Entries from August 2008 ↓
August 15th, 2008 — Other stuff
I’d like a better idea of who my audience is and what YOU want from this site.
I won a blog critique from Chris G at chrisg.com. If the co-author of theProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income
tells you to move your site and give it a makeover – well, you do it. The Girl Revolution is going to be redesigned soon.
This is your opportunity to tell me what you would like to see more of or less of.
What kind of design?
What kind of content?
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August 14th, 2008 — Body Image & Self Esteem, Disney Princess Culture & Fairy Tales, Fit Girl, Girl Culture, Media, Marketing and Advertising, Mother-Daughter Emotional Osmosis, Reviews & Giveaways, Sexualization of Girls
Self Objectification occurs when girls believe the media and cultural messages that tells her she exists for male sexual entertainment. Sexualization of Girls is what the media and cultural messages designed to make her believe that her purpose is to be consumed and that her value is relational to men finding her sexually appealing. Self Objectification and Sexualization of Girls leads to low self esteem, poor body image, eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, depression and anxiety, and risky sexual behavior. Luckily, the media isn’t the most influential person in your daughter’s life –
YOU ARE.
10 Antidotes to Self-Objectification and Sexualization of Girls
* Media Literacy – talk to girls about the images they see. Point it out when there is obvious digital retouching like in
Keira Knightly Stands Up for Her Girls and Yours. Watch Dove’s
Onslaught campaign and discuss it with her. If it’s age-appropriate take her to the
Natural Breast Gallery and talk about how different the images of women in media are than the bodies of real women. Tell her about Photoshop and the magic of digital imaging and discuss the
motives of the media to sell products by misrepresenting women’s bodies.
* Extracurricular Activities – Girl Scouts, band, after-school programs like Girls Inc., drama club, church groups, computer or video gaming clubs give girls an alternative to activities that focus on their appearance.
* Comprehensive Sexuality Education – “A central way to help youth counteract distorted views presented by the media and culture about girls, sex and the sexualization of girls is
comprehensive sex education. Programs must include accurate information about reproduction and contraception, the importance of delaying intercourse initiation for young people, and the building of communication skills, and promotes a notion of sexual responsibility that includes respect for oneself and an emphasis on consensual, non-exploitative sexual activity,” sites
The American Psychological Association Report on Sexualization of Girls. In other words, if the media and boys she dates are the only ones in her life talking about sex, what messages do you think she’s getting about sex. Are those messages you’re okay with?
* Co-Viewing Media with Parents – Parental comment on media children are exposed to is key to altering the influence of the messages. Watch TV with girls and comment on the messages. Contradict stereo-typical behavior when you see it, share your insights on advertising and media. Co-viewing also reduces the amount of
inappropriate material children see. The same goes for Internet browsing.
* Religion, Spirituality and Meditation – organized religious and other ethical instruction actively combat the values conveyed by popular culture. When parents teach girls they are “more than their bodies” girls benefit. Talk to your kids about your idea of her whole self, and that “who they are” makes them valuable outside of their sexuality or gender roles. Insisting that girls remain girls and not be pushed into a precocious sexuality is something many churches do. Encourage meditation, yoga, tai chi, and prayer to teach girls to get in touch with their bodies and themselves as spiritual beings.
* Create Girl-Positive Media – Get your daughter involved in writing or producing her own media – a website or blog is simple enough. My daughter Ainsley writes
A Rocks, a private blog about her life.
Stone Soup is a literary magazine written by children. Write your daughter a book, see an example
here. Throw out the Disney Princess books and videos and get some empowering alternatives like
Princess Bubble.
Monitor and encourage their efforts.
* Confront Your Body Issues – Passing down negative
feelings is what I term,
Mother-Daughter Emotional Osmosis. You may think you’re shielding your daughter from your negative
self-talk – but she’s smarter than that. If you, the mother, have a history of self-objectification or
poor body image confront it and deal with it before you pass it down. Refuse to
self-deprecate or equate your own value to how thin you are or how you look. Fathers and other male figures, of course, should never refer to women as objects for male entertainment.
* Be The Empowered Woman – If you find yourself buying into gender-stereotypes in your own life, being too passive, not saying “no”, holding yourself to an impossible
standard of perfection, running yourself ragged to be everything to everyone –
Stop It. She will emulate you.
A mother who radiates self-love and self-acceptance vaccinates her daughter against a low self-esteem, said Naomi Wolf.
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August 12th, 2008 — Family Life, Mother-Daughter Emotional Osmosis
The greatest gift a parent can give a child, Tracee, is the ability to become independently happy. And the greatest gift a child can give a parent is exercising that ability.
An email affirmation/meditation from Tut.com
I’d settle for that and call it parenting success.
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August 11th, 2008 — Body Image & Self Esteem, Fit Girl
Parents should be aware that there are three things that increase a girl’s risk for breast cancer:
* If she starts her period early.
* If she does not have one baby before age 30.
* If she does not breastfeed.
From an interview with Teresa Knight, a St. Louis, MO OB/GYN with a Masters in Neuro-anatomy, concerning the risks of precocious puberty or early puberty.
Girls now start their periods three years earlier than previous generations. Fifty percent now start their periods by 10 years of age, increasing their risk of breast cancer.
Empowering Girls: Early Puberty
Precocious Puberty
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August 8th, 2008 — Body Image & Self Esteem, Media, Marketing and Advertising, Mother-Daughter Emotional Osmosis, Sexualization of Girls
If you are using words like hootchy, skank, slut, whore or any other sexually derogatory word to describe the clothing (whether inappropriate or not) of any girl you are an active participant in further sexualizing girls.
If you are teaching your daughter (or sons) to use sexually derogatory words to describe other girls’ clothing you are actively coaching her in mean girl behavior.
If you call a young girl’s outfit “skanky,” you’ve just taught your daughter that it’s okay to call another girl a “skank” if she doesn’t like her clothes. If you describe an outfit as “hootchy mama,” you’ve just taught your daughter that if she makes the slightest clothing error, it’s okay for others to call her a “hootchy mama.”
You’re basically making a judgement about whether a girl is sexually active or promiscuous by her clothing.
I’m hearing people say such things about 3-5 year olds. Think about it – are those words you really want to apply to children?
Children should be immune to our sexuality. When you apply sexually derogatory words to children, you sexualize them. You open them up to a sexual context that others can use against them.
If there is any group of people on the planet earth who should be entitled to wear less clothing it is children. Children should be immune to the sexual implications of all skin exposure.
There are some inappropriate clothing choices available to girls. We can tell our daughters why they shouldn’t wear such things without being sexually derogatory about their friends, classmates, neighbors, family or their own secret selves that also wish to wear that clothing.
“I don’t think that’s appropriate,” is generally sufficient explanation for why your daughter isn’t allowed to wear something.
Regardless of what a girl is wearing she is deserving of respect.
It is impossible to demand more respect for girls by being disrespectful to girls.
Empowering Girls: Ho’oponopono for Girl Fights
Girl Fight
Second Generation Mean Girl
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