concerts at the Waterville and Skowhegan Opera Houses. “We like those quite a lot,” said Scott. “I think there are a lot of things to take advantage of in Central Maine.”

It’s clear that Maddie is a busy kid; she’s particularly devoted to dance and trombone lessons and babysitting. “She took a babysitting class and she understands what money is.” But while Scott encourages new experiences, he understands the importance of not overscheduling. “She doesn’t have to do everything, all the sports and all the dance… It’s a balance you have to find. I find that home time is good. And friend time; you’ve got have friends, too.”

Maddie and her friends are looking forward to starting middle school in the fall, and Scott is excited for her. “She has lots of good friends that are going with her. They’re all good students, and she has a good base.” It doesn’t mean, however, that he doesn’t worry about other influences. “I’m constantly aware of commercials and stuff and I’m always spouting off behind the real meaning of what they’re trying to sell. With the new computerization age, the kids get an amazing amount of ads and exposure to stuff; it’s hard to keep up. I talk about that stuff — I hope the kids listen.” We’d be willing to make a bet that they do, Scott!

Happy Father's Day to all of the fathers and Otherfathers! We'd love to hear about why your dad rocks-- leave us a comment and tell us all about him! Or, if you're a dad yourself, let us know what you do to support your daughter!

SPARK! Summit Needs Girls' Votes!

2010-06-15T15:15:00.015-04:00

We’re sparking a revolution and it needs a name! Well, we have a name (SPARK!) but need your input on what S-P-A-R-K stands for.

Hardy Girls, TrueChild, Women’s Media Center, ASAP, and the Ms. Foundation for Women are planning a summit to ignite a movement in protest of the sexualization of girls in media and in support of better images and messages about girls’ sexuality. So much of the media suggests that our sexuality is the most important aspect of who we are – that girls’ and women’s value comes from just how sexy we are – say nothing about our interests, talents, or rockstar personalities (see Gen Z Does Single Ladies and Stupid Is As Stupid Does).

You helped us brainstorm some great acronyms for what SPARK! could stand for. We’ve taken the top 4 options and now need your input. What do you like best? Take a look at the poll and let us know what you think. Voting closes on Friday at 5:00 pm so vote now and tell your friends!

Gen Z does 'Single Ladies'

2010-05-28T10:08:00.006-04:00

by Lyn Mikel Brown, Ed.D

Anyone half paying attention to the media in the past few weeks has seen the YouTube video of a dance troupe of seven and eight year olds doing their thing to Beyoncé’s Single Ladies. If you haven’t seen it, trust me, it’s impossible to watch and not be mesmerized. The girls hit it hard; they are frenetic, fearless, and full of themselves—and very, very good. Gyrating. Grinding. Pulsating. Bouncy balls of energy we might expect of girls this age, but in adult packaging.

The controversy in the wake of the video was almost immediate. Not surprising, the reaction has been divided – between the ‘shocked’ and the ‘defenders.’ Those shocked by the video point out that the black and red burlesque-inspired costumes are more risqué than even Beyoncé’s outfit in her Single Ladies video. They’re appalled to watch little girls do the same dance moves they’ve seen in sexist rap videos on MTV. To the shocked, such dancing can only lead to sexual behavior. They say things like "these girls will be pregnant by 15." Worse, it’s pedophile bait. It’s morally depraved, sick, bordering on child abuse. They blame the clueless parents, the clueless dance instructor, the clueless audience cheering the girls on, and the clueless idiot who posted the video.

Facing off against the shocked are the defenders of all things girly. What is your basic maladjustment, they wonder? Lighten up. This is the new girl power. Today’s version of girls having fun, a Gen Z rendition of flappers or jitterbugging girls kicking their feet in the air to reveal their panties. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along. You with the dirty minds, get a life.

The shocked are looking for simple answers and personal responsibility. They want someone to blame, and that usually means the parents. Good parents turn off the TV, they say, and by that I think they must mean “raise their children in a vacuum,” because, of course, TV represents a small fraction of the media kids are exposed to these days, and all of it contains highly sexualized imagery. I guess good parents also don’t let little girls take dance lessons, because I mean, really, have any of the shocked been to a local dance recital? Burlesque is the norm.

The defenders, on the other hand, refuse to entertain reality. Just girls having fun doesn’t cut it, not in an increasingly pornified culture where the boundary between childhood and adulthood is all but gone. Not when research tells us exposure to sexualized media is associated with greater acceptance of teen dating violence and sexual harassment. Not when a 2007 American Psychological Association report linked media sexualization to girls and young women’s top three mental health problems: depression, eating disorders, and low self-esteem. And not when having this kind of fun makes girls targets for name-calling, often by the shocked themselves, who like to call little girls who dance this way things like "little sluts in the making."

Whether it’s a demand for individual responsibility or a defense of individual right to fun, neither the shocked nor the defenders acknowledge the elephant in the room. Since the FTC lifted restrictions on children’s media in the 1980s, media and marketing companies have targeted younger and younger girls with sexier, thinner, more beauty-conscious and more boy-obsessed imagery and messages. As marketing to children has skyrocketed, so has children’s consumer spending. Blaming parents delights marketers and media because they’re off the hook for their unconscionable behavior –the ways they use developmental psychologists to help them reach kids and create a desire for their products, the way they immerse their brands in everything a child plays with, dresses in, or watches, the way they use the very concerns we have about the sexualization of little girls to boost their so-so ratings.

When the video played and the reporters surfaced, I felt the way I feel each and every time “sex + girls” hits the airwaves. Whether it’s Britney going commando, junior high girls sporting rainbow bracelets, Miley pole-dancing at the Kids Choice Awards, or elementary school girls dancing to Beyoncé, reporters always sound eerily the same, a creepy mix of hand-wringing and barely hidden glee. Tell us why this is bad, they ask. How did we get to this point? Why don’t parents parent anymore? Tune in to Dr. Phil, Anderson Cooper, Fox News, Video at 6. Watch the girls with us, again and again and again and again. Isn’t it awful?

I know what they want. They pretend to represent the shocked, calling for some parent’s head on a platter. But it’s classic bait and switch. Like so many, I also watched the parents of the dancers being interviewed and nothing in their answers made me want to chase them with pitchforks and torches. I felt for the deer-in-the-headlights father when he said he never thought of his daughter this way. I believed the mom, calm and rational, who explained that they weren’t copying Beyoncé’s moves but the Chipettes’ from the latest Alvin and the Chipmunks movie (Really, 20th Century Fox? Chipettes? How about becoming 21st Century Fox?).

No one in their right mind can blame French maid Halloween costumes, pole dancing kits in toy stores, Tots and Tiaras-type reality shows, and Bratz dolls on parents. No one in their right mind can say this sexualized version of growing up is just good, clean fun. To ask parents to take responsibility for the billions of dollars marketers and media invest in making this stuff normal and creating little girls’ desire for this stuff, is simply crazy.
Since the APA Report on the Sexualization of Girls in Media came out in 2007, the landscape has gotten worse and the answer isn’t as simple as the ‘shocked’ and ‘defenders’ claim. So what do we do? Because we have to do something. Join Hardy Girls Healthy Women and our sister organizations, True Child, Women’s Media Center and ASAP on October 22nd at Hunter College in NYC for a national summit on the sexualization of girls. We’ll be working with parents, educators, researchers, media experts, policymakers, and most importantly, teen girls to examine the complexity of this issue, generate creative responses, and commit to policy, media and activist solutions to spark a movement and demand something better for girls. For now, save the date and we’ll keep you posted!

Less than $2,000 to go!

2010-04-02T16:48:00.004-04:00

As you may know, Girls Rock! Weekend is not only our biggest programmatic event of the year, it's our biggest fundraiser! Money raised for Girls Rock supports the weekend, of course, but it also supports programming year-round that empowers girls to get their critical thinking caps on and make their voices heard.

We are beyond thrilled to report that we are so close to reaching our fundraising goal for 2010's weekend -- with only $1,927 left to go, the finish line is definitely in sight. Can you help us reach the mark before the weekend begins on Friday, April 9th?

Maine girls effect positive change, and next weekend we'll celebrate them all over the state. Will you join the celebration and consider digging into your pockets for some more positive change? Visit www.hghw.org/give to help do your part in making Maine a better place for girls to live and grow.

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

2010-03-26T08:56:00.005-04:00

Written for the Feminist Psychologist by Lyn Mikel Brown, Ed.D

In 2008, the District Attorney of Wyoming County in Pennsylvania presented 16 teens – 3 boys and 13 girls -- suspected of “sexting” with a choice: either attend a 5 week, 10-hour education program designed by the District Attorney or face felony child pornography charges. Not much of a choice: if charged and convicted the teens faced a possible seven-year sentence and a felony record. They would also have to register as sex offenders for 10 years and have their names and photos posted on the state’s sex-offender website. Still, three girls refused the “voluntary education course” and instead, with the support of their parents and the ACLU, obtained a preliminary injunction barring prosecution under state child-porn laws. On March 17, 2010 the appellate court upheld the preliminary injunction, accusing prosecutors of violating the civil rights of the teens.

What had these girls done? A 12- and 13-year-old posed for pictures in their underwear at a slumber party; one was speaking on the phone, the other making a peace sign. The third girl, 14, appeared in a photo emerging from the shower wrapped in a towel, just below her breasts. There was no evidence that the girls had ever transmitted the photos; they were discovered when male students were caught trading the images over their cell phones. While both boys and girls were threatened and pressed to undergo education, only the girls were required to learn about sexual self-respect.

If you’re tuned into youth culture, it’s impossible to miss the hysteria around sexting. Research conducted by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy revealed that 20 percent of teens in the U.S. say they have sent or posted lewd photos or video of themselves. Given that one picture can make its way far and wide in minutes, it’s likely that most of this 20% represent those forwarding or receiving photos, not posting them. But just as with previous reports of rainbow bracelets and oral sex, there’s a Press Gone Wild reaction to sexting, almost always blaming girls for their “stupid” acts.

Outside the Pennsylvania appeals court, MaryJo Miller, the mother of one of the 12 year olds, said that when she saw the pictures of the slumber party, she thought the girls were "goofballs.” Her daughter was wearing a training bra. “You are going to see more provocative photos in a Victoria's Secret catalog." That’s an understatement. Quick to judge, rarely do the press, police, or school officials make reference to the obvious: the normalizing of sexual voyeurism and sex camming in media. Whether it’s expendable babes baring it all for celebrity on Entourage, Heroes character Tracy Strauss supporting herself and her young child by stripping online, or America’s Next Top Model contestants posing in sexually provocative ways for the camera, the message to girls watching is always, if you need or want something badly enough, you should be willing to sex it up for public consumption. In the VH1 reality show For the Love of Ray J, for instance, girls with nicknames like Cocktail, Chardonnay, and Danger will do anything to be chosen. In what sounds like a middle school dating game, in one episode Ray J asks the girls “to pretend I’m out of town and you have to keep me interested.” Of course the girls do everything from a strip tease to sexy raps to making a “human banana split” -- even Ray J is so shocked by that one that he can’t stay in his seat to watch.

One newspaper excitedly reports that teens are on to the legal risks of posting photos, and so they’re taking shots of body parts or being careful not to include their faces. Who really knows how many teen girls are this hell-bent on public nudity, but no doubt American Apparel had liability in mind when they developed their recent “best bottoms” campaign. Looking for the new "face" of AA, they invited girls (18+, but really, who’s checking?) to upload a “close-up photo” of their ass-ets to the website. I don't know about you, but I’m on the edge of my own perfectly adequate seat waiting to find out which porn-inspired fave will win -- Boom Boom, Luba, bOOtAAyliCiOus, or Cherry.

We can complain about the perfectly sexy angels in Victoria’s Secret Love Your Body ad campaign (please!), but there’s something particularly icky about American Apparel’s use of ordinary women in its ads, producing low-brow Polaroid-like pictures with a back room naughty feel that normalizes the acts teen girls are now threatened with arrest for imitating. Diesel Jeans adds their spin by capitalizing on adolescent rebellion. “Stupid” is crazy, fun, risk-taking! Smart is “the crusher of possibilities.” For girls, there’s just one way to prove you’ve got the balls to be stupid: show us your boobs!

Teen girls are comparatively measured in their response to sexting. When a blogger on Jezebel.com asked about this issue, girls were more likely to say it wasn’t something they’d seen or experienced personally. They sounded more thoughtful about the causes and more understanding about the outcomes than anything reported in the news. The real story, they say, is the unintended consequences of an impulsive act; the real concern is that girls are more likely to be judged, vilified and threatened with prosecution. As one girl said of the threats to girls like those in the Pennsylvania lawsuit, “it's hard to get my head around the fact that you’re making the victim the criminal.” Pretty smart.

American Apparel’s “best bottom” contest has concluded, butt…this is so not over

2010-03-10T11:10:00.002-05:00

I don't know about you all but we’re on the edge of our own perfectly adequate seats waiting to find out what an ideal bottom looks like and who American Apparel thinks has the best ass-ets. Will it be boom boom? Luba? bOOtAAyliCiOus? Cherry? Wait, where are the boys? Oh yea, halfway through our protest American Apparel set up a site for the guys too, where somewhere close to five guys posted pictures of their bottoms amidst the 1368 girls. Turns out that fakery just didn’t fly. In spite of AA’s lame story, this wasn’t equal opportunity sexualization; it was the same old double standard.

We can’t thank you enough for spreading the word about American Apparel’s blatant and unapologetic sexualization of girls and women. Thanks for signing our petition and for blogging, Facebooking and tweeting the story. You’re all rock stars and we’re incredibly grateful.

We felt the love, but we also fielded a lot of criticism because of this campaign, some cogently argued and some not worth repeating. More than once we heard versions of: Aren’t you just giving AA more attention? Doesn’t your outrage serve to further the appeal of American Apparel to their target market? Haven’t you learned yet that the forbidden fruit tastes sweetest, especially to teenagers? Yeah, we know this. We talked a lot about the forbidden fruit idea, in fact. We work with teen girls, we know about marketing and resistance theory–i.e., saying no, bad, is standard practice for getting teens to say yes, want. In the end, though, our staff of young women and our high school girls advisory board felt CEO Dov Charney and American Apparel had crossed the line and we had a responsibility to act.

This is not just a capitalist marketplace, it’s a marketplace of ideas, and the onus is on all of us to speak up and take action when we see something egregious and harmful. The increasing media sexualization of girls has become a pandemic, reinforcing the sexualization of and violence (sexual, physical, emotional, material) against girls and women in the global arena. In the US, it has been linked to three of young women’s most common mental health complaints: depression, low self-esteem, and eating disorders. AA products may be made in the U.S., but they’re exporting the sexualization of girls and women around the world.

Sure, American Apparel gets more attention, but so do those of us who find their practices reprehensible. Every time we speak out, we find our friends, sister organizations, and allies. Every time we talk back, we create a little more space for coalition and resistance and we educate a few more people about the harmful effects of media sexualization. Why speak out? Because the alternative is to allow the Dov Charneys of the world to pollute our environment. Silence, doing nothing, is just not an option.

Plus, roughly half of our more than 3,000 petition signers pledged to use their wallet-power to protest American Apparel's crude ad campaigns.

So, here at Hardy Girls, we're going to continue to advocate with and for girls because we're determined to create a better world for all, one where women are valued more for their beliefs and brains than they are their butts. And, we're grateful to be doing this work in coalition with so many fabulous girls, women, and male allies. Thank you!

Join us for our upcoming trainings!

2010-02-24T12:03:00.005-05:00

Have you noticed the media lately? On internet, TV, and magazines, girls and women are reduced to body parts, criticized for their looks, and encouraged to work on their physique rather than their minds. Girlfighting is showcased on nearly every channel and hyper-sexuality is thrust upon girls at younger and younger ages.

Of course, we have all noticed the media; it permeates our everyday lives even as adults. Rather than concede to the negative messages that we all are subjected to, why not develop skills to deconstruct, analyze and confront the culture itself?

As a colleague in the struggle to create more supportive environments for girls to thrive, I want to invite you to attend Cultivating Hardiness Zones and Becoming a Muse, two back-to-back strength-based trainings for adults working with girls. Developed by Dr. Mary Madden and myself, Cultivating Hardiness Zones and Becoming a Muse are designed to help you incorporate the latest research on girls' development into work you're already doing with girls. This isn't a training that stresses the inner girl or works to improve "self-esteem," but rather focuses on providing girls with an environment that's conducive to learning and growing despite cultural messages and stereotypes.

Our two upcoming trainings are:

March 15th and 16th, 2010
University of New England, Portland, ME
9am-4pm
Registration fee for both days is $295 by March 1st; $320 afterward.
Registration for one day is $175.00 before March 1st; $190 afterward.
Some partial scholarships are available.

AND

April 27th and 28th, 2010
Simmons College, Boston, MA
9am-4pm
Registration fee for both days is $295 by April 13th; $320 afterward.
Registration for one day is $175.00 before April 13th; $190 afterward.
Some partial scholarships are available.

Registered groups of three or more will receive a 15% discount.

At this training, you'll learn concrete strategies to:

Help girls and women build meaningful connections;
Show girls how to find and use the resources they need to thrive; and,
Tap into girls' energy and creativity and inspire them to make the world one which values them for who they are, not how they look!

Who should attend these trainings? Teachers, guidance counselors, school administrators, health service and social service providers, parents and guardians, and anyone who wants to learn more effective approaches to bringing out the best in girls!

Thank you for the important role you play in girls’ lives. We look forward to seeing you this spring!

Are we getting under American Apparel’s, ah, skivvies?

2010-02-18T09:55:00.001-05:00

Thanks to our sister org, GirlZone.com, for letting us know that American Apparel has now invited men and boys to join their crazy sexist ad campaign. How’s that for a creative response to our Girlcott? Add boys and hope we go away!

It’s all pretty disingenuous, of course, given AA’s history of sexist ad campaigns targeting girls. The simple reality is that this ad campaign sits in a culture that highly sexualizes girls and women, something AA knows and takes full advantage of. So it’s no surprise that boys aren’t posting photos anywhere close to the number girls are posting. No surprise, either, that all the top vote-getters on the site are girls.

AA is capitalizing on the lowest common denominator marketing strategy to make a buck: selling sex and sexism. Are we supposed to believe that an equal opportunity invite to sexualize boys too makes this ad campaign okay? Please.

Tell American Apparel that objectifying bodies – any body--and commodifying sex to sell their products is not okay.

Our Response to the Kaiser Report on Teens & Media

2010-02-12T13:24:00.003-05:00

On January 20, 2010, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released Generation M²: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds. The tagline: “Daily media use among children and teens up dramatically from five years.”

KFF explains that while this age group already devotes over 53 hours a week on “entertainment media,” the use of multiple media outlets at the same time – such as listening to music while surfing the web – exacerbate this daily intake of media content. Upon comparing 2009 findings to those of their 2004 Generation M²report, the report authors claim that children and teens have gained an additional hour and seventeen minutes of daily media exposure. They attribute a number of influences to this increase, such as the popularity of “mobile media,” which drives the accessibility of media. Not surprisingly, three-quarters of 8 to 18-year-olds say that their media use is unmonitored by parents and guardians, and according to the KFF report, this unbridled flow of information is taking its toll on kids. The authors assert that “heavy media users” suffer from poor grades in comparison to “light media users.”

At Hardy Girls Healthy Women (HGHW), we pose that the wellbeing of children and youth are affected far beyond their performance in school. We argue that media use among 8 to 18-year-olds, as reported by KFF, sheds light on the venues where girls and boys are gathering media messages, and subsequently, where they are learning negative gender stereotypes.

Let’s take a look at social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, where media bombardment is commonplace. Advertisements featured on these sites are often marketed to a specific audience, making their impact even more pinpointed and dangerous. A middle-school aged girl may encounter, for instance, a plethora of ads suggesting weight loss solutions as the secret to happiness. A high-school boy may alternatively be offered games that appeal to his heightened online presence but that also portray men as violent and malicious members of society. Both scenarios show that gender norms are being delivered to girls and boys across the media spectrum.

Multi-tasking with media-based products threatens children and teens even further, as their ability to deconstruct images and content are squandered by repeating and overlapping messages. For example, while perusing her Facebook profile, a teenage girl comes in contact with numerous advertisements, including those that promote body augmentation and negative body image. Meanwhile, the lyrics of a familiar pop song playing on her computer reiterate the degradation of women’s bodies. The message from both the song and the advertisement are not only common but normalized features in this young girl’s life, and without the skill set needed to tackle multiple media outlets, these messages continue to guide her self-perception.

While exposure to the media carries a number of drawbacks, particularly for children and teenage consumers, the messages can be broken down. Cultivating media literacy among the younger generation is one such way to empower children and teens. Lyn Mikel Brown, co-founder of HGHW, along with her colleagues, argue that by fostering such a analytical eye, youth become active objectors to the mainstream stereotypes and negative portrayals of girls and boys.

To learn more about media literacy, please join us for our spring trainings in Portland and Boston. You can sign up online or by phone.

New Petition Link for American Apparel Hits Rock "Bottom"

2010-02-08T08:37:00.002-05:00

Because the petition we hosted on citizenspeak.org has received such a strong response from our friends around the US and internationally, we've moved the petition to http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/americanapparel/ in order to allow those not living in the US to sign on their support. Please post far and wide - together we can make a difference in the way that American Apparel and other companies market to girls!

American Apparel Hits Rock “Bottom”

2010-02-02T13:08:00.009-05:00

American Apparel has such a history of sexist ad campaigns that we’ve often wondered if their marketing team is made up of teenage boys lacking creativity and common sense. But their latest endeavor takes the cake. American Apparel is looking for the best bottom in the world to be the "face" of their new ad campaign. They're inviting girls to upload pictures of their butts to the website (wearing AA underwear or body suits, of course) and then asking people to judge the submissions with a score of 1-5 and the option to add snarky comments. It’s low budget and lowbrow. For girls, however, it’s high stakes.

Here's their invitation: "Confident about the junk in your trunk? Show us your assets! Post a photo of your booty's best side for judgment. We're looking for a brand new bum (the best in the world!) to be the new "face" for our always expanding intimates and briefs lines. The winners will be flown to LA, photographed and featured online. Send in a close-up photo of your backside wearing American Apparel panties, bodysuits or briefs for consideration and vote for your personal favorites."

Geez, American Apparel, try listening to girls instead of objectifying them. As Thalia, age 19, says, “You don't need to exploit us to benefit your company. Someone that is a CEO should have more common sense, don't you think?”

We do.

So, here’s our reply – grow up and get someone on your marketing team who’s got some brain cells and some principles. Sign our letter to AA’s CEO and Corporate Relations people to add your name to the protest.

Joseph Teklits and Jean Fontana, Corporate Relations
Dov Charney, CEO
747 Warehouse St.
Los Angeles, CA 90021

Dear American Apparel:

The sexualization of women and porn-inspired media have infiltrated the everyday culture of the youngest girls. According to the 2007 APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls in Media, the negative impact on girls and women is indisputable: the sexualization and objectification of girls and women in media wreak havoc on our psychological, emotional, cognitive and relational lives.

Your recent campaign is a perfect example of the insidious ways marketers and media promote sexualization and body obsession as “girl power.” American Apparel is directly and unconscionably undermining girls’ healthy development by equating confidence with looking sexy, winning with being judged on their appearance, and personal value with 15 seconds of fame. The objectification of girls’ and women’s bodies is a real concern in a country where 1 in 4 women is a victim of violence, and sexual harassment is rampant. This ad campaign invites girls to self-objectify, inviting girls to post pictures of just one body part, and inviting others to comment and rate it is demeaning and dangerous.

By launching this campaign at a time when sexting is in the headline news, American Apparel is literally placing girls in jeopardy of prosecution by inviting them to post highly sexualized images of themselves online.

Don’t insult us with the usual defense: this is not real girl power; this is not just girls feeling good, making choices or feeling confident in their bodies. American Apparel is selling girls for parts, and we’re not buying.

Add your name to the letter today!

Now, consider this:

A 3-pack of underwear from American Apparel costs $24.

We're willing to bet that not only will you probably find a better deal elsewhere, but you'll sleep better having purchased your skivvies somewhere else, too. And, if you want to sleep really well:

Here's what Hardy Girls could do with that $24:
Encourage girls to see the world of options that exists for them without having to show their underwear.

Please, consider investing your $24 in girls, with a gift to Hardy Girls Healthy Women.

We promise we won't sexualize, objectify, or otherwise demean your sisters, mothers, aunts, nieces, or friends. In fact, we will work toward a better world for all, one where women are valued more for their beliefs and brains than they are their butts.

Donate $24 to Hardy Girls today and see the returns in a better world for girls.

Support HGHW

SAMHSA’s Tired Re-Discovery: Girls Just Wanna Have .... Fights?

2010-01-21T09:13:00.003-05:00

Media hype over the past several years would have you believe that we have a growing case of violence among girls on our hands. Everything from news reports to reality shows suggest that girls just wanna have…fights? But, last month the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) released a report on the incidence of violence among adolescent females. The study combined data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) collected in 2006 and 2008. Findings from the study indicate that about one quarter of girls (26.7%) aged 12-17 had engaged in violent behaviors in the year prior to filling out the survey. The report notes a relationship between girls engaging in violent behavior and higher rates of alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drug use. It also notes a relationship between violence and social class.

Here’s the thing—despite all the urgency and media hype around violence among girls, this study proves that this behavior—while admittedly distressing and seemingly not decreasing—is not on the rise. There haven’t been any significant changes in the number of girls reporting this type of violence since the 2002-2004 studies.

So why all the press? We checked in with our friend, University of Hawaii’s Meda Chesney-Lind, professor of Women’s Studies and Criminal Justice and author of several books on girls and violence, including her recent Beyond Bad Girls: Gender Violence and Hype. “We are playing a very big game of ‘re-discover,’” Meda says. “I’m looking at my copy of YRBSS (Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System) data. The SAMHSA data more or less line up with it...and the YRBSS data show girls violence declining. So, just tell everyone to calm down, and let's talk about the problematic contexts that create girls’ violence.”

The problem is not real girls; the problem is the steady stream of girl-on-girl violence in television and film. Popular TV shows like Gossip Girl, The Hills, Jersey Shore, and The Bachelor all pit women against one another, and they make it as sexy and titillating as possible. Shows like these perpetuate cultural stereotypes that women aren’t to be trusted; that they’ll always pick men over each other; that they are inherently gossipy, cruel, and superficial. This kind of media makes this hyped kind of news coverage of the SAMHSA study possible, and makes it easy for us to forget that what leads to violence among girls is a culture of violence, poverty, fear, and mistrust.

We’re constantly pushing for more real girls in media—more of their dreams, accomplishments, and intelligence—because when we’re bombarded with catty and violent women we miss the opportunity to recognize and publicize what positive realities there are for girls. Worse, we delude girls into thinking all their problems are with other girls. We need a reality check, some public awareness, and a little more faith in girls. Given the tools and the opportunity to think critically about the media hype, you’d better believe girls will get angry — but forget about slapping their sisters. Empowered, critically-thinking girls are going to raise their voices, talk back, and tell their stories. And to be honest, those are the stories we want to hear.

What Girls Want: Wish List for 2010

2009-12-30T11:44:00.004-05:00

No doubt, with the New Year upon us, you’re hearing lots about resolutions — probably filled with the "classics" involving dieting and/or going to the gym. While many are thinking about whittling waistlines and generally getting smaller, we're thinking bigger-- culture change-big, to be specific.

This year, our Girls Advisory Board, knowing full well that they’re not lacking in resolve, decided to make wishes for what they’d like to see happen in 2010. They’re wishes for girls, parents, and their peers. And they’d like to share them with you and ask you to share your wishes too!

So without further ado, and in no particular order, here are Hardy Girls' Top 10 Wishes for 2010:

1. My wish for 2010 is for everyone to realize the importance of girls in their communities, that their ideas can change the world for the better. --Devan

2. My wish for 2010 is that girls will be less critical of themselves just because they don't fit every part of "ideal beauty." --Amelia R.

3. My wish for 2010 is that toy companies will cut the makeovers and stop making all their dolls look like bratz'ed versions of our beloved favorites. --Megan

4. My wish for 2010 is for more women to be talked about in history class because we did stuff, too! --Thalia

5. My wish for 2010 is that women will be paid equally to men. --Alyssa

6. My wish for 2010 is for more famous women to challenge narrow cultural ideas of beauty. --Ruya

7. My wish for 2010 is to see myself as a beautiful, intelligent, and worthy woman, the way my friends and family see me. I wish that all women could see this within themselves this year. --Ali Jean

8. My wish for 2010 is that more girls become aware that they are worth something, and that their lives don't need to be about makeup, boys, and popularity. --Jenn

9. My wish for 2010 is that there will be more girls involved in "guys'" sports such as football or hockey! --Amelia D.

10. My wish for 2010 is that every school will have a safe place for girls where they can be themselves and allies to one another. --Jackie

And that's just a little taste of the big dreams we're envisioning for 2010. What do you hope 2010 brings for girls and women? We'd like to hear about it! Share your wishes too!

And we hope you'll consider helping us get the ball rolling (before it drops on New Year's Eve!) by making a tax-deductible donation-- it's your last chance before the end of the year! Your dollars will go directly toward empowering girls through programming, education, and new experiences that open their eyes to a world where girls thrive.

Thank you, and Happy New Year from Hardy Girls!

Share your wish for 2010 here or on our Facebook Fan Page

And, make your gift to support the realization of these wishes today by visiting: www.hghw.org/give

Get acquainted with our winners from last year's Girls Rock! awards.

2009-12-24T12:43:00.008-05:00

Remember last year's awesome gals? Here's your chance to nominate a girl for the 2010 awards! Click the title of this post and you'll be directed to the nomination form, or follow this link for an online nomination option.

Title IX Champion: Waterville-Oakland Girls' High School Hockey Team
When told that the only way for them to play hockey would be to join the boys' team, fifteen girls from Waterville and Oakland chose another path. They raised enough funds for their own team and have gone on to win numerous tournaments around the state!

Health Advocacy: Chelsea Schoen
Chelsea has been an active member of the Maine Youth Action Network (MYAN) for over two years, and has brought the Thin Line (a production about eating disorders) and an anti-tobacco program to her school. Two years ago, Chelsea also testified at the State House to get increased funding
for School-Based Health Centers across Maine, eventually helping to secure $500,000 in additional funding for the next two years.

Against the Odds: Vera Mauro
Vera entered Noble Middle School in 2008, as a new student to public schools. Though She is deaf, Vera doesn’t let it get in her way. She is a high academic achiever, and as an extracurricular activity, Vera initiated a sign language class to be held after school for both her peers and teachers. She continues to take time out of her busy day to teach sign language to whoever wants to learn.

Community Organizing: Leila Saad
Leila’s belief in a united community led her to co-found a Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) group at Sumner High School in 2006. She has since arranged for the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN) to address the high school staff of her school on issues of sexuality, and continues to educate and advocate for others.

Entrepreneurship: Samantha Lee Todd
Samantha started her own organic business named “Simply Luscious," where she produces hand slave and lip balm by growing her own ingredients at home or purchasing them from local health food stores. Samantha donates her proceeds to needy children in Uganda and Guatemala.

Co-Creator: Aleah Starr
Aleah, a junior at Colby College, started a project entitled, “Projections” to raise awareness on eating disorders among young adults. The project calls attention to the negative and limiting image society imposes on young people, and has already been shown at the Maine Legislative Briefing and many other venues across the state.

Speak out against sexualized and violent games aimed at kids!

2009-12-17T10:38:00.007-05:00

The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood is heading up a petition against the sexualized and violent video games promoted by Nickelodeon. Take action by signing the open letter to Nickelodeon reps (excerpt below).

Share this link with friends and colleagues through Twitter, email, etc

Thank you for your support and continued activism!"Did you know that Nickelodeon, the children’s media empire, is promoting sexualized and violent video games to children as young as preschoolers? Its popular gaming website, Addictinggames.com, features games such as Candy the Naughty Cheerleader, Bloody Day (“Back alley butchering has never been so much fun. . . . How many kills can you rack?”) and the Perry the Sneak series, where gamers take the role of a peeping Tom trying to catch revealing glimpses of scantily clad and naked women. Nickelodeon promotes, and links directly to, Addictinggames.com on its Nick.com website for children and even on its Nick Jr.com, its website for preschoolers.

Please visit the petition to tell Nickelodeon to stop promoting sexualized and violent video games to children.

Check out Lyn Mikel Brown's piece featured in the PTA online magazine!

2009-12-14T09:32:00.002-05:00

Hardy Girls is overjoyed to share another insightful article by Lyn Mikel Brown, who challenges and critiques the media's influence on children and youth. This piece, "Taming the Media Stereotypes that Make Kids Aggressive," is featured in the December 2009/January 2010 edition of the PTA online magazine.

Point, Shoot, Retouch and Label?

2009-12-09T11:44:00.002-05:00

The New York Times online last week featured a piece about French Parliament member and mother of two teenage girls, Valerie Boyer, who has introduced a draft law that would mandate that retouched photographs appearing in advertisements feature a label that clearly discloses their digital alterations.

Unsurprisingly, Boyer faces opposition—from people that claim that Michelangelo’s paintings prove that this idealization of women is age-old; from people that argue anorexia is far too complex a disorder to pin the blame on a few photographs; and from people that claim that women and girls must already know that the photographs have been retouched because they’re so unrealistic.

Boyer defends her case, echoing some long-held Hardy Girls sentiments along the way: “If someone wants to make life a success, wants to feel good in their skin, wants to be part of society, one has to be thin or skinny, and then it’s not enough — one will have [her] body transformed with software that alters the image, so we enter a standardized and brainwashed world, and those who aren’t part of it are excluded from society.”

This exclusion is precisely where we, as a society, and our girls and women run into trouble. The constant media barrage instills in girls and women the belief that they will never be good enough, but eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are only a couple of a whole host of issues research has proven to result from feeling as if one will never be thin/pretty/sexually appealing enough to measure up. These include, but are not limited to, depression, self-mutilation, alcoholism, and drug use. We don’t mean to make light of eating disorders and certainly hold media culpable, but we also embrace that it’s far too simplistic to claim that people develop eating disorders because they read magazines.

Now, having acknowledged the complex web that impossible societal expectations weave — we’re all for labeling retouched photos. It’s an appropriate first step toward calling out unrealistic standards of beauty in a consistent way.

What do you think?

What we are thankful for...

2009-11-25T14:03:00.000-05:00

Read our latest Enews!

Help Us Save New Moon!

2009-11-11T11:03:00.000-05:00

A message from HGHW co-founder, Lyn Mikel Brown:

When my daughter was 8, I bought her a subscription to New Moon Magazine. As a feminist mom I loved that she would never see a diet ad or receive instruction about how to steal that cute guy in the pages of this magazine. New Moon promised and delivered something "for every girl who wants her voice heard and her dreams taken seriously." They supported my personal mission "to build healthy resistance to gender inequalities." With departments like Girls on The Go, Herstory, and Girls Act Out, my daughter connected with girls across the country and the world who understood they had something to say worth listening to. While other magazines went for outer beauty, New Moon defined beauty as "good hearts, great works, and activism."

I can't imagine a world for girls without New Moon Magazine. But without our support, New Moon will no longer rise.

Hardy Girls Healthy Women has joined New Moon Girl Media as an Affiliate Partner. For every subscription bought via this link* $10 will come back to support Hardy Girls' local programming. In perfect synch with our Hardy Girls message to girls, we all win when we work in coalition with one another!

*Please note that the link brings you directly to our affiliation page, as indicated at the end of the URL "HDGRLH." Though the Hardy Girls name and logo are not represented on the webpage itself (we are working to fix this) please trust that by following the above link with its special URL ending, you will be ordering a subscription through our affiliation.

Today I called our local elementary school, to find that the 4th and 5th grade library did not subscribe to New Moon. To keep the dream alive, I'm buying a year's subscription for the Albert S. Hall School in Waterville, Maine. Please join me: Buy a membership to New Moon for an 8-14 year old girl in your life. If she's all grown up like my daughter, buy a subscription for a local school, library, doctor's office, or homeless shelter. Then join "Save New Moon" where you can help just by spreading the word.

We have until December 12, 2009. Let's all pitch in and save New Moon for the next generation of smart, strong, hardy girls!

HGHW responds to the Maine election results and their impact on youth.

2009-11-06T09:46:00.002-05:00

As you know, November 3rd was a big day here in Maine. With a slim majority, Mainers voted to repeal the law that granted the right to same-sex couples to marry. One of our first thoughts here at Hardy Girls was how this news, and Campaign messages on both sides, have impacted Maine youth and their sense of community and safety. I think we can all agree that the security, support, and wellbeing of our youth are core concerns. For that reason, we are including a few resources to support your new, ongoing, and renewed work to protect and support all youth.

As we learned from the Ugly Ducklings National Campaign to Reduce Bullying and Harassment of LGBTQ Youth, the importance of safe, supportive communities for all youth cannot be understated. According to the 2007 GLSEN National School Climate Survey:

-86.2% of LGBT students reported being verbally harassed, 44.1% reported being physically harassed and 22.1% reported being physically assaulted at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation.

-73.6% heard derogatory remarks such as "faggot" or "dyke" frequently or often at school.

-More than half (60.8%) of students reported that they felt unsafe in school because of their sexual orientation, and more than a third (38.4%) felt unsafe because of their gender expression.

- 31.7% of LGBT students missed a class and 32.7% missed a day of school in the past month because of feeling unsafe, compared to only 5.5% and 4.5%, respectively, of a national sample of secondary school students.

Whether or not the state recognizes same-sex marriages does not diminish the impact that this election has on Maine families, and in particular, children. We encourage you to please reach out to the young people in your life and encourage conversation about how we can all work to create an ideal environment where all youth can grow up free of harassment. Now, more than ever, it's important for young people to know where they can turn to for support, information, and allies.

For all our friends and allies, we recommend the following resources for reducing bullying, harassment, and violence.

Top Ten Ways to Make Schools Safer...For All Students

Lesson Plan: Building a Bully-Free Building

Four Steps Schools Can Take to Address Anti-LGBT Bullying and Harassment

Help Name this Campaign!

2009-10-07T10:38:00.005-04:00

Calling All Girls...We Need Your Vote

Hardy Girls is working with sister organizations across the U.S. and Canada on a full-scale, girl driven campaign to change media’s representation of girls. We want you to have the information, power, and support it takes to demand more real girls with real lives, real interests, and real bodies in media and fewer mean girl, pole-dancing, shopaholic fashionistas. This will be a fun, edgy, creative campaign that connects you with other girls across a variety of platforms, including social networking sites like Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, and Twitter.

So if you want to speak your mind and strut your stuff, if you want to join with other girls and start a new girl movement, help us NAME THIS CAMPAIGN!

Tell us which name you like best on the poll to the right. If you have a better suggestion, email us at lyn@hghw.org. If we choose your original name over one of ours listed below, we’ll send you a $100 iTunes gift card.

So, drum roll please...?

Here they are!

Get Real! A Campaign for All Girls
ROAR (Reclaim Girlhood; Organize; Assert Ourselves; Rescue Media)
G-WAVE (Girls With Active Voices Everywhere)
Girl Up! (as in Be Strong, Stand up, Speak up)
PBG (Powered By Girls)
That's What She Says (Turning a joke that makes girls sexual objects into a chance for real girls to talk back and making it an active statement of girls' voices!)
DissTheMessage

So, after some feedback from our friends and allies, we've restarted the poll and changed #6 from "That's What She Said" to "That's What She Says" It's an important difference to us and to the girls we're working with on this Campaign! We tallied up all the votes we received so far and will add those to the results from the new poll.

Vote Now! And tell your friends by emailing, sharing through Facebook and Twitter, and good old-fashioned word-of-mouth!!

THANKS!

An Apology -- Now That's Edgy...and Refreshing

2009-08-24T08:40:00.000-04:00

After writing to The Maine Edge about their latest cover (see last entry), and with the help of our friends at the Packaging Girlhood blog and you, we've received an apology from publisher Michael Fern. We understand from others that Mr. Fern responded personally to everyone who wrote in to complain about the cover, addressing a variety of concerns.

After explaining how the image made it's way to the cover, Mr. Fern writes: "We do appreciate your feedback and take responsibility for our work accordingly - we certainly missed the boat on this one. I apologize for that and assure you we will show more due diligence for our future covers and story presentations. As a reader you deserve that from us, and I hope you'll forgive us for this error."

Mr. Fern tells us that the cover has been a teachable moment for his staff. "As part of the community and social fabric, we have a responsibility to do better."

In addition, the offensive photo has been taken down from The Maine Edge's online magazine site.

Thanks for the apology and the follow through, Michael Fern. Truly refreshing -- like a milkshake on a hot summer's day!

The Maine Edge Has Gone Over the Edge

2009-08-21T12:25:00.005-04:00

The Maine Edge Has Gone Over the Edge

If there’s any question about the increased sexualization of girls and general pornification of the culture, check out the cover of The Maine Edge, a publication out of Bangor Maine that seems so desperate to be “fresh and edgy” that they’ll sell out your daughter and mine for sales. The current issue’s cover has a young teen girl in a bikini straddling a milkshake. Everything is suggestive about this image — her body position, the location of the whipped cream and the straw, the red cherries, the “Milkshakes aren’t just for kids any more. Beat the heat with a grown up treat” title of the article, and the online sidebar “Inquisition Survey” that makes it all so clear: Does your milkshake bring all the boys to the yard? Possible answers? Yes. No. Um...what?

More like “Um...what are the editors at The Maine Edge thinking? Why does edgy have to mean sexing up young girls? How “fresh” is a lame reference to a dated and cheesy rap song (Kelis’ 2007 song “Milkshake”) about breasts? Want to be really creative? Try putting your heads together and coming up with something clever and smart that doesn’t make teen girls into sex objects. These days using pornified images of girls to sell products is as common and lazy as it is offensive.

Tell the Maine Edge to use their imagination!

Contact:
Michael Fern
Publisher
Edge Media Group
PO Box 2639
Bangor, ME 04402-2639
Phone: 207.942.2901
Fax: 207.942.5602

Too Sexy Too Soon: Miley's Elle Pics

2009-07-22T09:24:00.004-04:00

No she’s “not a kid anymore,” but didn’t we know that after the racy Vanity Fair photo last year? How about after those sketchy bra-showing facebook pix? The black leather porn pose for an upcoming film? This time, though, there are no I didn’t knows or I’m so embarrassed, or you people have dirty minds sort of comments. Nope, the “I’m not a preteen, I just play one on TV” star of Hannah Montana is sixteen and full on sexy in the July issue of Elle. We actually don’t have anything against Miley. We’re just so sick and tired of beloved pop stars “growing up” this way and only this way. Where are the pictures of her as a smart, creative, interesting young woman? Nope, it’s fashion, sex, fashion, and sex. If the message wasn’t so awful and the impact on girls so big, we’d yawn.

We Want More Real Girls in Disney/Pixar Films!

2009-06-03T11:20:00.008-04:00

Dr. Ed Catmull, President
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios
1200 Park Avenue
Emeryville, California 94608

Robert A. Iger, CEO
Disney
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521-9722

Dear Dr. Catmull and Mr. Iger,

We read Linda Holmes’s wonderful letter to Pixar asking you to create a feature film with a girl or women as the main character. We’ve had enough of Disney princesses with doe eyes and Barbie doll bodies. We love your inventive, brilliant movies. We know you have it in you. We loved feisty Princess Atta in A Bug’s Life and Dreamworks' Princess Fiona in Shrek was our kind of girl, but the stories weren’t theirs to tell, nor the journeys theirs to take. We want a female LEAD character, a nonprincess LEAD character who is complex and interesting. While you’re at it, could you give her a passion for something other than fashion and shopping, and how about a realistic body type? Girls are 25% of characters in animated films and 52% of the population. Research tells us boys care less about gender than interesting characters. They’ll watch if she’s cool enough. Come on, give us just one. If you make it, we will come to the theaters in droves. Promise!

Sincerely,

Your concerned customers

Sign the petition here and pass it along to your friends!

Check out the Packaging Girlhood authors' blog about the petition

Dear Mattel and Nick: We're Not Buying It

2009-03-17T10:13:00.010-04:00

After loads of media attention to Dora's makeover, and more than 5,000 concerned people signed our petition, the Nickelodeon Press Department released a statement. But, we're not convinced.

Here is our response to Mattel and Nick:

Dear Mattel and Nick,

It’s safe to say that neither the thousands who have signed our petition nor we are soothed by the unveiling of the new tween Dora’s image. The original Dora the Explorer was unique and beloved by both girls and boys because she was adventurous, smart, and loved the outdoors. Trading her compass, map, pet monkey, and sneakers for jewelry, a dress, and the big city, means Dora isn't the same explorer anymore. The new tween Dora fits right into the narrow mold that defines too many girls' toys, and thus limits their imagination.

In the AP Wire article released yesterday, your company defined "tween" as girls 5-8 years old. Parents need to know that this is a new definition of tween – a big change from the 8-12 market originally targeted. The creation of an older Dora is a blatant attempt to go after younger girls and create a desire for a lifestyle and products parents tell us they are too young to experience. This is a time in girls’ lives when we should be introducing a wide range of possibilities and interests – not limiting their potential with stereotypes of appearance-conscious tween fashionistas.

Through the creation of a tween Dora who can change her hair and eye color to “go undercover” you have effectively erased Dora’s cultural identity - transforming what was not only a wonderful example of a non-stereotypical girl but also a strong, independent Latina character. Dora’s cultural identity is not just another accessory for your corporations to peddle.

If Dora does have to grow up, Hardy Girls Healthy Women, and thousands of concerned girls, boys, and parents think she should keep her sensible clothes and interest in problem-solving and jungle adventures.

We will continue to urge concerned parents and children to make their voices heard by signing onto our petition and will continue to contact media outlets until we are satisfied that you have taken steps to maintain the adventurous spirit of the original Dora.

Sign the petition to save Dora today.
Read Packaging Girlhood authors Lyn and Sharon's response

'Let's Go!' No Makeover for Dora!

2009-02-26T14:20:00.007-05:00

What happened? FIRST it was Dora's Magic Talking Kitchen, THEN Dora Princess, THEN Dora Babysitter in her cousin's show, NOW DORA TWEEN.

Alas, we saw the signs. The cute flower lip gloss, the pinkified look, the sudden separation of Dora and Diego shows. We could have, should have predicted this after we saw the likes of Strawberry Shortcake, Holly Hobby, and Trollz (now with the ubiquitous commodified girl power “z”), all made over in the cute sexy way that marketers sell maturity to girls--the sassy wink, the long flowing hair, the thin waist, the turned out hip pose of practiced lingerie models. What next? Dora the Cheerleader? Dora the fashionista with stylish purse and stilettos? Dora the Pop Star with Hoppin' Dance Club and "Juice" Bar? We can expect it all, because that's what passes as "tween" in the toy department these days.

In Packaging Girlhood, Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown write extensively about Dora the Explorer as one of the best role models in girls' early worlds, at least before her image was sold to princess clothing lines and sugary cereals. On TV she wears shorts. She has a sidekick monkey. She has a map and a compass and a backpack! She solves problems and explores the world in Spanish and English. Her motto is "Let's go!" and it could never be construed in that ‘wink, wink’ kind of way. But those adventuresome folks who created Dora no longer own her. She's owned by Mattel who can use her image, re-MAKE her image, in any way they see fit to make money.

The highest bidder for tween Dora was Mattel, and they have plans to sell her at a whopping $60 to aspiring teens everywhere. For this price, girls are told to forget the outdoors and adventure into the same old same old: shopping, fashion, makeovers, and jewelry.

But we know the truth and can do something about it! We know that if the original Dora grew up, she wouldn't be a fashion icon or a shopaholic. She'd develop her map reading skills and imagine the places she could go. She'd capitalize on those problem solving skills to design new ways to bring fresh water to communities in need around the world. Maybe she'd become a world class runner or follow her love of animals and become a wildlife preservationist or biologist. We'll never know because the only way a girl can grow up in tween town, is to narrow that symphony of choices to one note. It's such a sell out of Dora, of all girls.

That's why we're sending this letter to Mattel and Nickelodeon! Join us for Let's Go: No Makeover for Dora. Help us tell the execs at Mattel and Nickelodeon to "Let GO" of Dora. Either let her live on as her wonderful self, or create a pre-teen doll that is true to who she was as a child!

Sign onto the petition here and we’ll add your name to the list of concerned parents, activists, educators, and girls who refuse to stand aside while yet another girlhood icon becomes the victim of marketers’ schemes.

Sign on now!

LMB writes about Mean Girls on The REAL Deal

2009-02-12T14:00:00.002-05:00

Lyn Mikel Brown is featured on The REAL Deal blog where she writes about dealing with the "Mean Girl" phenomenon. "Mean girls" are featured in everything from reality TV shows, dramas, and tabloid magazines. For 2009, Lyn writes that her wish for girls is to "affirm girls' relational and political strengths by giving them reason to believe they can count on one another and work together to solve social problems." Read the full blog here.

What's your wish for girls in 2009? We want to know!

Commercializing Girlhood

2009-01-30T12:24:00.007-05:00

While girls everywhere struggle with Barbie as their role model and the pressure to become "just like her" two girls don't have to imagine what they would be like as Barbie dolls - they've already been made. TyGirlz has come out with the Marvelous Malia and Sweet Sasha dolls to capitalize on President Obama's inauguration. Yes, these dolls are plush instead of plastic, but they've got the unrealistic "beautiful" infant/alien eye to head ratio as well as the top-heavy structure girls everywhere have come to know very well with their Barbie dolls. Yes, Malia and Sasha, even though they are 7 and 10, in doll form have breasts. This also conjures up thoughts of Pocahontas who in reality was 12-14 years old at the time of the colonists' arrival, being made a woman overnight in the Disney movie Pocahontas to fulfill the romantic angle Disney wanted to prescribe to little girls.

The Malia and Sasha dolls aren't a part of a romanticized plotline but once again a company has sexualized and commodified girls for the sake of making a buck. In doing so, they perpetuate the message we're seeing everywhere these days: that girls will never be "just girls" but girls on the verge of being teens and everything that marketers have come to associate with being a "teen." (i.e. sexy, fashionable, into makeup, and don't forget sweet). It goes to show that marketer's have no respect for any girl - even the First Daughters! Even they can be used, as the post on Packaging Girlhood points out, "to encourage little girls to play with teen dolls and everything marketers think "teen" means. That is, Bratz and their followers party, have a passion for fashion, drink "juice" drinks in cosmo glasses, fly in jet planes, shop, and hang out in hot tubs."

The copy for the Malia and Sasha dolls reads "The magnificent beauty is Marvelous Malia! Malia looks great in a long sleeved shirt with butterfly detail and capri pants. This modern maiden is ready to look stunning in spring." "Sweet Sasha is one of the nicest girlz you could hope to meet! With her pigtail braids and clever combo of a shirtdress and leggings, it's easy to see that this sweetheart has style."

There you have it: Beauty is a look and sweetness is a style. Both are up for sale.

At least their names weren't "Oo Lala" (Olivia) or "Sizzilin'" (Sue).

Check out Susan Linn's editorial from Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood on how the President (acting at First Father?) should take on coporate America.

Are Girls Responsible for Dating Violence?

2009-01-14T16:32:00.001-05:00

Two recent articles in The New York Times and the Boston Globe have reported on youth violence, specifically dating violence. While the articles describe efforts being made to prevent this violence, a recent commentary notes how they are based on gender-stereotypes and hold girls responsible for stopping it.

"This seems to be the thread running through both of these recent stories: that we still live in a country where gender stereotypes (men are violent and uncontrollable, women are passive and responsible) in collusion with systemic invisibility, lead us to continue making the same ineffective interventions. Our short-sightedness and sexism is, in itself, a sort of violence. It prevents us from empowering the next generation to live better, more peaceful lives," writes Courtney E. Martin.

Statistics on dating violence have shown the degree to which the problem is both troubling and urgent. According to a study from The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, more than one-third of the 920 students questioned were victims of emotional and physical abuse by romantic partners before they started college. Similarly, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene found an increase in dating violence by more than 40 percent since 1999.

"But what about the young men? Do we really think teenage boys so depraved that they can't respond to an education on emotional management or be asked to take responsibility for preventing and ending interpersonal violence?" Martin writes.

To read the full commentary, click here. What do you think? Weigh in!

What 3-Months Olds Don’t Know Won’t Hurt Them?

2008-06-20T12:22:00.009-04:00

Tiny soft baby shoe with soft heels, for infants up to 6 months.

Looking at the current marketing landscape – it should come as no surprise that stilettos for babies would be the next step towards the sexualization of girls. Babies are not meant to be fashion accessories which Britta Bacon, 30, seems to imply with her statement "Omigawd, what if you could take a baby to a party wearing high heels?" - I mean, when I'm going to a party the first thing I ask myself is "which baby goes best with my outfit? The one in heels or the one in wedges?"

The fact that these shoes are being sold at The Doll Factory exemplifies this more! Babies are not dolls, they're not toys, they're not the "latest thing" to accessorize your outfit with. Children are not objects - but decorating them with shoes like this signifies that babies are perhaps not people, but rather objects. Think also about how we are socialized into gender roles as soon as the words "It's a girl" are exclaimed. Why wait until she's a "tween" to get her buying into the idea that she's an object meant to be looked at when you can start that off as an infant? How do we react to a baby girl in heels or a baby boy in combat gear? We reinforce simplified gender roles and expectations that are limiting and consequently destructive.

Acheson's Gifts and Decorative Accents, owner Dianne Acheson simply brushed aside comments from critics about selling the shoes in her store with the ridiculou response "But a 3-month old baby has no idea she's wearing high heels." Let's try this same "baby logic" with other things: "But a 3-month old baby has no idea she's wearing a french maid's outfit (or a stripper's outfit - let's not forget the stripper's pole made for kids, pictured below!) It's soooo cute!"

Peekaboo Pole Dancing Kit from Tesco sold in their "Toys and Games" section as a fitness gear.

In the end - this product was not made with a child's needs or wants in mind, but a narcissistic parent’s, whose looking for the perfect party plus. Maybe they can pole dance together, too.

Transforming Inner Pain to Public Outcry

2008-06-04T13:07:00.012-04:00

Speaking of My Beautiful Mommy (see post below), in study after study we see the impact of a culture for girls so toxic that such a book is touted unapologetically on national news shows, ensuring the author millions in new clientele and books sales. A recent media survey of 3000 women found that appearance and weight trumped disease as cause for women's concern -- 84% of the women surveyed felt they were overweight and 56% were concerned about diet/weight, while just 20% express concern about heart health and 18% about diabetes. (Alas, we can be sure that the results of this marketing study won't be used to turn those figures around.)

Campbell Leaper and Christia Spears Brown studied 600 adolescent girls between the ages of 12 and 18 and found that 90% experienced sexual harassment in school, most often in the form of unwanted romantic attention, demeaning gender-related comments, teasing based on their appearance, and unwanted physical contact. As if girls don't have enough to deal with, along comes "bodysnarking", the blogosphere posting and dissection of unflattering pictures, usually of and by girls and women. Finally, as if to come full circle in the most terrifying way, a study of 818 adolescents (aged 11-19) conducted for a British health care provider reported that one in three girls surveyed had tried to harm themselves by methods including cutting, burning, punching and poisoning.

The connections among these various studies and reports aren't simple, but they speak to the distinction psychologist and eating disorder specialist Catherine Steiner-Adair made years ago, between the body pathological and the body politic. In a culture in which there is heightened control and discipline around body and appearance, ubiquitous experiences of sexual harassment, and a steady diet of sexualization and objectification, we shouldn't be surprised that girls exercise their own means of protection and control, using their bodies to speak their pain, release their anxiety and stress, and channel their resistance. In a world where girls are sold a fraudulent tale of "prettier" at all costs, they want to feel something, anything, real. Their protest reclaims the power of their own authority, their private refusal to be publicly "handled".

There are some positive signs. In the above-mentioned media survey of women and health, Gen Y women (those "millennials" born between 1980-1994) were more likely than Gen X and Boomer women to say they are at their ideal weight (29% vs. 9%, 7% respectively). Young women bloggers are now calling for a bodysnarking ceasefire. Most hopeful, Leaper and Brown found that the girls in their study who had a better understanding of feminism from the media, their parents, or teachers were more likely to recognize sexism and sexual harassment for what it is. The hope is in the feminist work we do with young women, transforming inner pain to public outcry-not for them, but with them.

House of Dereon Sells Out Little Girls

2008-05-12T09:43:00.002-04:00

One of the things that bothered Lyn Mikel Brown and Sharon Lamb most when they researched Packaging Girlhood was the erosion of the boundary between childhood and adolescence. It's not only that little girls are introduced to a teen lifestyle earlier and earlier, it's that the definition of teen has become almost completely narrowed to hot, shopping girlie types -- as if this is the only way girls can look and feel grown up. Forget their maturing minds and moral sensibilities, their skill on the playing fields, their passion for theater, art, or science and just give us sexy. Why? Because if you can channel that wide-eyed desire to look cool and mature in your direction, there's money to be made. The health, well-being, and safety of girls be damned. Enter Beyonce and her mom, Tina Knowles, and you have the new "House of Dereon" little girls line of clothing designed to make your 6 year old the coolest girl on the urban street corner.

My Narcissistic Mommy

2008-05-02T09:28:00.004-04:00

From our friends, the fabulous Lyn Mikel Brown, Ed.D and Sharon Lamb, Ed.D, over at the Packaging Girlhood blog:

In 2007 plastic surgeons performed nearly 11.7 million cosmetic procedures in the U.S. alone, 91% of them on women. That’s a lot of women, and since 67% of the procedures were done on 19-50 year olds, that’s a lot of mothers. Enter the new children’s book, My Beautiful Mommy, aimed at answering all sorts of questions that children 4-7 may have about mom’s operation.

It’s understandable that children would be confused by their mom’s plastic surgery. But there’s something both disturbing and bizarre about the messages in this book. It reminds us of the extreme makeover show, The Swan, where “ugly duckling” women cried with joy at being chosen, saying things like, “as a child I was just an easy target for kids to pick on.” The point of such remarks was not to blame those cretins cruel enough to tease others about their appearance, but to justify why those victimized by them would want to spend thousands of dollars to conform to impossible beauty ideals. By the season's end, we all saw the results. A lingerie beauty pageant of Stepford women -- white, Black, Asian, it didn't matter -- they all ended up with the same hair extensions, noses, and boob jobs.

What angered us most about the show was not the “24-7” regimen and personal trainers who shouted “You’ve got to think military!” or the therapists who shamed participants who ate butter, or even those gleeful plastic surgeons circling body parts like they were football plays, saying things like “we’ll give her a killer body”. No, what really got us were the horrifying moments when the rebuilt mothers met their young children for the first time post-surgery. Little children were paraded into the studio to see their mommy after a three-month separation and the shock on their faces was heartbreaking. They were confronted with a stranger who pulled them into her arms, and cried real tears of joy from Bratz-doll eyes. We don't know about you other mothers out there, but our young children protested when we cut our hair. Imagine if mommy came home with a new face?

According to author Dr. Michael Salzhauer, My Beautiful Mommy is not meant to indoctrinate kids or idealize beauty but to “allow parents who are going through this process anyway to have a vehicle to explain it to their kids."

But idealize beauty it does. Mom’s “after” picture looks like the Little Mermaid in a belly shirt, and the smiling surgeon is built like Mr. Incredible. Worse is the dialogue: “Why are you going to look different?" the little girl in the book asks, and mommy responds: "Not just different, my dear — prettier!" Dr. Salzhauer’s explanation of why mommy has bandages, sleeps a lot, and can’t do the laundry or dishes (don’t get us started on that set of messages!) might make sense in Swan World, but as he acknowledges, real kids are “very perceptive” and they can read between the lines.

Which means that no kid will settle for this answer. Most will insist, “But you’re pretty to me.” They may protest, “I don’t want you to change!” The implicit question is: Why isn’t that enough, Mom? It’s a much harder question to answer because, unlike those bullies out there, a child young enough to understand this book is the one person a mother can count on to love her for who she really is, for the things she does, the way she makes her child feel, the time she gives, and yes, the information she imparts about how to treat other people and how to develop and feel good about what’s on the inside. Why isn’t that kind of love enough? We all know the answer why.

Not a child psychologist, Dr. Salzhauer might be surprised to learn that kids are also perceptive about parental narcissism. When the daughter says to Mommy after her bandages come off, "You're the most beautiful butterfly in the whole world," she knows at some level this is what her mom needs to hear. When parents are insecure, children respond by taking care of them, making them feel better, and putting their needs first, sometimes at their own expense.

What makes this book really awful isn’t the mother’s decision to have plastic surgery, for whatever complex or simple reason. Nor is it the way the book could work for plastic surgeons to troll for future clients. It’s the damaging message it gives to children everywhere, and especially to daughters who will grow up to face similar bullies someday. No mother in her right mind, or rather no mother who has given this issue more than a minute’s thought, would tell her daughter it’s her problem to fix.

Lyn Mikel Brown
Sharon Lamb
Developmental psychologists, and authors of Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters From Marketers’ Schemes

Girlfighting in the Media

2008-04-30T21:21:00.002-04:00

There's been a lot of hype recently about girls' physical aggression towards each other, especially following the case in Florida when a group cheerleaders recorded themselves beating another cheerleader causing permanent damage. Peggy Moss has a great blog response that we wanted to share with all of you.

Check it out

Girls Rock! A Review by GAB Girl Beth Preston

2008-03-21T13:53:00.006-04:00

Beth, the president of HGHW's Girls Advisory Board (GAB) wrote this stunning review of the film Girls Rock! which opens in Waterville on Friday, April 4th as part of our Girls Rock! Weekend. Find out more

Girls Rock! the movie is about a camp called Rock ’n Roll Camp for Girls. But this camp is not just a camp. It’s a place for girls to find themselves.

At the beginning of the week these girls form a band. At the end of the week they are expected to perform. They write their own lyrics and play their own music. Some of them have never even seen the instrument they will be playing. While doing all this, these girls manage to break out of stereotypes, show who they really are, and have a ton of fun.

The movie focuses on four girls. Laura is a teen into death metal. She comes across as being very self-confident and able to talk to anyone. But she admits to the camera that she doesn’t really think people like her, and that maybe she should try to be like everyone else. Misty is also a teen. She is living in a group home and has never seen the instrument she will learn to play while at camp. Amelia likes to write songs about her dog. She loves music, but was shunned by the band she wanted to be in. Palace is a cute girl with a loud yell. She sometimes has trouble getting along with others but she loves music.

As the movie reveals these girls’ experiences at the camp girls, you find yourself getting to know them. You want them to succeed, you cheer them on, and you laugh out loud. You see them breaking free of what society wants them to be, and see them become what they want to be. It is an inspiring and awesome movie. I give it a thumb’s up!

Also, check out Melissa Silverstein's blog about Girls Rock!

10 Ways to Move Beyond Bully Prevention (And Why We Should)

2008-03-12T13:40:00.002-04:00

By Lyn Mikel Brown

These tips appeared in Education Week on March 5th. Lyn also delivered these tips during her keynote at our fall conference Beyond Bully Prevention: Strategies that Work.

Seven years ago, I helped found a nonprofit organization committed to changing the culture for girls. Our work was based on the health-psychology notion of “hardiness”—a way of talking about resilience that not only identifies what girls need to thrive in an increasingly complex and stressful world, but also makes clear that adults are responsible for creating safe spaces for girls to grow, think critically, and work together to make their lives better.

As a result of this work, I’ve grown concerned lately that “bully prevention” has all but taken over the way we think about, talk about, and respond to the relational lives of children and youths in schools. So, from our group’s strength-based approach, I offer 10 ways to move beyond what is too often being sold as a panacea for schools’ social ills, and is becoming, I fear, a problem in and of itself:

Stop labeling kids. Bully-prevention programs typically put kids into three categories: bullies, victims, and bystanders. Labeling children in these ways denies what we know to be true: We are all complex beings with the capacity to do harm and to do good, sometimes within the same hour. It also makes the child the problem, which downplays the important role of parents, teachers, the school system, a provocative and powerful media culture, and societal injustices children experience every day. Labeling kids bullies, for that matter, contributes to the negative climate and name-calling we’re trying to address.

Talk accurately about behavior. If it’s sexual harassment, call it sexual harassment; if it’s homophobia, call it homophobia; and so forth. To lump disparate behaviors under the generic “bullying” is to efface real differences that affect young people’s lives. Bullying is a broad term that de-genders, de-races, de-everythings school safety. Because of this, as the sexual-harassment expert Nan Stein has noted, embracing anti-bullying legislation can actually undermine the legal rights and protections offered by anti-harassment laws. Calling behaviors what they are helps us educate children about their rights, affirms their realities, encourages more-complex and meaningful solutions, opens up a dialogue, invites children to participate in social change, and ultimately protects them.

Move beyond the individual. Children’s behaviors are greatly affected by their life histories and social contexts. To understand why a child uses aggression toward others, it’s important to understand what impact race, ethnicity, social class, gender, religion, and ability has on his or her daily experiences in school—that is, how do these realities affect the kinds of attention and resources the child receives, where he fits in, whether she feels marginal or privileged in the school. Such differences in social capital, cultural capital, and power relations deeply affect a child’s psychological and relational experiences in school.

Reflect reality. Many schools across the country have adopted an approach developed by the Norwegian educator Dan Olweus, the “Olweus Bullying Prevention Program,” even though it has not been effectively evaluated with U.S. samples. Described as a “universal intervention for the reduction and prevention of bully/victim problems,” the Olweus program downplays those differences that make a difference. But even when bully-prevention programs have been adequately evaluated, the University of Illinois’ Dorothy Espelage argues, they often show less-than-positive results in urban schools or with minority populations. “We do not have a one-size-fits-all school system,” she reminds us. Because the United States has a diversity of race, ethnicity, and language, and inequalities between schools, bully-prevention efforts here need to reflect that reality.

Adjust expectations. We hold kids to ideals and expectations that we as adults could never meet. We expect girls to ingest a steady diet of media “mean girls” and always be nice and kind, and for boys to engage a culture of violence and never lash out. We expect kids never to express anger to adults, never to act in mean or hurtful ways to one another, even though they may spend much of the day in schools they don’t feel safe in, and with teachers and other students who treat them with disrespect. Moreover, we expect kids to behave in ways most of us don’t even value very much: to obey all the rules (regardless of their perceived or real unfairness), to never resist or refuse or fight back.

It’s important to promote consistent consequences—the hallmarks of most bully-prevention programs—but it’s also critically important to create space for honest conversations about who benefits from certain norms and rules and who doesn’t. If we allow kids to speak out, to think critically and question unfairness, we provide the groundwork for civic engagement.

Listen to kids. In her book Other People’s Children, Lisa Delpit talks about the importance of “listening that requires not only open eyes and ears, but also hearts and minds.” Again, consistent consequences are important; used well, they undermine privilege and protect those who are less powerful. But to make such a system work, schools have to listen to all students. It’s the only way to ensure that staff members are not using discipline and consistent consequences simply to promote the status quo.

Instead of labeling kids, let’s talk about them as potential leaders, affirm their strengths, and believe that they can do good, brave, remarkable things.

Embrace grassroots movements. There’s nothing better than student-initiated change. Too many bully-prevention programs are top-heavy with adult-generated rules, meetings, and trainings. We need to empower young people. This includes being on the lookout for positive grassroots resistance, ready to listen to and support and sometimes channel youth movements when they arise. We need to listen to students, take up their just causes, understand the world they experience, include them in the dialogue about school norms and rules, and use their creative energy to illuminate and challenge unfairness.

Be proactive, not reactive. In Maine, we have a nationally recognized Civil Rights Team Project. Youth-led, school-based preventive teams work to increase safety, educate their peers, and combat hate violence, prejudice, and harassment in more than 250 schools across the state. This kind of proactive youth-empowerment work is sorely needed, but is too often lost in the midst of zero-tolerance policies and top-down bully-prevention efforts. And yet such efforts work. According to a study conducted by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, or GLSEN, youth-led gay-straight alliances make schools safer for all students.

Build coalitions. Rather than bully prevention, let’s emphasize ally- and coalition-building. We need to affirm and support the definition of coalition that activist Bernice Johnson Reagon suggests: work that’s difficult, exhausting, but necessary “for all of us to feel that this is our world.”

Accentuate the positive. Instead of labeling kids, let’s talk about them as potential leaders, affirm their strengths, and believe that they can do good, brave, remarkable things. The path to safer, less violent schools lies less in our control over children than in appreciating their need to have more control in their lives, to feel important, to be visible, to have an effect on people and situations.

Bully prevention has become a huge for-profit industry. Let’s not let the steady stream of training sessions, rules, policies, consequence charts, and no-bullying posters keep us from listening well, thinking critically, and creating approaches that meet the singular needs of our schools and communities.

Barbie Parties It Up

2008-01-30T16:14:00.000-05:00

Courtesy of Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown, co-authors of Packaging Girlhood; Rescuing Our Daughters From Marketers' Schemes:

This just in from the Drug Free Alliance.

"Some parents may not be aware that Mattel is marketing a Barbie 2-in-1 Party Plane & Ship Playset that 'comes with all the amenities.' Along with the reclining seats, fold down table and laptop computer, this toy, marketed for 3- to 8-year olds, comes complete with martini glasses, bar stools and a disco scene portraying scantily clad dancers holding drinks!"

Those of you who've seen our power point presentation know we've been complaining about the Bratz party plane for a couple of years now. It has a "juice bar" and Bratz CEO Isaac Larian has expressed outrage that critics have said that his dolls come with alcoholic drinks. We asked, "Who is he kidding?" But now Barbie doesn't even call their drinks "juice"?

Is Barbie different though from Bratz? When we were girls, our Barbies had black sequined slinky gowns that we think were called her "nightclub" outfit. What we understood at the time, was that when we grew up we would go to nightclubs in beautiful sexy gowns. The point is, we understood Barbie to be older than we were. And although Barbie presented a pretty one-dimensional view of what grown-up women did and what they are valued for, she still seemed to us to be grown up.

The Bratz dolls are teens and even look slightly pre-teen. So when they party and drink and go clubbing, they clearly suggests these activities to younger and younger girls. Barbie has been following suit, creating a My Scene Barbie who is more teen than grown-up. She's no longer the Barbie we knew -- in more ways than one. Instead of being a trend-setter, she's trying to one-up Bratz. In true wannabe fashion, she's pushing not just a party plane but also a ship! Not a juice bar but real drinks! And explicitly to 3 year olds. Who ever would have thought we'd be longing for Barbie to be, well, Barbie.

Shaping Youth - Target Ad

2008-01-15T13:04:00.000-05:00

Amy Jussell at Shaping Youth called this ad to Lyn Mikel Brown and Sharon Lamb's attention and asked them what they thought. They said:

"The ad didn't strike us as forcefully as some, but that could be the point here. The innocence and playfulness of making snow angels (with the hat and scarf, the girl smiling, perky--as much as one can be lying on one's back--in that usual over-the-top Target way) is as primary as the sexual availability/suggestion of sexual violence of the spread eagle position on the target (and the camera angle). Could it be that it's this combination that's so disturbing, the blend of innocence and sexualization? We're seeing more of this all the time, whether it's the VS Angel Collection or the Bratz Dolls (with the little halo over the a) or sexy/innocent Halloween costumes for little girls. These are the kinds of images designed to be so subtly suggestive that people are called crazy or dirty minded for questioning them. But of course in reality they normalize these relationships--i.e., between sexy and innocent. The sad reality is that a girl lying on her back spread eagle is more provocative and attention getting (and thus sellable) then a girl snowboarding or standing on the center of the target in another sort of pose. What do you think? Are we reading too much into this?"

Click here to view ad

If you agree with Lyn and Sharon, let Target know!
By phone: 1.800.440.0680
By email: http://www.target.com/gp/help/display-contact-us-form.html?displayLink=tci

New York Times - Politics and Misogyny

2008-01-15T11:04:00.000-05:00

According to New York Times op-ed columnist Bob Herbert, the issue of misogyny and the "toll that [it] takes...on women and girls" has been woefully overlooked in the media. Although "sexism in its myriad destructive forms permeates nearly every aspect of American life"--pornography, paparazzi photos, sports games, and the military--it is often ignored. Herbert says that "it’s a big and important issue that deserves much more than lip service": do you agree? Please share your thoughts!

Read the full article here.

Guest Blogger - Lyn Mikel Brown on Where the Girls Aren't

2008-01-09T18:24:00.000-05:00

Counting is so simple, so basic, so important. In our book Packaging Girlhood, Sharon Lamb and I counted the numbers of boys and girls on sugary cereal boxes, on the covers of board games, in the action section of toy aisles, in Newbury Award winning books, and we reported studies that counted the number of boys and girls in G-rated films, and other forms of media. This was our way of showing where the girls aren't, sure, but more importantly we did this because numbers give a clear and present message to girls (and boys) about who should be doing, wearing, listening to, reading, and playing with what. The results can have long-term impact. Consider a recent article in the journal Psychological Science (Vol. 18, Issue 10) called "Signaling Threat: How Situational Cues Affect Women in Math, Science, and Engineering Settings," by Mary C. Murphy, Claude M. Steele, & James J. Gross. Turns out the kind of low numbers we reported seeing in movies, TV shows, books, and so forth give "situational cues". The researchers found that simply watching a conference video in which women were outnumbered by men made the women-all math and science majors--feel like they didn't belong and feel like not participating. It also made them vigilant of possible threats to their identity. The situation they observed gave the young women that intangible "in the air" feeling that they were unwelcome and might be ostracized if they participate.

If girls see only one girl in a cartoon about geniuses or just one woman in the race for presidency - this gives them a very real and tangible message: you aren't welcome here. It also discouraged them from wanting to do the things they see primarily boys do and to be anxious, isolated, and feel out of place when they break boundaries. This is the reason to care about how media depicts girls and boys. We can no longer accept the lame excuse -- Girls will watch boys, but boys will not watch girls - used to justify the 75% male character rate in G-rated films. Yeah, maybe they will watch. But at what cost to them?

Lyn Mikel Brown, Ed.D is co-author with Sharon Lamb of Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers' Schemes. Check out their blog at packaginggirlhood.typepad.com.

HGHW to WalMart - Can You Stoop Any Lower?

2007-12-13T08:14:00.000-05:00

We found this on feministing.com. You can find it at your neighborhood Wal-Mart.

Sold in junior sizes at your local Wal-Mart - makes us wonder if Wal-Mart can stoop any lower or be more perverse?

Send a letter to:
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Attn: Customer Service
702 S.W. 8th Street
Bentonville, AR 72716

Or call:
1-800-WALMART

Pink Weightloss Patch - Keep Your Girlish Figure

2007-12-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

Get Skinny.

"You should NOT spend your girlish days worrying about your weight. But you want to be skinny and wear all those cute little dresses - so we have come up with a simple solution for you."

"Use the Pink Patch daily for 24/7 weight loss and appetite control so you can look fabulous while you have fun. No more worries about the freshman 15 or sitting at your new desk job snacking all day long. You have enough to focus on besides your weight. Look in the mirror and smile — without giving up your busy social life! The Pink Patch will help you get skinny: we guarantee it."

This is one of the most obvious marketing ploys targeting girls' anxieties around weight. I found this product advertisement on MySpace, where loads of teenage girls spend their free time. When I clicked the link I was appalled that this company was so blatantly marketing to girls.

Their tagline is: "Be young & have fun with the body you always dreamed of." Just the fact that it's a PINK patch reminds me of the Victoria's Secret Pink Campaign - where they lure girls into the lingerie stores full of padded bras and thongs and give them a pink teddy bear if they make a purchase.

Pegged as "FAST, FRESH, and FREE-SPIRITED", this marketing scheme reinforces Packaging Girlhood authors Brown and Lamb's claim that marketers are co-opting girl power and words like freedom and independence to mean the power to shop and the freedom to look great.

If you're as angry as we are - send a letter to the company:
USA Herbals
500 Bic Drive
Bldg #4 Ground Floor
Milford, CT 06461

Or call:
1-866-468-3300
Monday - Friday
8 AM - 6 PM EST

Beauty Comes in all Shapes and Sizes

2007-11-30T12:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I read an article that struck a personal chord. It is called Learning self-limiting attitudes about achievement (http://tdru.blogspot.com/2007/11/week-of-november-19.html). The part of the article that really hit home discussed the influence that parents and adults have in teaching their daughters appropriate gender performance (as if there is such a thing) and self-esteem.

This past thanksgiving I took a long-awaited trip to New York City to visit my family and enjoy the holiday. I have two younger sisters- Mia who is 8 years old and India who is 5. After a 7 hour drive I arrive at my mom’s house. As soon as my mama opens the door, I step inside and her tea cup Chihuahua begins yelping and jumping excitedly. Then I hear a small tired voice by the stairs to the second floor say “hi catherine.” I look over to see this beautiful round girl half my size with long twists in her hair. “MIA!!!” I scream. She ran over to me and wrapped her arms around my body squeezing so tight that I was actually surprised by her strength. Next, India comes running down the stairs, “Catherine’s home!” A petite little body with a round head and big wondrous eyes came and grabbed onto the other side of me, holding tight. It was one of those special moments that you never forget. When I saw Mia I remember thinking, wow, she has gotten thicker. As the weekend progressed my mama told me about the family and how everyone was doing. She told me that Mia had been saying, “I hate my body, I’m too fat.” She actually went as far as to say, “Mommy, I’m hideous.” My mom asked me to talk to her and try to make her feel better about herself. I instantly thought of Hardy Girls and our workshops about media. I thought, “I will do some media literacy… starting with the Disney princesses,” which are readily available pictures in my sister’s Ikea designed kiddy bedroom.

I told Mia that we were going to have special sister time since she was such a big girl now. I told her that I used to hate my body and then I learned where it was coming from. I learned that all these images of unattainable beauty are strategically placed around us to sell us products- makeup, lotions, shoes, clothes, bags, hair products, you name it. The images that accompany the ads sell 2 things- a mainstream popular idea of beauty and the product itself. She caught on right away, saying “Yeah, and Beyonce always wears a lot of makeup.” I then asked her about the Disney princesses, what did she see and how did the images make her feel. She said that they were white and skinny with long hair and dresses. She said, “Some people are ugly and some are pretty. The pretty ones look like that (the Disney princesses) and the ugly ones look like me (referring to her race and her weight). My heart hurt so badly for her. I said “Mia, Are these real women?” She paused for a minute looking off, then she said “NO”. I pined in, “These are drawings aren’t they? Someone created these images!” She started to join in, “Yeah, they aren’t real” all the while getting somewhat angry at the fact that she had been conned into hating herself based on a drawing. We went further and further into the conversation about different kinds of beauty, about magazines, the kids that tease her in school and about loving herself. I told that loving yourself is a choice you make everyday. Your idea of your own beauty should not be based on a magazine picture because they aren’t real images. They are retouched, bodies are redrawn, and makeup is repainted. Every ad is selling something and in order to make you buy a particular product they have to make you feel bad about yourself… like somehow you are not whole without this thing. Sadly though, the products themselves and the image of beauty are becoming one. It used to be that they used so called beautiful people to sell the ads; now, the beautiful people have become the ads. The product became Botox, breast augmentation, tummy tucks, and so on. Now the product is your own body and the media wants to sell you a new one. This conversation gets very sticky for me though because our mother has had plastic surgery. She is trying to stay “beautiful” (if that is something that can ever be lost) by looking young.

At the end of the talk, Mia and I made a poster that attaches to the family mirror. It says, “I am beautiful.” I told her when she forgets what beauty is, or begins to feel bad about herself… look in the mirror and read the sign to remind her. The media limits the definition of beauty with their images and so our own real images, our real reflections need to be our new personal media expanding the definition of beauty. Just as we are smiling, making the posters and feeling good about our bodies… my mother comes downstairs to model her outfit as she was getting ready to go out with a friend. She stands in the doorway… squeezes 2cm of the skin on her waist and says “Do I look fat in this?” I was so upset. Mia hadn’t really noticed (at least not consciously) and I signal to mom with my chopping hand shaped like a knife on my neck, and speak through quiet gritted teeth “Mom, that is part of the problem.”

We take for granted how many young girls mimic our actions and statements. Sometimes I fear what my sisters learned from me when they were younger before I left for college. In what ways did I teach them to hate themselves simply by stating that I hated myself? Now, after college and a ton of growth, I live 7 hours away from my sisters and I have learned to love myself, to embrace life, and to not let someone else’s definition of beauty define me. I am no longer there on a regular basis to be that influence, and so it is my challenge to live it; to be the living example of empowerment and strength for any girl that I may meet. This is my charge to you… LOVE YOURSELF for all that you are so that younger girls will grow up KNOWING that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes.

Dangerous Books for Girls

2007-11-26T07:25:00.000-05:00

Excerpted from Lyn Mikel Brown's article on Dangerous Books for Girls. The full article can be found to the right. Please share your comments!

Feminist psychologists have amassed ample evidence that conventional femininity is bad for girls--all girls. Using their Feminine Ideology Scale, for example, Deborah Tolman and her colleagues find that internalizing conventional femininity ideologies of the very passive and disembodied "nature" that the Matthews teachers., with all good intentions, desire and instruct is associated with poor mental health for early adolescent girls. Girls who uncritically internalize these messages are more likely to be depressed and to have lower self-esteem.

Enter two popular books, Wendy Shalit's Girls Gone Mild and Louann Brizendine's The Female Brain, to tell us just what proper means and why we should accept, even celebrate it. Shalit champions a purported new girl movement away from sexy and toward "traditional family values", while Brizendine tries to establish a causal link between brain and gender differences. While they appear to have little in common, these books share a similar set of assumptions about the intrinsic worth and the salvation of conventional femininity.

Read the full article

The Super Girl Dilemma

2007-11-13T15:03:00.000-05:00

Excerpted from Lyn Mikel Brown's article on the SuperGirl Dilemma. The full article can be found to the right. Please share your comments!

In the early 90’s, when Carol Gilligan and I wrote about the tyranny of nice and kind and the pressure girls felt to be perfect, we were illuminating the ways conventional femininity worked to shape girls’ desires and relationships. Listening to educationally privileged girls, mostly white and middle class, we found that all too often the girls who excelled in school, who looked put-together, who sang in school choirs, volunteered in their communities, and smiled a lot were in various kinds of psychological trouble. A few stalwart resisters—some white and middle class, but mostly working class girls and girls of color--suggested this did not have to be the developmental trajectory, but for the girls who bought the ideal, it didn’t feel like a choice.

Read the full article

Happy Halloween from Hardy Girls

2007-10-31T07:14:00.001-04:00

Halloween used to be about wearing the scariest outfit, but these days, at least for girls, it's about wearing the sexiest outfit. Parents should be concerned about the lack of options out there for girls. That's why Packaging Girlhood authors Lyn Mikel Brown and Sharon Lamb have put these 12 tips together:

"Halloween is all about being what you aren't ... help her stretch her imagination ... Then introduce her to female police officers and firefighters in your community. Halloween is a day of imagination -- a perfect opportunity to show her that she can be anyone, any profession, any role."

1. On a day when she can be anyone or anything, princesses and Divas should not be her only Halloween choices! It's not that pink and pretty is bad, but it squeezes out other possibilities. Girls love it, yes, but they also love double fudge-frosted brownies, and you wouldn.t want them eating a steady diet of that stuff.

2. Be creative with your daughter's costumes. Imagination can help girls break out of gender stereotypes and fantasy is a great practice for reality.

3. Encourage your daughter to be anyone or anything. If they are encouraged to look around them, they will see women doing wild, brave and phenomenal things. (Astronaut is NOT a boy costume!) This will give them permission to be wild, brave and phenomenal too!

4. Don't assume that you know what your daughter likes. She is bombarded with pink princesses, sexy divas and pop stars, but she may surprise you! Talk about possibilities. If she chooses pink and glittery, encourage her to add her own twist to her costume. If she wants to be a queen, let her carry a sheath and sword in case she needs to fight for her crown!

5. Spend time with her and listen to what she likes and why. Sitting down and talking about Halloween costumes is a great learning and bonding experience. Help her to recall the best costumes she saw last year. Remember when those three girls who were best friends dressed as the Three Musketeers? And it's also a great opportunity to open the door to new possibilities.

6. Sit down with a paper and pencil and let your daughter create her own character and story. She can raid the family closets or dress up box to become the wildest character she can think of!

Picking a Costume...A Chance to Be Anything and Everything!

7. If your daughter is set on pink and glittery, let her pink and glitter DO something. Help her imagine a feisty fairy who can take on the magical realm's evil dragon or let her be a butterfly that saves the insect world or even a princess who can use a map to find her own way to the ball! She can be a pink superhero who saves the universe or a sparkly firefighter or even a
sparkly skeleton!

8. If your daughter loves scary stories and the history of Halloween let her go traditional and be a witch, a monster, or ghost. If she.s a witch, avoid all those sexy diva witch costumes in the catalogs; instead, encourage her to look as scary, ugly, and awful as she can.

9. Does your daughter have a favorite book? A favorite character? Reread the book with her and think about what she.ll need to get into character. She can be Madeline, Anne of Green Gables, Dorothy of OZ or Hermione Granger. She can even be the scarecrow or the Wicked Witch of the West, or even the wizard Dumbledore. Tell her she doesn't need to limit herself to the girl leads in each of these!

10. There is no reason she can't be a character usually reserved for boys! Halloween is all about being what you aren't let her stretch her imagination to become a vampire, ghoul, or cowpoke. Teach her that just because the police officer and firefighter costumes are labeled for boys does not mean they are off limits to her. There are plenty of female police officers and fire fighters in real life!

11. Is your daughter an athlete? This is her chance to become her idol off the court, field or racetrack. She can be Mia Hamm, Danica Patrick or Sheryl Swoopes.

12. If your daughter has just learned about Amelia Earhart or Joan of Arc at school, Halloween is a great opportunity to make learning fun. Sit down with her and talk about real women pirates, explorers and spies. Visit the library and check out books on Jane Goodall (a costume could be completed with a stuffed chimpanzee) or Sally Ride! But don't stop there. Why can.t she be Van Gogh with a palette, paintbrushes and a bandage on her ear? Why can't she be Mozart with a ruffled shirt, a powdered wig, a feather pen and composition pad? It's great to learn about women in history who have made their mark, but this is a day of imagination so she can be anyone, any profession, any role.

Update on Walmart T-shirts

2007-10-10T14:50:00.000-04:00

Since the letter was sent, we've heard unofficially that the stalking shirts have been removed from the shelves but Walmart still has given no official position on the subject. Many thanks and much love to the North Carolina Coalition against Domestic Violence, who jump started this fight. We will keep you all posted on the subject and in the meantime feel free to write a letter against Walmart's t-shirt normalizing domestic violence.

Walmart, We Challenge You to Rise

2007-10-10T14:41:00.000-04:00

October 5, 2007

Lee Scott, CEO
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Bentonville, Arkansas 72716-8611

Dear Mr. Scott,

As the director of an organization that provides programming and resources to girls and women in Maine, I have seen the effects that domestic violence and stalking can have on our youth. The “Some call it stalking, I call it love” shirt that you’re currently selling in Wal-Mart stores makes light of a very serious situation of which many Americans are victims, and most often those victims are women and girls.

Hardy Girls Healthy Women of Waterville, Maine strongly urges Wal-Mart to immediately stop selling the abovementioned shirt and to take immediate action to remove these shirts from all Wal-Mart stores in the country and elsewhere. In addition, we recommend that Wal-Mart take swift action to ensure shirts like these never end up on Wal-Mart’s shelves again by making changes to the way that product purchasing occurs and by requiring all Wal-Mart stores to partner with their local domestic violence prevention programs to ensure that all Wal-Mart employees understand the very real effects of domestic violence and stalking on our daughters, sisters, mothers and partners.

This is an opportunity for Wal-Mart to take a public stand against domestic violence – to educate its corporate team, employees, and shoppers about the need to take domestic violence and stalking seriously.

I’m sure you’ll agree that domestic violence and its effects on 1 in 3 women in our country and around the world are no laughing matter. As such, t-shirts like the one you currently sell should never make it to the shelves.

I look forward to the removal of these shirts and to hearing of Wal-Mart’s commitment to the eradication of violence in America’s homes.

Sincerely,

Megan Williams
Executive Director
Hardy Girls Healthy Women, Inc.
www.hghw.org

Preteen Modeling or Child Pornography?

2007-10-02T12:44:00.000-04:00

Any person with internet access can innocently Google the words -preteen model. It may be a parent seeking information on modeling –however misguided- for their little tutu wearing ballerina princess or possibly a social action group interested in educating young girls on the “beauty” industry. For whatever reason, the words seem basic and somewhat harmless. You might picture a headshot of a little girl with freckles and a huge smile playing in the grass. Or you could picture a little girl in a beauty pageant wearing a sparkly dress, tiara, and way too much makeup for her age. I admit whole-heartedly that the whole beauty pageant image is incredibly disturbing, but still it is nothing compared to the images that appear under the title – preteen model. Go ahead and try it…

Instantly you are bombarded with images of highly- sexualized, underdressed “preteen models” touching themselves, laying in raunchy positions and exposing their young underdeveloped bodies. Freckles are now accompanied by Victoria Secret lingerie and the headshot is now a butt shot that reveals most of the 7 years old’s thong. The girls are being marketed as sex objects. What’s worse is that they are being taught at a young age that their bodies are objects for male delight and consumption. They are growing up with the belief that admiration equals objectification.

But the images do not stop with lacy thongs. The second site that came up in my Google search contained images of grown men touching and in some cases even having sex with these “smiling” 6-8 year old girls (who are obviously too young to give consent). This is psychotic. What has become of our society? Grown women are infantilized in mainstream media and everyone in America is aware of this equation… youth=beauty. Well, now the youth is even younger. These images are scary because they normalize perverse behavior… and the desire to de-virginize an 8 year old girl is perverse. Period. A man that actually acted on this fantasy would be shunned as a sex offender yet it is still okay to provide this fantasy. We shun psychopathic behavior but by having such easy access to these images we train men to act like psychopaths. The idea that a man could even achieve sexual arousal by looking at a girl so young is to say the least, disgusting.

At any mention of male-child pornography there is protest and court hearings –and rightfully so- but there is no fight against this horrific epidemic of girl-child pornography that is being masqueraded as “preteen modeling” on the internet. What can we do about it? I have been asking myself that all day? I guess that the first act is to unveil this whole exploitation of female youth, focusing especially on how common and easy it is to access. If female child porno is this accessible, I wonder how many people are actually sponsoring it. What scares me more than its existence is its audience. Let’s expose the truth… Modeling, I think not… It’s PORNO.

Blogs We Love

2007-08-20T14:57:00.000-04:00

Well, we'd just like to share with you, our friends, a fabulous blog that has been brought to our attention! It's the Parenting for Peace blog, and it's definitely worth taking a good look. Fantastic information and resources, and interesting reading!

Also, we highly recommend the Packaging Girlhood blog, too. Both blogs are great reading for adults who care about and work with you.

Check back soon for more on our own cultural commentary, too.

Girls Gone Milder? Here we go again...

2007-07-26T11:11:00.000-04:00

Please take a moment to consider the influx of messages girls and women receive about how they should look, talk, act, what they can be, do and say.

Its exhausting for me, at 24 years old, to move through all that mess and just be myself, so I can’t even imagine how frustrating it must be for adolescent and teen girls to see past all those ridiculous social expectations.

Imagine the wheels turning in my head, then, when I discovered an article in Newsweek last Thursday titled Girls Gone Milder. What exactly could that mean? Sounds fishy to me, especially after working at Hardy Girls Healthy Women for almost a year now.

(you can read the article here.)

The article, written by Jennie Yabroff for Newsweek, examines a new movement towards a more demure existence for teen girls, as outlined by the woman who wrote the book (literally!) on modesty. Yabroff cites several new websites for clothing and socializing with a modest spin and speaks to Wendy Shalit of ModestlyYours.net.

In Shalit’s new book, Girls Gone Milder, she claims girls are sick and tired of having overt sexuality pushed on them. “She blames the usual suspects: media, misguided feminist professors, overly permissive parents... They’ve lost the sense of encouraging their daughters to be ladylike.”

So who are these teen girls tired of the sex-saturated state of the nation, rejecting “the bad girl archetype for a more demure existence?” And please remind me again, what is "ladylike" and why is it so important? She says that these girls "cover up... insist on curfews on college campuses ...bring their moms on dates...”

Yabroff then cites our good friends in girl empowerment The Girls As Grantmakers program, claiming (without actually naming the organization) that this new movement of girls also spreads the word about modesty. (Based in Pennsylvania, this group is best known for girlcotting Abercrombie & Fitch last year for their obnoxious attitude tee shirts with phrases like “Who Needs Brains When You Have These?”)

Let me just tell you what I think is going on here. I was surprised by work like this- an article printed in Newsweek with absolutely NO cultural analysis, no discussion with the pros, and furthermore an obvious conservative (modest) spin.

Should we let her know that next time it will be better to contact Lyn Mikel Brown for an opinion before asserting a new movement among girls? I think so.

We do a lot of work (and Lyn especially) considering the ways that mass media misuses the concept of girl power for money-driven schemes- another way to create anxiety so girls will spend- and now it seems that Shalit uses the concept in the opposite light, taking power from girls so that they remain modest, demure. Proper.

While the meaning and use of Girl Power seems to change so frequently and conveniently for whosoever chooses to use the term, does the term really mean anything anymore? Originally that concept was used for that happy state in between overt sexuality and social rules of modesty-- oh right I believe that's the place where you can find REAL girls. Wasn't it once about celebrating the unique and dynamic nature of every girl?

The only evidence of a new modesty movement among the female youth of this country is that Wendy Shalit says there is. Is this article supposed to make us feel culturally better?

Whew- what a relief- those girls are going back to longer skirts and chaperones- now I think we are safe.

Now, don't get me wrong, we don't like the sexualization of girls one bit. But we also don't want girls having to consider what is "proper" and "improper," we want girls to live in a culture where they can BE THEMSELVES and those ridiculous definitions don't exist.

Is a movement towards modesty going to save us from a sexual revolution that's gone "too far"? Isn't there much more to consider in this case? This article annoys me --- well, my HGHW comrades and I --- because once again pressure is present for girls to fit themselves into simplistic and limiting labels- that classic dichotomy of the good girl (modest) or bad (immodest).

How exhausting.

Even more specifically, this writing makes me angry because without cultural analysis/evidence to work with, Yabroff uses an example of a super social action (a girlcott) against a major corporation

(something we are totally proud of and did ourselves earlier this year with a bad tee shirt and Kmart- see past blogs below...)

completely out of context. Had she properly named the organization, and I will do it again for them - The Girls as Grantmakers Program- then a modesty movement would matter very little in the face of the dynamic and empowered girls that brought about that fabulous change.

Company execs of Abercrombie not only met with those girls, they removed the most offensive shirts from all their shelves and made apologies.

Wish we could say as much for the elusive CEO of Kmart, but still girls are doing great things to defend their right to be girls all over the place.

In fact, the reference would make little sense if readers were aware that much like us (Hardy Girls Healthy Women), the organization allows girls space to empower themselves through social action while also celebrating the unique and dynamic nature of every girl.

Meaning: girls are much, much more that these ridiculous and lazy labels - they are smart, strong, bold, loud, creative, complex and dynamic. And much, much more..

This article is frustrating because we work to create a more equitable culture for girls and women, so that they may thrive and be all those wonderful things listed above (and much much more.) This hypothetical "modesty movement” only creates more unecessary pressure for girls, another hoop to jump through on the way to finding comfort in one's own skin.

Please check out the AWESOME LIST on the Hardy Girls Healthy Women website -a comprehensive listing of pro-girl organizations and sites- to counteract the pro- "modesty" sites listed in Yabroff’s article.

As always, if you have any questions or would like more information about Hardy Girls Healthy Women, please send an email to info@hghw.org.

Thank you!