SPARK-ing a movement against the harmful sexualization of girls

By Courtney | Published: October 26, 2010

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.

Mighty modern Aphrodite

The SPARK blogtour starts here

Fighting back against the early sexualization of girls