SPARK-ing a movement against the harmful sexualization of girls

I was sad to miss the SPARK summit last week, but happy to find that the always cogent Sarah Seltzer has a great summary over at Alternet. Here’s an excerpt:

At the SPARK summit and its constituent women’s organizations, leaders emphasize a subtle but crucial difference between “healthy” and “harmful” iterations of teen sexuality. A rigid, male-oriented, surface conception of sexuality being thrust upon girls a la the Pussycat Dolls is pernicious. But young girls taking charge of their own sexuality and making choices that are smart, healthy and feel good is fabulous. It’s a difficult line to delineate for the general public, especially considering the average American IQ on nuanced sexual issues, not to mention the average media-maker’s apathy about any social message he or she sends. But the “own your sexuality” mantra is aimed at young women viewers as it is at conglomerates, a consciousness-raising tool designed to generate outrage at future scandals.

And Ileana’s amazing students weighed in with some very cogent analysis here.

Get involved in the ongoing movement here. I hear through the grapevine (or, okay, drinking wine made from grapes with Chloe) that there were some scheduling snafus. A big apology to all those who tried, unsuccessfully, to attend the blogging workshop by some of our inimitable team.

Related Posts:

Mighty modern Aphrodite

The SPARK blogtour starts here

Fighting back against the early sexualization of girls