Why did the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover bring me to tears? (Hint: It had nothing to do with wanting to look like the model.) It was because I have no idea how I’m going to explain the image to my two sons (ages six and eight), who love sports and are about to be… Continue Reading →
Great Super Bowl for women and girls, right? Wrong.
After so many years of incredibly degrading, sexist, and sexualized ads, the ways women were represented in this year’s Super Bowl commercials, overall, were much less problematic and insulting. It sure seems like advertisers have been listening to what gender equity activists have been saying for many years. So this is great. Sexism in the Super… Continue Reading →
Biased blox: the real heroes of the gendered toy war
Recently, the internet has blown up in praise of GoldieBlox — a construction toy designed to improve spatial skills and encourage a different kind of play in girls. Why is such a toy necessary? According to the Kickstarter page that made the project possible, only 11% of engineers are women and according to a study… Continue Reading →
Bravo, Bloomberg: NYC Girl’s Project tackles low self-esteem and poor body image
I smiled when I read about the recently launched NYC Girl’s Project campaign with the tagline, “I’m a girl. I’m beautiful the way I am”. I couldn’t help but think: what better place to launch such a campaign than a city notorious for fashion shows and modeling? NYC Girl’s Project has partnered with SPARK Movement… Continue Reading →
Pssst… your t-shirt is saying something
Girls Will Be, a clothing brand founded and operated by Sharon Choksi from Austin, Texas, is very clear about what they are not, and that is, exclusively “girly.” Instead, the clothing line aims to let girls decide what they are: dog-lovers, bold and fearless, unafraid of bugs, and undaunted by robots. Free of the color… Continue Reading →
Seven books about inspiring, real-life women
Every girl needs heroines and role models to look up to. Despite the lack of deserved recognition and fame that pioneering women in history have received, there are still plenty of ways to learn their stories. The following books* have taken some of the most amazing stories of female power and ingenuity that are sure to… Continue Reading →
Break from network TV means more than gratuitous boobs
For better or worse, the manner in which we consume media is vastly different than it was just ten years ago. The content is different, and the messages we are absorbing are undeniably different. As new media outlets are developed and become increasingly segmented into niches, there are numerous questions about whether we move towards… Continue Reading →
The Camp Gyno high-fives our periods
Menstruation demonstration! The Camp Gyno video shows that it can be simple to make the monthly “red badge of courage” seem pretty cool and laid back – even fun! I can’t decide what my favorite part of the video is, but it comes down to one of these two: when The Camp Gyno casually uses… Continue Reading →
Hand a girl a camera and the sexist media industry can start looking for the exit
Being critical towards media messages is vital, but at some point, we need to actually produce new material for when (not if) the sexist TV shows, movies, and commercials finally dissolve. This is the rocking attitude behind Camp Reel Stories. Camp Reel Stories is a media camp for teenage girls located in Oakland, California, where… Continue Reading →