Just when you thought you’d seen every possible way for marketers to pressure girls to be too sexy too soon, along comes another opportunity for stores to sell product and sexualise girls . . . Halloween! Though we may not have grown up with Halloween as a tradition, trick-or-treating is entering our culture in a big way. For my daughter Teyah and son Kye (age 11 and 8), any celebration that involves dressing up and lollies is bound to be … [Read more...]
The Real Halloween Horror: another excuse to sex girls up too soon
October 21, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Wanted: More Girl Champions
October 9, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Women hold up half the sky. — Chinese Proverb. Don’t you just love it when you read a book that changes the way you view the world? Last year for my 40th birthday, Melinda Tankard Reist bought me a copy of the Pulitzer-prize-winning Half The Sky. This brilliant work has been described by the publishers as a “call to arms against our era’s most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls in the developing … [Read more...]
Australia’s Next Top Model a True Role Model?
July 19, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Australia’s Next Top Model rates well. Really well. In fact, last year the premiere of series 5 entered the record books and became the most watched show on pay TV. Many of the viewers are teen girls and many of the contestants are teen girls. This year, of the 16 contestants, only two are out of their teens and the average age is just 17. What type of messages will girls be exposed to if they tune in this year? Past offerings give us something … [Read more...]
Is How a Woman Looks More Important than What She has to Say?
May 29, 2010 by 3 Comments
Recently, I received a comment from one of my blog readers that at first shocked me and then got me thinking about yet another issue that affects all women and girls: the tendency in our culture to demean women for their looks rather than to engage with what they have to say. The comment was short, and cutting: "We’ve seen your talks at schools. If you’re so keen to set a good example then don’t turn up to school looking like mutton … [Read more...]
Are 14-year-old Girls Really Nothing But Trouble?
May 15, 2010 by 1 Comment
A recent UK survey of parents with children over 18 years of age revealed that 14-year-old girls are considered the most difficult to parent. Kathryn Crawford, co-editor of the website that conducted the survey, said “New parents live in dread of the ‘Terrible Twos’, but parents of teenagers will tell them that the worst is yet to come. Ironically, many toddler traits surface again when children become teenagers, but often become even … [Read more...]
The Darker Side of Facebook: Cyber-Bullying
March 10, 2010 by 1 Comment
Facebook has become a positive part of many of our lives, but there is a darker side of Facebook that all parents and educators need to be aware of: cyber-bullying. It is inevitable that bullies will try to use social networking sites as a tool. It gives them a platform to humiliate their victims not just in front of a schoolyard full of kids but potentially a global audience, with little chance of being held accountable. … [Read more...]
Girls in Trouble in a Post-Feminism World
March 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Parents, teachers and educators everywhere know in our hearts that girls and young women are in trouble and need our support. And the evidence is mounting to prove that we are right to be concerned. A 19-year-long Scottish study published recently in the journal of Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology showed that teenage girls are now the most depressed section of the population. … [Read more...]
Making Sense of Twilight
January 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment
There has been a kind of hysteria surrounding the Twilight series of late. With the release of the second movie, New Moon, bloggers, commentators (and just about anyone with an internet connection) have rushed to vent their opinions—not on the quality of the movie but on whether the main female character, Bella, is a good role model for girls. The consensus is that Bella, with her angst-ridden relationship with the vampire Edward, is one of … [Read more...]
The Fashionista Fallout
October 22, 2009 by Leave a Comment
This is the Fashionista Generation. Chalk it up to Gossip Girl or Next Top Model or all those banks who handed out credit cards like they were candy — whatever the reasons, designer labels have become a part of our culture. We use them to fit in, to stand out, to create a glow of status and power. Girls use brands to look more mature and hip; their mothers, to look more youthful and hip. This makes the marketers very, very happy. … [Read more...]
