African American Woman struggles

This article talks about the struggles that african american woman go through on a daily basis. It talks about how young african american woman struggle to fit in and try to be someone they are not. It explains that there are so few african american woman that are in political office and gives you a good perspective of what people face.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/14/world/europe/black-british-women/index.html

Sexual Assault

In the other service learning project I am currently invested in, I am doing it on the unbelievable process that goes on every day about woman raped and sexually assaulted in our armed forces. This happens all the time and we need to do something about it. This article is about the sundance film called the "Invisible War" which is the organization I about doing my service learning project on.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/invisible-war-sundance-film-review-285506

Woman shackled in pregnancy

For one of my service learning projects, I am doing it on the barbaric struggle about how incarcerated woman are shackled and in chains during pregnancy. This process is disturbing and not practical. I wanted to share this article that gives information on it and shows a few statistics.

http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/10/shackling_women_in_prison_during_childbirth.html

Mom Puts Daughter on Diet Then Writes About It

Dara-Lynn Weiss decided that her daughter should to be put on a diet after her pedestrian labeled, the then 7-year old Bea, as obese. Bea was six at the time and was 93 pounds. After her daughter lost weight, Weiss wrote in article entitled “Weight Watcher” in Vogue describing her daughter’s process of losing weight. The article is receiving backlash, not so much for her the daughters need to be put on a diet, but how she went about it. She would withhold food from Bea, even as her daughter would cry that she was hungry or wanted something in particular to eat. At one point Weiss states “I once reproachfully deprived Bea of her dinner after learning that her observation of French Heritage Day at school involved nearly 800 calories of Brie, filet mignon, baguette, and chocolate.” I honestly do not have a problem with the fact that Bea had to be put on diet, so much as the that the mother is sending the wrong message to this young girl. The point is not to withhold food or deprive someone of certain foods, but to learn to eat in moderation. After losing sixteen pounds in the last year Bea was adamant that she was not different to which her mother writes, “I protest that indeed she is different. At this moment, that fat girl is a thing of the past.” I beg to differ that this girl’s problem is a thing of the past, as this seven-year-old is going to be dealing with years of therapy for what her mother put her through and the eating habits incurred.   

Girls Inc.

I was doing some research for my S/L project and found this website that looks legit and not sponsored by some advertising group. One of their missions is to provide Media Literacy for girls. Girls Inc develops research-based informal education programs that encourage girls to take risks and master physical, intellectual and emotional challenges. Major programs address math and science education, pregnancy and drug abuse prevention, media literacy, economic literacy, adolescent health, violence prevention, and sports participation.

Cheat on your girlfriend, not your workout

Reebok recently launched an ad campaign with the slogan "Cheat on your girlfriend, not your workout."  The ad is, of course, highly offensive for a multitude of reasons.  Fortunately, the ad has been pulled and Reebok is apologizing.

I have to wonder how this ad even made it to billboards, magazines, subway stations, and internet ads.  I don't need to preach to the choir about why this ad is disgusting and offensive here, but it says something about the world we live in.  I can't help but think about how ads like this are affecting young women.  Ads like this give a message that women don't matter.  A workout is more important than respecting your female partner.  Why does a company need to devalue women to sell athletic gear?  I have to hope that there are some badass 14 year old grrls blogging about how to rail against machismo and patriarchal dominant culture.   



http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/03/20/reebok-pulls-ad-urging-people-to-cheat-on-your-girlfriend-not-on-your-workout/

YWLP Event Volunteer Opportunity!

Good afternoon,

The Young Women Leaders Program (YWLP) needs help from our UCF community! 

YWLP is a mentoring program that is housed within the UCF Women's Studies Program.  We work at three area middle schools and pair 7th grade girls with UCF women to develop a "sisterhood" of love and support as well as fostering an environment of developing lifelong leadership skills. 

This year, we were fortunate to have received a national grant from the American Association of University Women called the Campus Action Project grant.  Through this grant, we are hosting a workshop called "Leading Out Loud (L.O.L.): YWLP's Campaign to Draw Lines Against Bullying and Harassment."

Our current YWLP middle school student participants will be co-leading this workshop with their mentors to an audience of over 100 local fifth grade girls and boys!  We want all students to have the skills and courage to STEP UP, SPEAK OUT, and STOMP OUT BULLYING in their schools!

We are extremely excited to have this opportunity to reach out to our community but in order to do so, we need some help from our Knights! 
Attached is the flier for the event containing important detailed information. PLEASE post this filer and/or share with others (feel free to forward this email as well).  We are in NEED of men and women to volunteer!
Thank you for your time and please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Go Knights!

Maria Roman
YWLP Coordinator

University of Central Florida-Women's Studies Program
Young Women Leaders Program
Office: 407-823-6502

maria.roman@ucf.edu
www.womensstudies.cah.ucf.edu/ywlp

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Sexy Baby

Sexy Baby is a documentary looking at the impact that the internet has on teenage girls. The Tribeca Film Festival site describes the movie as “Nakita, a former porn star, and the effect she has on Laura, a plastic surgery patient, and Winnifred, a middle school student, amidst the rise of a new sexual landscape via the cyber age.” The documentary looks at how living in a digital age has affected a change in how sexuality is viewed and how it has changed advertisements, music videos, movies, etc. The site includes a trailer for the film.

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Exclusive-Trailer-Tribeca-Film-Festival-Entry-Sexy-Baby-29833.html

Personhood laws

Personhood laws are expected to be on the ballot in 12 states this election year. Although this topic doesn't connect directly to this class, it does effect the rights of every woman! Please know what is on the ballot in your state and VOTE! We can also use the internet to get the word out to others.

Photoshop Horror

For my service learning project I have been working one-on-one with girl and showing her various thing that I have learned through this class. I feel like our talks have really sparked an interest because my mentee showed me this site:

http://www.beautymyths.org/

It's a pretty neat site that shows pictures before and after photoshop. It was awful to she how thin they make women appear in magazines.

The 10 Worst-Paying Cities in America for Women

It's interesting to note that the number 10 spot goes to a city very close to Orlando.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/03/08/10-worst-paying-cities-for-women/

Hardy Girls Healthy Women

I came across this blog when browsing various activism sites. I was particularly thrilled to see the blog address certain "fashion trends" that state "Allergic to Algebra" and "Too Pretty for Homework" and can been seen in stores like JC Penny and Forever 21.


http://hghw.org/blog/

getting your period: or becoming a woman in the "developed world"

My project is about helping girls get feminine hygiene products in areas where that might not be very easy. To begin, I wanted to do a survey of what <a href="http://www.beinggirl.com/article/signs-of-your-first-period/">getting</a> <a href="http://www.girlshealth.gov/body/period/index.cfm">your</a> <a href="http://www.always.com/period/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Always+Teenage+Development_1011&utm_term=first%20period&utm_content=sBWHA9iwv|pcrid|9878923745|b|first%20period">period</a> means to us, here.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FRf35wCmzWw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

We've all seen these kinds of commercials, right? I mean, it's not even shocking anymore. And why not make fun of tampon commercials while offering essentially the same product in a cooler wrapper?

"Your period. It's a rite of passage. The miracle that allows you to create life. And it's what makes you a woman." -Actual quote from "Always.com".
<a href=""></a>

The thing is, it's not even hard to make a joke about periods. They're so taboo, the<a href="http://ubykotex.com/the_mission/why"> company trying to capitalize on making their brand cool has to convince people in this country that periods are an acceptable thing to make cool</a>. Because, what's girl power if you can't sell it, right?

This statistic struck me as really odd, "More girls rely on the media over a teacher or school nurse for vaginal health information." When I read that, I thought "So...?" I mean, come one. I rely more on the internet for information about literally everything over a school nurse. I can't even remember the last time I thought asking a teacher was a good ending point for research about something...

I know this is a really un-scientific survey, and that I basically just googled "first period", but I think it leaves me with some good questions. If we all think of periods, vaginas, and puberty as gross and embarrassing, and we all agree that it shouldn't be- what's the IDEAL? What does it look like when you have the perfect "talk", the perfect feminine hygiene, the perfect attitude towards your period? Is there such a thing? Could it ever be "okay" to be embarrassed, ambivalent, or frustrated with your period?

Just a few thoughts.

LoveSocial.org & Missrepresentation.org: In Honor of International Women's Day

My SL project is working with Girl Future (especially posting for them on their FB page) , which is where I originally found this video.  It is a very good example of raising awareness of digital influences and literacy with / for girls.  "We are proud to release the below infographic and video, created in collaboration with the lovely folks at LoveSocial.org, in honor of International Women’s Day," says the missrepresentation.org website.  

LINK: Cause And Effect: Why We Need To Tell Herstory

Check it out and share it with the girls in your life.  I sent it to my nieces and posted it on my FB wall :)

             

International Women's Day

Here's a link to a Youtube video about the Girl Effect 12 It shows how helping a 12 year-old girl can change the world. Happy International Women's Day!!

To Get Her There

ToGetHerThere (To Get Her There) is an organization sponsored by the Girl Scouts to provide information and mentors in three areas: - Support Girls in STEM - Prevent Cyber Bullying and Aggression - Promote Healthy Images of Women The organization strives to help girls reach their full potential. YOU CAN HELP!! Senator Larkin is sponsoring a bill called the Successful, Safe and Healthy Schools Act It is designed to help end Mean Girl Bullying. It's easy to send a message to your Senators and Representatives on this website and ask for their support of the bill. Quote from the website. "Bullying can take many forms, but girls are more likely to use behaviors like shunning, taunting, spreading rumors, and betraying a confidence, both online and offline. Teachers and parents tend to write off these behaviors as a “part of growing up,” but the impact is severe. Girls say technology allows them to treat their peers more cruelly, without having to see the immediate response to their behavior. 38% of girls worry about their emotional safety when spending time with their peers. Cyberbullying starts as early as second grade, and 85% of middle-school students say they’ve been cyberbullied at least once." Thanks for your support of this important legislation.

My Service Learning Project

For my service learning project I am starting a non-profit organization that I had wanted to start anyway called "Diabuddies." The goal of this organization is to set up newly diagnosed diabetics with diabetic mentors. So far I have contacted the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation who is really supportive of me starting a branch in Orlando. Also, I will be tracking my progress, as well to daily living with diabetes on a blog I just started! So far I have received a lot of positive feedback from other diabetics who have read it! If anyone would like to follow this journey or help and spread the word, I would really appreciate it!

diabuddies.wordpress.com

Although I was unable to watch the Academy Awards this year, I am not surprised to find this article, "Dear Oscar: Women Have Stories, Too"- by Tara Sophia Mohr, as an apt reflection on lack of female representation.  As Ms. Mohr points out in her article, " The LA Times reported that men compose more than 90 percent of the five branches of the Academy, such as cinematography and visual effects. Only 6 of the 43 members of the governing board of the Academy are female, and only one is a person of color."  

There are loads of female directors, producers, cinematographers, and the like out there making meaningful films that constantly get passed over or are only recognized in the indie circuit.   Katheryn Bigalow is the only woman in Oscar history to have won for best director in 2009 for The Hurt Locker. 

I agree with her thoughts on how this effects girls (and women for that matter) in that they grow up thinking that this is not an arena of creativity for them and further perpetuates the idea that their only place is in front of the camera. I think that is why classes like ours are so important to learn and be able to raise awareness.

(photo from reelmaniacs.com)

Oh Em Gee. The Mary Sue!

You probably heard my fangirl *squee* when I discovered the site, The Mary Sue by way of my last blog post regarding the article "Who In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? CEO, Intellectual, & America’s Most Positive Latina Role Model". I have not spent a ton of time vetting it, but from what I have seen I am in love. The About Us page begins

The Mary Sue hopes to be a place for two things: highlighting women in the geek world, and providing a prominent place for the voices of geek women. Because all we really want is to just be able to geek out with all geeks, of any gender, without feeling like our femininity is front and center for scrutinization.

*swoon* The tag line declares the site is "A Guide to Girl Geek Culture" and the rotating masthead predominately features an assortment of "iconic and well loved female character (s)" . The image above is Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica, one of my favorites. The name of the site is from the trope of the generic "Mary Sue". The Mary Sue turned 1 year old yesterday so this Girl Geek has a bit of catching up to do!

Carmen Sandiego

A post on the Miss Representation Media FaceBook page sharing a link had me at "Carmen Sandiego". The poster at Miss Representation shared this quote from the essay by Frances Martel of The Mary Sue

"Sandiego has a particular impact on girls—or, at least, had a particular impact on me—because she was a symbol of cultural rebellion. She is the first major American pop culture example of a mischievous yet beloved hero who also happens to be both a woman and a Latin American."

While I never watched the TV show, I certainly played the video game. Not even when the game came up in my digital autobiography last did I give Carmen the full attention I now see she deserves.

Virtual Girls: Girls and Digital Media: My Digital Autobiography

My Digital Autobiography (link here)

Digigirlz Dubai

I thought that this was a interesting article about digital literacy in another country. I think that it is very important for girls to learn as much as they can about technology. These hands-on experiences can be very liberating for girls.

download.microsoft.com/.../Digigirlz_Dubai_Digital_Literacy.pdf

My Digital Self

I popped open MS Word to work on the Digital Autobiography assignment and found myself drawn to producing a visual chronological timeline. This is due in part to my homeschooling friends who were touting the flexibility of sharing the past when you didn't have to rely on a text book. I cut some from the adult years of my timeline since this course focuses on younger girls. I may add back to it at some time when a grade isn't attached to it. Tabatha's Digital Self This was a fun assignment!

Actress protesting

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/02/23/xena-star-lucy-lawless-boards-ship-in-new-zealand-to-protest-arctic-oil/

-This is an interesting story about an actress doing something good and protesting, I thought this was a cool story and thought I would share.

My Kind of Princess

As a longtime fan of digital animation and Pixar Studios, I was thrilled to see they are releasing a film with a strong female lead. Brave is the story of Princess Merida breaking cultural stereotypes for her class and gender. The title of the movie attaches a typically masculine attribute to Merida, with "Brave".

I certainly hope there is more of the same in store for viewers after watching the latest trailer where she breaks conventions by speaking out against her arranged marriage by winning her own hand with her archery skills. She splits her own perfectly targeted arrow while disobeying her mother; showing that sometimes the path to standing tall begins with the tiny act of letting go. Check out the trailers here.

Gender Reinforcement via Cartoon Doll Emporium

According to it's banner www.cartoondollemporium.com is an online "safe haven for imagination;" however safe can have a multitude of definitions. From what I can see from the site "safe" really means "traditional". All of the games on CDE are reflective of traditional roles of femininity. You can find many dress-up/make-up games on the site. Although the site is primarily for little girls there is even a "love and marriage" category for games where every "princess" marries her "prince". The "career" games also portray girls as air flight attendants, teachers, waitresses, etc.

Is this site really exercising the imagination? Or is the site reinforcing traditional gender roles?

Website Recommendation!

In my IM conversation with my partner for class this week, she told me that she felt as though most websites geared toward females are very stereotypical and gender-conforming. I made a recommendation to her that I would like to let everyone else know about as well!

www.autostraddle.com

Autostraddle.com is a non-gender-conforming and awesome website, that (despite its very obvious political bias) is full of alternative and interesting articles. They cover everything from politics to movie reviews, fashion to cooking recipes, and advice columns to music recommendations. Additionally, Autostraddle does this from a queer perspective which celebrates all gender expressions. They have regular bloggers who discuss their trials and tribulations as both M2F and F2M transsexuals. Their fashion articles are geared toward feminine dressers, and those who have more alternative tastes, and their advice columns are based directly on reader questions, and are therefore helpful to many people who may have not found anyone else to ask.

You guys should check it out! :)

Underweight Women in Japan Face Health Problems

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/02/diminishing-waistlines-a-national-health-problem-in-japan/

The article discusses how Japanese women are facing the health problem of being too skinny. One of the women in the article, Shiho Aoki, points out the reasoning for the problem being “the pressure for young women to be thin is greater than ever, largely because popular Japanese models are getting skinner. At 5 feet 1 and weighing 100 pounds, Aoki said she was considered ‘fat’ among friends.” The notion that this young woman and her friend’s think she is fat for her height is seriously scary. Though I think this follows suit of young girls and women in America that think they are overweight based on models and actresses. I also found it quite interesting that the opposite can be said for older men to which “Nearly 40 percent of men in their 40s and 50s are considered overweight.” Obviously women are more affected by images in the media than what men are. 

Six Man Panel to Decide Birth Control - Please join the fight with your voice! I am so enraged by this! It feels like we are back in the 1900's and men are still deciding our fate. You can send a message to your representatives by going to this link: http://www.now.org/ Let them know that birth control should be covered by our insurance! We should be represented on a panel that is deciding our fate! Why is Viagra covered, but birth control not? In the Senate, a vote is coming up soon on the so-called "Respect for Rights of Conscience Act," an anti-birth control amendment Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) is trying to force through as an attachment to a must-pass transportation bill. If passed, this legislation would deny countless women contraception coverage in their employee health plans. In fact, the amendment would allow any employer or insurance provider (with or without a religious affiliation) to refuse to cover any health care item or service they object to on the basis of "religious beliefs or moral convictions." "Far from being about religious liberty, this ongoing campaign by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and their conservative cronies in Congress is a blatant attack on birth control in the United States," said NOW President Terry O'Neill. "Women, regardless of where they work, should have access to health insurance that covers preventive health care, including contraception, with no co-pays and no hassles," said O'Neill. "Employers should not be allowed to enforce their personal beliefs on employees regarding birth control coverage or basic health care. Simply put, all employers and insurers should play by the same rules under health care reform." NOW is closely watching two other, similar bills, one authored by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and the other co-authored by Rubio and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va..). Both bills would allow any employer to strip birth control from their health insurance plans. NOW is urging all reproductive rights supporters to contact their senators to ensure defeat of these bills. Birth control is a fundamental part of preventive health care for women in this country, and restricting it is wildly out of touch with the values and desires of the American people. A recent survey by Public Policy Polling shows that 56 percent of U.S. voters -- including men as well as women -- support the requirement for health plans to fully cover birth control. "Enough is enough," said O'Neill. "People are growing fed up with the politicization of basic health care and birth control, and legislators should take note: politicians who try to restrict birth control will pay a price at the polls this November."

Chris Brown Grammy Performance

After his Grammy win, Chris Brown tweeted "Hate all u want becuz I got a Grammy now! That's the ultimate f**k off!" he raged on Twitter in a message that has since been deleted from his page. "I'm back so watch my back as I walk away from all this negativity,". He deleted the message since then but what you put on the internet is there to stay. I just think it's funny that instead of using digital media to show the world that he's learned from his mistakes he continually shows that he's not sorry for what he did and that he hasn't changed at all.

http://blog.music.aol.com/2012/02/15/chris-brown-grammys-2012-critics/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D135907

Can Elmo inspire your kid to become a scientist? Article by Bonnie Rochman

http://healthland.time.com/2012/01/09/can-elmo-inspire-your-kid-to-become-a-scientist/


Sesame Street is now adding STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) inspired shows to their line up! This is fantastic! Millions of young children watch Sesame Street, I know my kids did, and to incorporate STEM into the show is great news! Read the article in Time Magazine. The message Sesame Street is putting out for kids is about learning, trial and error, sometimes succeeding, sometimes failing, and then trying again. I find this great news! Check it out!
"If the program is as successful with science as it has been with introducing preschoolers to language and other skills, that should bode well for the future of America’s doctors, engineers and astronauts." (Rochman, 2012)

Work Cited

 http://healthland.time.com/2012/01/09/can-elmo-inspire-your-kid-to-become-a-scientist/#ixzz1m60B6pgW

Breaking Bread, Breaking Digital Dualism

New York Times author David Carr has a wonderful, mouth-watering piece about the joys of sitting to dinner with a group of friends and eating home-made bread baked from a recipe passed on from the host’s mother. Then he finishes the column with this point about face-to-face interaction:

All of which is a way of saying something that is probably obvious to others who are less digitally obsessed: you can follow someone on Twitter, friend them on Facebook, quote or be quoted by them in a newspaper article, but until you taste their bread, you don’t really know them.

I agree with most everything he says in the column because, besides the last paragraph, his column is a antidote to digital dualism–the idea that online and offline worlds are somehow separate entities, one “virtual” and the other “real.” But his column brings back digital dualism at the end–and does a disservice, in my opinion, to the rest of his points. He starts by explaining how the dinner group first met each other mostly online, then had this beautiful dinner together, and then shared the recipe over email–and ponders whether or not Google would ever find this recipe. (It seems that Carr asked the host, Clay Shirky, for the recipe and I have a feeling that it might soon end up where Google can find it.) 

READ THE REST HERE

'Girl Project'--check it out

Photographer Kate Engelbrecht shares images and diary-like entries from 13- to 18-year-olds

‘Girl Project’ Reveals What Teens are Really Thinking

http://thegirlproject.org/

I probably shouldn't be surprised...

http://jezebel.com/5881895/watch-telafloras-super-sexist-super-bowl-ad

This article talks about a commercial that aired during the Super Bowl. I found this while researching for part of my service learning project and I thought I would share it here, as well.

Dove Evolution

YouTube is not allowing me to embed the video, but please go take a look at it if you have a moment. It shows us why our self-image and ideas of beauty are so distorted.


http://youtu.be/iYhCn0jf46U

VIDEO GAME SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITY FOR WOMEN

Alicia Crawford (left) is the winner of the latest Gamers In Real Life  (G.I.R.L.) Scholarship from Sony Online Entertainment and Scholarship America, but G.I.R.L. isn’t the only game in town when it comes to scholarships for women looking to enter the video game industry. The Vancouver Film School is currently holding its fourth annual Women In Games Scholarship. 

The scholarship is held partly in conjunction with the Game Design Expo, now in its sixth year, where that years details and other scholarship information is given. According to the VFS website , “Inaugurated in 2009, the Women in Games scholarship is a full-tuition scholarship for one female game designer and aims to increase the profile of, and opportunities for, women in the game industry. Previous winners include Shannon Lee , Annie Dickerson , and Larissa Baptista .”

“Once again I am proud to be a part of our annual Women in Games Scholarship. Our past winners have gone on to do amazing things in the game industry once they graduated, and we expect more great things from our most recent winners,” said Head of Game Design at VFS,Dave Warfield. “Supporting the growth of women in games is something that I feel strongly about; it benefits the industry to gain new perspectives, creativity, and passion that is reflective of how gaming has changed and expanded in the past five years.”

The Game Design program at the VFS lasts one year and the scholarship, hailed as the first of its kind, is for a full tuition worth up to $49,000. Their application  says it, “mimics the game development and production environment, so that our graduates are as prepared as possible to begin their careers in this rapidly growing and exciting industry.”

“In a field traditionally dominated by men, the scholarship is a great opportunity and incentive for women looking to pursue a career in game design,” they write, also promoting past students’ achievements. “Previous recipients of the scholarship include designers who’ve gone on to work at developers like Microsoft’s BigPark studio (Kinect Joy Ride) and Digido Interactive (MotionMaze). Graduates of the program have worked on titles such as Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Dead Rising 2, Prototype 2, and Star Wars: The Old Republic.”

Sound like something you’d be interested in? Fill out the application now .

(via Gamasutra )

Inspired By GIrls Make Media

Whilst reading Girls Make Media (Kearney, 2006) I became intrigued by the free web-authoring programs. One such program is Angelfire. Although I have not created a website yet I was absolutely fascinated by the idea of creating a "rough" web page. I have found that much of Kearney's findings seem to be true within myself. I have never been interested in HTML or creating source pages; however, possibly through this site I can learn to build a page to represent a cause (or even just for fun!).


http://angelfire.lycos.com

Anderson Cooper asks "Are Girls Growing Up Too Fast?"

In Monday's episode of Anderson talks to two pageant moms about the effect these pageants have on their daughters. One of the pageant mothers, Wendy Dickey, thinks nothing of dressing her three-year-old daughter in a "Pretty Woman" type outfit. Later in the episode one mother discusses finding racy panties in a store targeted towards young girls. It would appear that the pageant mothers and society are trying to make children (even at the age of three) much older and sexualized than they need to be. It's interesting considering how women are supposed to be seen as younger through plastic surgery or products that imply being young (Maybelline's Baby Lips Lip Balm). 

The website includes clips from the episode, one girl's story of her positive pageant experience and discusses the book Cinderella Ate My Daughter. In the book Peggy Orenstein discusses how self-image affects young girls and what steps parents can take to help their daughters. 

  

http://www.andersoncooper.com/episodes/are-little-girls-growing-up-too-fast/

Dr. Phil on "girl toys" for boys

I stumbled across this article:

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2011/02/09/Dr_Phil_No_Girls_Toys_for_Boys/

It reminded me a little bit of the article we read for this week's course content:

http://spotlight.macfound.org/blog/entry/gifts-for-girls-activities-encouraging-stem-dont-need-to-be-pink/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+macfound%2FiQaL+Spotlight+on+Digital+Media+and+Learning#When:16:23:00Z

The Advocate article discusses how Dr. Phil told a parent on his show to not be alarmed by her son's interest in barbies and girl's clothing and to not be worried that this meant tha her son was gay. He furthermore encouraged her to expose her son to more boy's toys. It seemed to me that this article was opposing the STEM article we read, which encouraged nuetral gender toy options, as well as alternatives to stereotypical "girl toys." I also thought it was interesting that Dr. Phil told the woman not to be worried that this was a precursor to her son being gay, as if this was something she could be worried about. This article shows how media via television can expose an audience to gender-stereotping ideas and therefore proliferate negative gender conotations.

Movie: Trust

After reading “A Girls Life Online” or “Katie.com” I stumbled across this article in Slate. A new film entitled Trust was released on April 1^st in select theatres. Directed by David Schwimmer, it is the story of a 14-year-old girl who is seduced into having sex with an older man who lied to her on the Internet. Afterwards, her family has trouble coping, kids at school bully her and she even tries to commit suicide. Aside from the suicide attempt the story seems strikingly similar to what we read a few weeks ago. I think it is interesting that the director was hoping to promote a message of safety on the Internet and yet the movie is rated R so I’m sure there are a number of parents who will not want the kids watching it. It is rated R because of the rape scene which I’m sure is more than disturbing.

On the day of the release, Schwimmer did a chat with the LATimes. You can replay the chat here.

Misrepresentation or no representation in the Media

After reading Lynne E. Edwards, “Victims, Villians and Victims” one idea really stuck with me and I wondered to what extent it was actually true. In her article she talks about how youths voices are often replaced by “official sources” in news articles. Let me take you back to a section in this essay:

“The power to legitimate self and source is an area of concern, however. The frequent selection of official sources marginalizes ordinary people as potential sources, and the people most often marginalized are youth. Sadly, the sources frequently missing from news stories about youth and crime are youths themselves, an omission that leads to their frequent misrepresentation in news. Rather than including youth as sources in stories about them, law enforcement officials and experts are often cited, providing explainations for why youths commit crime, get pregnant or any number of other issues associated with them. Even when youth do appear in news stories about juvenile crime, the predominant speakers are “white male adults”. This absence of youth as sources in news stories is particularly ironic at a time when journalists are beginning to identify juvenile suspects by name.”

Shortly after this assignment, I stumbled across an extreme case where there was a lack of youth’s voice in an article and extreme misrepresentation of the entire situation. The original article which was posted in the New York Times is entitled “Vicious Assault Shakes Texas Town”. In this article, the author explains how the town has been “rocked” by the rape of an 11 year old girl by 18 young men. The incident was discovered because of a video taken and passed around of it. In the article there is no mention of the effect that this might have on the girl and one quote even goes so far to state that “These boys have to live with this the rest of their lives.” There was mention that this girl dressed like she was in her twenties and also question of where her mother was.

I think that the article by Roxane Gay in the Rumpus does a good job explaining the horrid reporting techniques of the event. It also goes on to explain “rape culture” in the media.

We Wanted Other People to Learn from Us.

Chapter 8 in Girl Wide Web 2.0 really spoke to me. I found it breathtaking that such a rural place could pick up on blogging with such little amount of computer use. I have already talked about, and agree with the author that blogging is a way to empower youth to document their lives, but I find it unbelievable that universities are having to coduct studies to see how blogs could be effective in university settings ( obviously, they can be an effective tool because we are using it here!) Sure, blogging has been used to adolescent teenage girls to write  their life stories. Like the author states in this chapter "... girls blogs were ofthen monolouges rather then discussions, and more like to offer intimate details of the girls lives" and then continues to say that the girls blogs were " more like paper journals" (pg 164) but I think that when given more direction, blogging in a university can be a helpful tool to push students in the right direction and also it becomes a tool for peer teaching and group learning. I think it is beautiful that these young girls in Africa find it helpful to be able to blog about their disease. It is important for them because they do find it hard to talk to the kids at school about it because of fear. It also gives the students who are not struggling the opportunity to read from people who live in this situation everyday, and may increase empathy for these stong young women. I really enjoyed this chapter!

Jammy Whammy

About-Face.org may sport the catchy line "Don't fall for the media circus!" but unfortunately, they've been duped as well.

The organization seeks to expose the "toxic media environment" which contributes "to a host of girls' and women's ills, including low self-esteem, depression, persistent anxiety over weight and appearance, extremely unhealthy diets and exercise regimens, and eating disorders." In a portion of their website they have sections entitled, "Gallery of Offenders" and "Gallery of Winners." In the Gallery of Offenders, ads for companies such as Diesel, Calvin Klein, Marc Jabos are turned "about-face" and commentary directed at subverting these campaigns is written alongside the original ad. The second section, "Gallery of Winners" addresses only one ad campaign - Dove:

Dove, Unilever's largest beauty brand, challenges the concept of beauty in popular culture in their newest Campaign For Real Beauty. They gathered information from 3,500 women in several developed countries to find correlations between beauty, body image and the media. Thank you Dove. Write Dove's Campaign For Real Beauty and tell them how much you appreciate their efforts: or call them at 1-800-598-5005

If I could insert a buzzer sound here, this is where it would be. Thank Unilever? Are they serious, or is Dove their latest donor? Let's get things straight. Unilever is the British-Dutch global consumer marketing products giant, the largest producer of ice cream and frozen novelties in the U.S. Unilever's brands sold in the U.S. include Breyer's ice cream, Ben&Jerry's ice cream, Klondike ice cream bars and Popsicle products.

Now do you get why DOVE ads are promoting fuller-figured models? It has nothing to do with using their "powers to bring issues regarding natural beauty into the forefront of popular culture by creating a successful campaign celebrating real beauty." No. This, again folks, is all about profit. Could the women at About-Face really have missed this point? I find it a bit disheartening, considering the whole of the website is quite wonderful and positive for girls to explore.

According to Unilever's own website, they proudly boast "More than half of Unilever's revenues come from food. We produce a wide range of everyday household staples such as tea, margarine, mayonnaise, pasta sauces, olive oil, soup, stock cubes and ice cream. Our brands include Lipton, Flora, Becel, Blue Band, Hellmann's, Knorr, Bertolli, Calve, Magnum and Cornetto." Not only do they sell food, but in addition to DOVE sell brands such as Ponds, Axe, Sunsilk, Vaseline, and an array of other brands selling personal products such as soaps, deodorants, etc. and home care products such as detergents and household cleaners.

It is interesting that About-Face lists the book "Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugle Side of the Beauty Industry" on their resources page. The author, Stacy Malkan, is a spokeswoman for the "Campaign for Safe Cosmetics," is the lead consumer coalition in the United States, pushing for federal legislation of the cosmetics industry. On it's opposing side is the $50 billion a year cosmetics industry, led by companies like Procter & Gamble, Revlon, Estee Lauder, L'Oreal, and Unilever. Right now, the status quo is - self-regulation.

Malkan argues that personal care products like shampoo, conditioner, aftershave, lotion and makeup are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration FDA or any other government agency. It is perfectly legal and very common for companies to use ingredients that are known or suspected to be carcinogens, mutagens or reproductive toxins in the their products, she says. The World Health Organization (1964) concluded that 80% of cancers were due to human-produced carcinogens.

Some other facts that may lead you to rethink your health and beauty regimine:
Xenoestrogens are compounds that have estrogenic effects and differ chemically from ancient, naturally occurring estrogenic substances produced by living organisms. Their potential ecological and human health impact of is under study (Korach, 1998) and speculated to be the cause of issues such as breast cancer, breast cysts, ovarian cysts, abnormal paps, endometriosis, premenstrual syndrome, irregular periods and heavy menstrual bleeding, and endocrine disruption causing developmental, reproductive and tumorigenic effects (Smith and Spangler).

Xenoestrogens are found in pesticides, lotions, detergents, plastics, foods and more - for example BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole). This is a common food preservative found in processed foods. Also hormones used to help turkeys, pigs, chickens and cows grow bigger and faster (and produce more meat) include xenoestrogens. Organic meat does not. Other examples, sunscreen that contains 4-MBC, and paraben-containing lotion.

For an extensive list visit: http://www.organicexcellence.com/we-xenoestrogens.php

"Knowers," Not Victims: Repositioning a Discourse Beyond the Digital Divide

It seems very appropriate that I would close this class with an examination of possibly the most subjugated knowledges we have encountered this semester being unearthed and disseminated through the use of digital media. As you may have noticed, my primary qualm regarding the content of this class has been that girls seem to be lost within a discourse of adults commenting on and theorizing about the content of their lives and experiences. This particular chapter is the obverse of that idea in that while it is still adults summarizing the actions of girls, girls as cultural resistors in themselves, especially the South African girls with HIV, create a discourse that transcends the need for an overriding force which can speak for them. Rather than forming insular communities for identity construction, like the message boards on gURL.com or the fan-fiction forums examined earlier in the semester, this is a transgressive discourse that was created to reach across artificial boundaries created by place and put a human face to a global problem, retooling the previous images to enact substantive change.

Recognizing that Western girls see a huge gap between themselves and girls in impoverished parts of the world who are continually subject to gender violence and the possibility of life-changing diseases, blogging about one's experiences, becoming "knowers" through demonstrating experience, democratizes both parties by allowing them to reflect on sameness rather than difference. HIV/AIDS seems like a very monolithic, faraway problem when a person is young, economically and socially privileged, and living in a part of the world that does not count the disease among its foremost problems anymore. It has been managed and contained, thusly becoming much less threatening than it once was, yet continues to be in other parts of the world. In offering human voices, especially young voices, this problem goes beyond its location to become profoundly relatable. These girls want others to learn from them, and if we can transcend difference, they have a lot to teach us.

I find it especially promising that the researchers were just as concerned with how the girls would construct themselves if given the opportunity to reflect on their lives through these mediums outside of a structured setting. In this case, they would have the opportunity to present themselves in an unmitigated, and more importantly, unmediated fashion, and they are clearly excited for this opportunity. Furthermore, the chat transcripts included reveal their desire to be a voice for their community. This article is probably one of my favorites because the majority is reflection from the girls themselves. So little of this book has engaged active participants in reflection on their circumstances and their willingness to learn and capacity for involvement says so much about the potential of this curriculum. Their concerns are universal (health, employment, community, family) and in reading about how they are able to use blogging to articulate their more abstract problems, it becomes apparent that new media truly can bring about important, macro-level change in our increasingly fragmented world.