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!

Originally posted at Hardy Girls Healthy Women.