The Day of the Girl is about highlighting, celebrating, discussing, and advancing girls lives and opportunities across the globe. When girls come together to talk about things that really matter to us, we can teach other people–grownups, boys, girls all across the world–a new way of thinking about issues like gender stereotypes, discrimination, and [...]
In her upcoming book, Cinderella Ate My Daughter, Peggy Orenstein explores what it’s like to raise a daughter in this girlie-girl obsessed culture. All parents want to protect their child and hope that she lives happily ever after, but will the princess treatment really do the trick? Does playing Cinderella shield little girls from early [...]
The Women’s Media Center, a SPARK leadership organization, hosted a Watch-In of MTV’s “No Easy Decision”. The special episode covers the stories of teens who choose to have abortions. It is the first time in three seasons of MTV’s popular series “16 & Pregnant” and one season of “Teen Mom” that MTV addresses abortion. WMC’s VP of Programs Jamia [...]
Killing Us Softly 4 Featuring Jean Kilbourne In this new, highly anticipated updated of her pioneering Killing Us Softly series, the first in more than a decade, Jean Kilbourne takes a fresh look at how the advertising industry traffics in distorted and destructive ideals of femininity. The film marshals a range of new print and [...]
Correction from Email Update on Dec 13: The My Little Pony blogs were a product of Ms. Magazine. Ms. Magazine is having a My Little Pony week of blogs. Why? Well, take a look at the sexualization of classic toys like Rainbow Brite, Candy Land, and yes, My Little Pony. Toys?! If you think My Little Pony can’t be that bad, [...]
Tomi-Ann Roberts on the sexualization of girls
via Radio Colorado College comes this amazing interview with Professor Tomi-Ann Roberts, professor of psychology and member of the APA Taskforce on the Sexualization of Girls. “Girls are not passive recipients of these cultural messages. Girls are active agents. We know from developmental cognitive psychology that young boys and girls, once they know what their gender is, [...]