Posts Tagged Girls

By Courtney • 12 years ago

The personal is political: princess parties

As we wound round and round in circles, nice little breaks from the monotony of the chicken dance, my goddaughter, R., stared up at the “real live princess” with big, serious eyes. Every move the princess made–whether twisting a pink balloon into a phallic sword for her male cousin, or painting a butterfly on her tiny hand, R. studied.

Yesterday was my goddaughter’s sixth birthday. She loves princesses and her favorite color is pink. She alternated between a princess dress and a swimming suit with princesses on it. Even her stuffed animal kitty was dressed up like a princess, tiara and all. There was a princess pinata. You can imagine the ways in which these realities provoked some major gender analysis ...

As we wound round and round in circles, nice little breaks from the monotony of the chicken dance, my goddaughter, R., stared up at the “real live princess” with big, serious eyes. Every move the princess made–whether ...
By Chloe Angyal • 13 years ago

Hey Shorty! A Guide to Combating Sexual Harassment and Violence in Schools and on the Streets

If you don’t know about Girls for Gender Equity, you should. GGE is a grassroots organization in New York that aims to help girls develop into psychologically, emotionally and physically strong women. Hey, Shorty! is the story of how ending sexual harassment in New York City high schools became part of of GGE’s mission, and it’s also a model for how to involve students in changing the culture at the schools they go to and on the streets they walk.

As an example of how grassroots activism actually gets done, this book is highly useful. How do you recruit community members to work on a project? How do you get past bureaucratic obstacles, or deal with changing political tides ...

If you don’t know about Girls for Gender Equity, you should. GGE is a grassroots organization in New York that aims to help girls develop into psychologically, emotionally and physically strong women. Hey, Shorty! is ...
By Chloe Angyal • 13 years ago

The Feministing Five: Rachel Lloyd

Rachel Lloyd is the founder and director of Girls Education and Mentoring Services (GEMS), an organization that helps girls and young women who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking to exit the sex industry, and provides them with the skills and knowledge to move on with their lives. GEMS, which is the largest organization of its kind in the US, was the subject of the gripping documentary Very Young Girls. Lloyd founded GEMS in 1998, “on her kitchen table,” she says, and has since grown it into an essential and influential organization.

Lloyd is a former sex worker herself, and she believes that women who work or have worked in the sex industry should be on ...

Rachel Lloyd is the founder and director of Girls Education and Mentoring Services (GEMS), an organization that helps girls and young women who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking to exit the sex industry, ...
By Chloe Angyal • 13 years ago

The Feministing Five: Peggy Orenstein

Peggy Orenstein is the author of the New York Times bestselling book Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture. Orenstein’s book (her fourth – she also wrote the bestseller Schoolgirls: Young Women, Self Esteem and the Confidence Gap) is an exploration of our cultural fixation on pink and princesses and everything else we associated with girliness. Orenstein is herself the mother of a seven-year-old girl, and it was when her daughter went off to pre-school that Orenstein first became aware of how pervasive the princess obsession is, and just how aggressively it is marketed to very young girls.

What Orenstein found, when she began researching the reach and power of princess culture, and when she ...

Peggy Orenstein is the author of the New York Times bestselling book Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture. Orenstein’s book (her fourth – she also wrote the bestseller Schoolgirls: Young ...
By Vanessa • 13 years ago

Film on portrayal of women and girls in the media up for Sundance award

Holy Must-See Movie.

Between what looks like a great round-up of commentators in the film (hi Jenn!) and the call for the use of media activism as a tool to combat the negative portrayals of women and girls in media, this looks like a very powerful documentary. And imagine if it won Sundance?

h/t to Jessica! Transcript after the jump.

Holy Must-See Movie.

Between what looks like a great round-up of commentators in the film (hi Jenn!) and the call for the use of media activism as a tool to combat the ...
By Vanessa • 13 years ago

Film on portrayal of women and girls in the media up for Sundance award

Holy Must-See Movie.

Between what looks like a great round-up of commentators in the film (hi Jenn!) and the call for the use of media activism as a tool to combat the negative portrayals of women and girls in media, this looks like a very powerful documentary. And imagine if it won Sundance?

h/t to Jessica! Transcript after the jump.

Holy Must-See Movie.

Between what looks like a great round-up of commentators in the film (hi Jenn!) and the call for the use of media activism as a tool to combat the ...
By Chloe Angyal • 13 years ago

Girl Scouts Research Institute releases new findings on girls and social media

Last night, the Girl Scouts Research Institute celebrated its tenth anniversary with the release of Who’s That Girl? a new study about girls and social media. I’ve written about the GSRI and the wonderful work that they do before, and I’m so glad that this study has been done. Here are a few quick numbers for you. In a study of about 1000 girls between the ages of 14 and 17:

In person, girls say they come across as smart (82%), funny (80%), kind (76%) and outgoing (55%) as well as fun, cool, a good influence and socially confident.

Online, the words girls most frequently use to describe themselves are fun, funny and social. ...

Last night, the Girl Scouts Research Institute celebrated its tenth anniversary with the release of Who’s That Girl? a new study about girls and social media. I’ve written about the GSRI and the ...
By Courtney • 13 years ago

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 ...

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 ...

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