In Her Image

Podcast: Interview of children and media expert Diane Levin

2010-01-18T16:42:00.000-05:00

Check out Annie Fox's interview of Diane Levin, expert on media's impact on kids.

Contest for women 18-24

2009-08-28T14:44:00.004-04:00

Similar to The REAL Hot 100, this contest is looking for an "It Girl"--who's "It" based on her passions and work, rather than looks. (Different than the REAL Hot 100 which is a grassroots effort, this content is corporate sponsored by Ortho Women's Health & Urology™, makers of birth control pills.) Jennifer Kohanim is promoting this contest and writes:

"The “It Girl” Essentials contest –which has a deadline of August 31st– is a search for confident and reliable women who have a passion for changing the world through the arts. The contest calls on participants to tell their story, either by submitting a video (1-2 minutes) or essay (500 words or less) via www.itgirlessentials.com."

More positive talk from Glamour

2009-08-28T14:38:00.004-04:00

The buzz from Glamour magazine's photo of a "real" woman continues... The model herself as well as Glamour's Editor-in-Chief talk about their reactions and hopes for women on the Today Show:

Women love seeing a real body in Glamour Magazine

2009-08-21T12:43:00.004-04:00

While you all know that I have my qualms about the mixed messages fashion mags send out ("love yourself"/"you're not good enough"), I am happy to see that women in the general public respond with thrill, relief, joy, and love upon seeing a photo of a real woman--with a stomach, ooh aah--in Glamour Magazine.

If real women expect themselves and other women to look like, well, real women, our problems with hating our bodies and feeling physically inadequate would literally be over. (That would leave so much more time for enjoying and taking part in, well, real life!)

It's refreshing to me that Glamour readers didn't just respond with "Ew, yuck!" to a photo of a real human body, but rather, "That's beautiful! We want more of that!" And I'm also excited that this photo was outside of something organized like the Dove Campaign for Beauty...perhaps our efforts to expand into healthier, more realistic notions of beauty are seeping into popular culture. (Albeit slowly, but still--I'm an optimist!)

Please give more positive feedback to Glamour editor, Cindy Lieve, who blogged about this positive outpouring. After all, editors publish what sells, and if the public demands more un-photoshopped images, we just maybe could get them.

Gold Awarded Amid Dispute Over Runner’s Sex

2009-08-21T03:09:00.003-04:00

Whoa.

From the NY Times:

BERLIN — As an 18-year-old runner from a village in South Africa received her gold medal in Olympic Stadium on Thursday night, activity away from the track had put her at the center of an international dispute: doctors here and in her home country were examining test results to determine whether she has too many male characteristics to compete as a woman....

Read more

Vote to help fund In Her Image!

2009-08-03T18:47:00.006-04:00

Ok folks, I need one second of your time to help fund In Her Image!

For the past five years, I have been lucky enough to present my media literacy/body image program and facilitate accompanying workshops nationwide at schools, conferences, clinics, and universities. Now, to continue this work toward social change, I need some funding!

So a few days ago, I applied to the Nau Collective’s Grant for Change. This grant is exciting because it’s partly decided by public vote — which is where you come in! Please help fund "In Her Image" by logging in and giving 5 stars on the "rate/share" tab!

Thanks so much for taking a second to vote by August 31st. There’s also a “share” feature — if you want to help spread the word about voting that would be amazing too. I'd also love if you want to stick this post on your blog, Facebook profile, dorm-room bathroom wall, wherever you think will help get the word out!

Sign TODAY: Stop Hollywood from marketing violence to young kids

2009-08-03T18:27:00.001-04:00

The Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood continues to fight the good fight... Please sign this petition TODAY to stop Hollywood from marketing violence to young kids.

Power of the arts toward social change

2009-08-02T22:57:00.009-04:00

Click to view trailer

So we all know what a big fan I am of using creativity and the arts for social change efforts. Creative endeavors help people to think through ideas, be honest with themselves, grow, and open up to each other. And this isn't made-up malarkey.

On Wed. night, I was lucky enough to attend HBO's Latino Film Festival for the premiere of "Stages," a documentary about a theater program for senior citizens and at-risk youth. This amazing piece details the true story of how people of all ages and backgrounds are brought together and transformed through performing and speaking out.

Beautifully shot and beautifully told, the film was made by the Meerkat Media Arts Collective, a very talented group of artists who produce films collaboratively--and in this case, who meaningfully mirrored the collective theater process they were documenting.

In the film, the seniors and youth were equally surprised at how much the other group had to offer and how much they learned from each other, and together they created a community based on trust and discovery. Doesn't that sound like a great basis for the kind of thoughtful, peaceful, vibrant world we'd all like to live in?

Post Script: Just tonight, "Stages" took home the Audience Favorite and Best Documentary awards at the HBO Latino Film Festival awards ceremony! Hopefully this will just be the first stop as wider and wider audiences are moved and changed by "Stages."

My even greater hope is that our culture as a whole will value the power of the arts, and put more of our nation's wealth and respect into its support. The MetLife Foundation only gave money for one year of the Evolve Theater Project that "Stages" followed. What progress could be happening right now if they or someone else would renew this funding?

Women in politics get discredited over appearances yet again. Disgusting.

2009-07-23T15:08:00.006-04:00

Regina Benjamin, Obama's pick for Surgeon General, is getting slammed as a bad choice for this position because of her body weight. This seriously pisses me off. Her job would be to assist the *public health* of our country, and in general, a person's individual health is separate from her job description.

Besides--we've had overweight Surgeon Generals before, drug czar's who couldn't quit smoking, and so on, yet no one ever found their personal states important to their professional capabilities...but they were male. I am thoroughly sick of women in politics being attacked for what they look like. This distraction tactic is not only demeaning to women on the whole, but it undermines the incredible contributions the bullied individuals can make to our government, country, and world.

Why on earth do we find a woman's weight, thigh size, pant-suit taste, or other looks- and fashion-based information newsworthy?! I'm disgusted that our media has sunk below the realm of reality TV, and I'm sad at the sexism, discrimination, and twisted sense of health this infuses into our culture.

Mixed messages don't get more confusing than this

2009-06-26T01:40:00.004-04:00

I just came across a Fox newsflash about a Shape Magazine article, called "Country's Leading Ladies Discuss Body Image, Confidence and Jessica Simpson!"

In this piece, Martina McBride, Julianne Hough, and LeAnn Rimes talk about their concern for young women who base their beauty ideals and self-esteem on "what they see in TV or in magazines." They also talk about how hard it is to maintain self-confidence and be a star under scrutiny.

But wait, yup, their photo on the cover of the magazine shows them in bikinis, looking teeny and flawless (next to other cover article headlines about losing weight and looking good). These women are famous because they are *musicians,* yet their appearance is just as important to their success as a model's. While they recognize that being ostracized over appearances can be really hurtful, they also contribute to the social norm that being worried about 'being beautiful' is important: “I’m 26 and I’m still a little self-conscious about my looks," Rimes admitted. "When I was a kid, I had psoriasis over 80 percent of my body. Luckily, I’ve found a medicine that helps control it, but I never know when it will stop working or if I’ll have to deal with it again. It’s still a struggle, but as you get older, I think your perspective changes."

So while the stars try to be candid and encourage women to feel confident, they are simultaneously icons on the front of a magazine who fall into the same shape and size as the prescribed ideal.

Is there any way for celebrities to break out of this mixed messaging? Is there any way for everyone else to stop our collective obsession with looks?

L'Oreal's hiring practices found to be racist

2009-06-26T00:05:00.003-04:00

The cosmetics giant, L'Oreal, was found guilty of racist hiring tactics in their French market. Their fear that French customers wouldn't buy products sold by diverse models reflects the French cultural climate where anti-semitic acts seem to be increasing, a burqa ban is being debated, and so on. Beauty is definitely in the eye of the [social and cultural] beholder.

Sex just keeps on selling...augh

2009-06-24T21:12:00.003-04:00

Check out this "Social Media Roundup: Sex and Drama" by Allyson Kapin... Interesting as always to note who owns what and what goes on behind the scenes because of it.

Poor response to rape on cruise ships

2009-06-22T21:37:00.002-04:00

Wow. I have to say, even after years of thinking about women's issues, the issue of rape in the trapped space of cruise ships had never crossed my mind 'til I read this article: Melissa McEwan of Shakesville writes about the fact that cruise lines should step up their no-tolerance to rape aboard their ships.

Self care and respect: S.T.O.P.

2009-06-05T17:17:00.003-04:00

Check out RespectRx's personal and truly helpful blogpost on self-care using the S.T.O.P. acronym.

I love that the author, Courtney Macavinta, points out that often we think self-care is about filling life with something fruity smelling or whacking down that credit card, but then we wonder why we still feel incredibly stressed and in need of quality alone time. S.T.O.P. stands for Savor, Talk it out, Opt-Out, and Pause, and the post really gets down to it about what respect means and looks like.

I love that Courtney is honest about how S.T.O.P. applies to her life, and that S.T.O.P.ping really has some meat to it; her post is neither a too-shallow advice column nor is it a too-deep pedantic "method" that makes for an ill-fitting overlay in real life.

Check it out. Really.

Women Rule in Business

2009-06-05T12:46:00.003-04:00

Gee, turns out women running businesses is actually, well, great for business.

NYT article: "Women Will Rule Business"

Well said

2009-06-02T00:27:00.003-04:00

Katha Pollitt writes on the inaccuracies and "house-dividing" consequences of the feminist wave labels. Right on, well-said, thank you for putting it out there!

To society at large, feminist in-fighting and blaming only serves to highlight women's demands as disorganized at best and hysterical at worst. As a relative young'un who has instinctively resisted the wave label (yes, Katha, I *don't* think pole-dancing is "empowering"), I'm finding many young women who, like me, are turning to collaboration and understanding as the way to change.

Bingeing on Celebrity Weight Battles

2009-06-01T13:57:00.005-04:00

From the NYT Fashion & Style section...

Bingeing on Celebrity Weight Battles by Jan Hoffman

The tagline is: "The dieting sagas of the stars might be more frustrating than inspiring to overweight women"--and I'd add, to everyone, regardless of size. These stories are meant to inspire health but they promote self-loathing and an unhealthy obsession with appearance. How can we encourage a healthy weight for heart care, diabetes, etc. separate from unhealthy cultural standards of beauty?

Selling chips to chicks

2009-05-27T21:42:00.004-04:00

There is now a Frito-Lay ad campaign based on women's guilt about eating--and sadly, it was designed with women in mind, in order to appeal to women.

Advertising generally plays on our insecurities (and tells us to buy things to fill those holes or shortcomings), and the usual "guilt-free" commercial tactic often used for yogurts and snack foods is plaguing enough. But making a cutesy website of gabby cartoon women with men-focused personalities and back-stories seems to me to show just how far off-track we've gotten.

Who knew that eating junk food could bring such little fun? I mean, if we're not eating for the enjoyment of salty, crunchy, bad-for-you-ness, can someone tell me why we'd be eating chips at all? Revamped health-food-colored packaging and accompanying cartoons about women waxing their bikini lines does *not* make me want to buy or eat chips.

Frito-Lay tried to max out on demeaning stereotypes of women and our culture's guilty obsession with food and appearance--so not cute. At all. Hmph.

Off the Scale

2009-05-12T22:16:00.003-04:00

Check out this Australian article, "Off the Scale," about how obesity panic can go too far...

2009-05-08T15:26:00.002-04:00

From the Feminist Daily Newswire, two gay rights items of note:

California Supreme Court Will Not Hear Appeal in Sexual Orientation Expulsion Case

The California Supreme Court ruled last week that they will not hear an appeal in a case where a private Lutheran high school in the state expelled two students in 2005 based on suspicions that the students were lesbians. The 4th District Court of Appeals ruled in January that the school legally expelled the students. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar dissented.

According to an ACLU filing with the California Supreme Court, "The opinion could be construed, to contain a wholesale exemption for any private school that in its mission statement claims to 'inculcate [its students] with a specific set of values." The ACLU also wrote that the ruling confuses "when the Unruh act applies in the private school context" and also challenges "one of the express reasons Unruh applies to 'business establishments' -- the refusal of a private school to make its facilities available to African-American students," The Recorder reported.

The lower court's ruling PDF argues that although the California Lutheran High School accepts tuition, "it is not a business establishment within the meaning of the Unruh Act; hence it [can] legally discriminate based on perceived sexual orientation." The ruling relied heavily on a 1998 CA Supreme Court ruling that allows the Boy Scouts of America to legally exclude individuals on the basis of sexual orientation because the Boy Scouts are "not a business establishment within the meaning of the Unruh Civil Rights Act."

Maine Legalizes Same Sex Marriage

Governor John Baldacci signed a bill yesterday that legalizes same sex marriage in Maine. The state Senate voted 21 to 13 in favor of the bill in a final vote yesterday. The state House voted 89 to 58 earlier this week in favor of the bill.

Baldacci told reporters "In the past, I opposed gay marriage while supporting the idea of civil unions….I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage.", according to the Morning Sentinel. Prior to final passage of the bill by the state Senate, it had been unclear whether Governor Baldacci would sign the bill.

The law will go into effect in September, 91 days after the state legislature adjourns. However, under Maine state law, a people's veto effort can delay the law from going into effect. According to the Bangor Daily News, more than 55,000 valid signatures are needed to place a repeal of the law on the state ballot. A recent poll showed 47.3 percent of Maine residents support the same sex marriage bill and that 49.5 percent oppose the legislation, reported the Associated Press.

Maine is the fifth state to permit same sex marriage in the United States after Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, and Vermont. Similar legislation is currently under consideration in New York and New Hampshire.

While Tony Snow Fights Cancer, Dana Perino Takes Over the Press 'Gaggle' ...with her "Big Girl Panties" on?

2009-04-29T01:57:00.008-04:00

According to the Washington Post, Dana Perino, deputy press secretary who's stepping in for Tony Snow, was told by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings to "Put your big-girl panties on." In the same 'tough panties' vein, PoliticsDaily has a sub-site called Woman Up. The motto: "Woman Up: Where Big-Girl Panties Are Always a Fit."

There's been some debate amongst feminist circles lately whether phrases like "woman up" and "put your big girl panties on" really do women any favors. I'm especially intrigued with the panty reference. Are we saying that being a larger, more mature woman is where the power is at? Or are we yet again just talking about something kind of petty and taboo (mature women's sexuality), and hindering women's real power?

I do like the "big girl panties" phrase because in it female power is cleaved from sex/beauty and put in a legitimate arena (i.e. gaining a political job takes qualifications and hard work, not thong underwear and blowjobs).

But, it bothers me that when a woman takes a powerful position, this news is often accompanied by media queries or jokes regarding if she's tough enough (the second sentence in the Washington Post article talks about Dana Perino sobbing), as well as references to her appearance and sexuality or asexuality that distract--and detract!--from her validity (the third sentence is, "Three hours later, her face freshly powdered and every strand of her neat bob in place, Perino crisply fielded questions at a televised briefing").

Hillary Clinton's media treatment during her presidential campaign was a case in point: She was picked on for showing weakness when she cried at the same time as she was put down for being too tough (the infamous "b*tch" label). Criticisms (and reactions to criticisms) of her "ugly" pantsuits and the size of her thighs garnered more attention than the content of her campaign speeches.

Repeatedly, women are depicted as emotional coller-coasters who vacillate between complete hysteria and total dictatorship, while the importance of their looks is played up. Doesn't all this negative and contradictory focus on gender maintain levels of sexism and prevent women from concentrating on the work they want to do? (Nobody was quoting cutesy lines in major newspaper articles--at least to my knowledge--about Obama putting his big boy undies on...) I'd say that in this climate, references to big-girl panties probably don't help to put the spotlight back on women's legitimacy and brilliance.

Marketing Earth Day (and Other Stuff) to Children

2009-04-23T15:23:00.003-04:00

Another great point from the Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood:

Marketing Earth Day (and Other Stuff) to Children
By Susan Linn and Josh Golin

Have you done your Earth Day shopping yet? Between greeting cards, jewelry, mugs, and teddy bears commemorating the day, its roots in environmental activism have all but been forgotten. Now corporations use Earth Day to sell us on the belief that we can buy our way into ecological sustainability. We can't.

Reducing consumption is essential to preserving the earth's resources and preventing its degradation. The same companies that are painting themselves green depend on the profits they earn convincing us to buy more than we need.

Nowhere is this more obvious, and more troubling, than in the world of children's media and marketing, where companies like Disney, Sesame Workshop, and Nickelodeon are eco-marketing as never before.

Read on at the Huffington Post...

SpongeBob uproar continues

2009-04-21T00:13:00.003-04:00

Joanne Bamberger of the blog PunditMom gives her take on the SpongeBob Burger King commercial on NPR...

SpongeBob isn't sexy

2009-04-18T14:04:00.005-04:00

Lots of hullabaloo about Burger Kind's latest commercial that mixes SpongeBob and a bit too much booty. The CCFC offers a way to speak out against it and take action against sexualized marketing to kids:

"Our campaign to get the infamous SpongeBob SquareButts commercial off the air is gaining momentum. More than 7,000 of you have told Nickelodeon and Burger King that SpongeBob and sexualization don't mix and our campaign has been featured in newspapers, blogs, and on television -- including this morning's Today Show.

We've already cast an important spotlight on this reprehensible ad and the depths that marketers will sink to in order to interest children in their brands. Advertisers will now understand that they risk a significant backlash from parents if they include sexualization in their child-directed marketing. Burger King and Nickelodeon are clearly on the defensive, and are now disingenuously claiming the ad - which is for Kids Meals and features perhaps the most popular children's television character - was aimed at adults.

But the ad continues to run and, according to reports, aired this week on American Idol, a top-rated show for children under twelve. So let's keep the pressure on by signing this petition of disapproval to Burger King and Nickelodeon. Please let others know about our campaign by using this tell-a-friend page or by writing directly to friends and family and urging them to visit send their messages too. And please, keep spreading the word on blogs, social networking sites, and Twitter.

Thanks,
The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood"

Women and Major Magazines Cover Stories Monitor

2009-04-10T14:55:00.004-04:00

According to Beverly Wettenstein at the Huffington Post, "The year 2008 was considered to be transformational for women in politics and the broader perception of women in the media and society." Check out her article, Second Annual "Women and Major Magazines Cover Stories Monitor." What's your take on the coverage?

Marketing to Youth (Culture)

2009-04-10T14:33:00.008-04:00

This article geared toward photographers (and somewhat toward advertisers) spells out the do's and don't's of marketing to youth. Thinking from the angle of a photographer, the photos used in ads would, alone, be beautiful portraits of unique people and relationships. (There are some gorgeous examples in this article.) But, when incorporated into ads with taglines and messages, photos become props to spark whatever feelings and connections marketers want us to make...to buy their product.

Marketing to youth and about youth culture particularly irks me because advertisers are cashing in on a stage in people's lives where they figure out their identity--which means they try many things and are open to change and suggestion. Exploring yourself and the world around you sound like such a magical, great thing (and it can be!), but many teens and young adults feel immense pressure from an intangible source to be all at once sexy, perfect, smart, rich, and in command. These pressures are part of our larger culture and of course not created solely by marketing, but the wiley way marketing reflects and tweaks who we want to be seems to head many people down a bad road.

I'm posting this article because I think it's valuable to continually point out just how planned the images around us are. If we are aware of this manipulation, perhaps we can start appreciating ads for what they are, and peel them away from of our definitions of beauty, meaningfulness, and success.

Working Mothers, Careers and Ambivalence: What Else is New?

2009-04-09T02:25:00.003-04:00

I'm digging the post and comments on Working Mothers, Careers and Ambivalence: What Else is New? by Cynthia Samuels, at BlogHer...

Better late than never

2009-04-08T17:48:00.005-04:00

I've also been meaning to post about SWAN Day, a new holiday celebrating women artists around the globe on March 28th of every year. Check out the amazing stories about how people celebrated, what projects women are working on, and the inspiring video of Sandra Oh interviewed about her favorite woman artist.

Film Clip: "Beauty Mark"

2009-04-08T17:43:00.001-04:00

Brought to you by the Media Education Foundation, this film clip of the month is from "Beauty Mark," a movie that "explores the harmful factors that can lead to athletic bulimia and distorted body images."

*Note: Hit the small "play" button at the bottom left hand corner (not the big one in the middle of the image) to get the video to play.

Let's Stick to the Topic

2009-03-25T14:56:00.003-04:00

I have to hand it to Meghan McCain (Senator McCain's daughter) for writing so eloquently on weight criticism--especially in the media--as "one of the last frontiers in socially accepted prejudice." She points to the fact that women from Hillary Clinton to Oprah are "victim[s] to...image-oriented bullying," and that women in power can be publicly discredited if they are the "wrong" size or wear the "wrong" outfit.

This article was written in response to conservative radio host Laura Ingraham's dig about McCain's weight. And why did she want to insult McCain? Because she didn't agree with some political statements McCain made in an online column and an interview with talk show host Rachel Maddow.

I think political debate is fantastic--but let's stick to the topic, please. At the least, women can show respect for themselves and their gender by responding to ideas, not appearances. (And if one doesn't have a response, let's not go back to the middle school solution of making fun.)

Good to see coverage of girls' safety--but not in the Style section!

2009-03-19T18:09:00.004-04:00

In light of the Rihanna/Chris Brown coverage, Jan Hoffman authored a great New York Times article about why teenage girls stand by their men, even when they're abusive. The thing is, the NYT published the article in the--wait for it--STYLE section. I feel like a broken record with all the times I've been chagrined about which section the NYT deems appropriate for articles involving women. Tristin Aaron at the Women's Media Center posts on this diminishing categorization eloquently.

Camel aims nicotine at kids...again.

2009-03-17T01:59:00.003-04:00

From Shaping Youth - Like Taking Candy From A Baby: Camel Trots Out Nicotine Tricks (Again)

If only Camel could put their marketing genius toward health and self-esteem programming, windmill energy, or homeless shelters...

Obese Barbie?

2009-03-16T15:40:00.004-04:00

In an effort to raise awareness about obesity, a company called Active Life made ads with obese toys and dolls--including Barbie. While I agree that true obesity is a health problem that people should be aware of, and I fully believe kids should eat healthy food and have an active lifestyle (as should we all!), I'm not sure I love the common public understanding this ad campaign relies on: that Barbie is ugly and not cool when she's fat. That obese Barbie is lazy and sits around eating food out of cartons while surfing the web and watching TV.

This visual reinforces mean stereotypes about people who aren't skinny, and again re-entangles beauty and health motivations. While obesity may contribute to heart problems and diabetes, our culture is obsessed with labeling it as a (social) disease because we are obsessed with appearances and have such a limited standard of attractiveness. Unfortunately, this to me, is what this ad series is all about. And promoting an insecure body image to children certainly does nothing to boost their health.

Female Force comic books

2009-03-15T00:25:00.004-04:00

From Jill Zimon at WritesLikeSheTalks.com..."Female Force" comic books.

I have to say, I feel unsure what they're about. Is the idea that real women's lives are heroic? That any woman's story can end in success? Maybe it just irks me that when seen together, the fact that all "powerful" women are one step behind a man, becomes crystal clear. And that's certainly not the fault of the comic books, but just another reason why feminism still needs to be going strong. But then, my "media watchdog" kicks in and I start to wonder if creating comic book versions of real people turns them into fantasy characters where hardship and adversity don't exist or can't affect them. ...And now I sound like I want a comic book about "Joe the Plumber" (which would truly be propaganda). Sigh. I clearly need to mull this one over more with your help!

Obama Creates a White House Council on Women and Girls

2009-03-13T03:35:00.005-04:00

Way to create something new, Obama! I'm curious to see how this will actually work. No matter what, the existence of a White House Council on Women and Girls is immense. And I like the fact that I randomly happened to be wearing my Obama shirt today when I got wind of this news. (Yeah, ok, so it's time to do laundry, but still.)

Chris Brown Withdraws from KCAs

2009-03-13T02:44:00.002-04:00

Following up the post I made the other day...Chris Brown withdraws from the KCAs. Citizen Mom writes more and links.

Interview with Liz Funk, author of Supergirls!

2009-03-12T00:00:00.002-04:00

Liz Funk, author of the new book, Supergirls Speak Out: Inside the Crisis of Overachieving Girls, is on a virtual book tour--and a mission to widen everyone's tolerance and respect for being the imperfect, interesting, great people we all are.

In this interview with yours truly, Liz talks about how girls today feel they need to be perfect, gives insight into why trying to be perfect diminishes quality of life and relationships, and shares some tips on how to cherish being genuine. Enjoy!

JB: You’ve done a lot of research and interviewing for your book, Supergirls Speak Out, where you indicate that many girls and women today feel they have to be perfect, or “supergirls” who can do and be everything. Why do they have this feeling? What is particularly going on in our society that makes women feel so pressured?

LF: Girls today want to be a perfect 10. They want to excel at everything they attempt; in short, they’re perfect. Sadly, I think many young women get the message from the media, from their peer groups, and most notably, from themselves, that they have to be perfect if they want to be loved. It’s largely caused by sexism in society (especially in high schools and teen youth culture), the media, and our fast-pasted culture that doesn’t really encourage young people to spend much solitary time alone with their thoughts—they’re too busy blogging, and tweeting, and Facebooking!

JB: Is this an issue unique to the current female generation? Or, how does it tie in with past generations’ struggles for gender equality?

LF: The first draft of my book actually had a chapter about how the Supergirl dilemma is nothing new; it’s just the new century’s version of “the feminine mystique” that plagued women in the 1950’s! However, the tone of the chapter didn’t quite work, so I cut it (my initial major in college was women’s studies, so sometimes I have a tendency to write in a very academic way and bring up Friedan and Dworkin when it’s not the right place to do it. Haha…). Anyway, I think that what we are seeing here with the Supergirl dilemma is actually the exact same problem as “the feminine mystique” with symptoms that are the exact opposite. In the 1950’s; women were told that there was one way to be a woman—to be a loving homemaker mother who kept herself extremely busy with being pretty, having the latest swirling skirts and washing machine, and jetting off to PTA meetings and social committees, all in an effort to distract herself from the fact that society’s prescribed role for women was very limiting. Today, girls are told that there’s one way to be a girl: be a good daughter who keeps herself extremely busy with being pretty, having the latest season’s miniskirt and sweaters from American Eagle and the Gap, and keeping extremely busy with school and work and extracurricular activities, all in an effort to distract herself from the fact that society’s prescribed role for women is very limiting. There is the obvious difference that in the 1950’s, young women weren’t encouraged to be smart or intellectual or leaders, and today, young women are required to be intellectual and leaders, but at the end of the day, I would argue that the Supergirl dilemma is the second major crisis for young women since “the feminine mystique” that mostly arose because feminism’s work hasn’t been finished yet. We need to teach young women that it’s good to be a girl, and that they don’t need to feel confined to adhering to a very limiting female ideal in exchange for their community or their peer group’s approval.

JB: In your opinion, how does today’s media play into how women feel about themselves? What particular sources have what effects?

LF: I think the biggest problem in today’s media is that the women in the media look perfect. Female celebrities have never been thinner—Lindsay Lohan, Hilary Duff, Nicole Richie, etc. etc.—but also, we’ve never had celebrities all conforming to one limiting female ideal before: long hair, charming and giggly, and not particularly rebellious, like Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway, and Jennifer Aniston (although I do love all three of these actresses). I don’t think that Angelina Jolie could have ever gotten famous today in her punk-rebel stage, because every female celebrity we see is well-groomed and nice and extroverted. Also, there are a lot of fictional Supergirls that influence how the girls at home feel about themselves: Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, the girls of Gossip Girl, and even Hannah Montana—although these are lovable characters, they give even the youngest girls the idea that beauty and success are simultaneous requirements and that you should make it look as though both come easily.

JB: What role do you feel women have in contributing to each other’s self-esteem or lack of confidence?

LF: Once young women observe perfect women in the media, they emulate having a perfect exterior, and then that model of perfection starts to take off in peer groups. I think that once one girl in a social circle—whether we’re talking in high school, in college, or among twentysomethings—starts to appear effortlessly perfect, her friends and her peers try to imitate that, and it snowballs from there.

JB: What are the consequences of trying to be perfect for individual women, their relationships, and even society or the world?

LF: Statistically, more young women than ever before are considering suicide, and I think it’s no coincidence that this is happening simultaneously with the rise of Supergirls. There are other mental health repercussions that I observed amongst girls, like anxiety, eating disorders, OCD, and depression. And I think the broadest problem is not having a sense of self; not having an identity outside of being a Supergirl or a hard worker.

JB: What are some tips you have for girls and women to positively feel they can be and do whatever they want, without feeling they must be perfect?

LF: First and foremost, girls should get some hobbies. Find things that you enjoy and that you feel passionate about that have nothing to do with work. For example, I just took up the oboe, I love to paint, I love to go to art museums, I love to read novels, and I love stupid movies (like Grandma’s Boy, Superbad, and Little Nicky). Make collages with pictures of random things that you find intriguing. Turn off the lights in your room and listen to music with your eyes closed. Meditate. Find your center! And the most revolutionary thing women can do is look in mirror and say aloud, “I love you. I appreciate you. You matter.” Say it enough, and I think the Supergirls will start to mean it, and see their Supergirl selves fading away.

Young women need to find their sense of intrinsic worth—why they matter regardless of what they look like, what other people think of them, how they make others feel, and what they’ve accomplished. Everyone has worth and everyone has value, and girls need to realize that when they are sitting on their couch in their jammies at 3pm on Saturday afternoon with their hair greasy and their nail polish chipping, they are just as special and just as important as when their hair is blown-dry and they are in a minidress and leggings out on the town for the night with a cute date! What I recommend is that young women spend as much time as possible embracing their creativity, developing their tastes and their personality, and finding themselves! Young women need to find their value, and I think the best way to do that is to be alone with one’s thoughts, spend time alone with oneself, and start to enjoy spending time alone and enjoy listening to one’s internal monologue.

JB: You mentioned that, under the pressure to be perfect, girls and women are oftentimes afraid to be themselves. What are some ways girls and women can feel comfortable exploring and being who they are?

LF: I absolutely love the movie Juno. Casting aside the movie’s puzzling treatment of abortion, I love the character Juno and how unafraid she was to be herself; she liked guitars and punk music and sarcasm and funky clothes. And I think that if more girls could embrace their inner-Juno, and be exactly who they want to be, regardless of whether it would affect how others see them or their place on the social totem pole, we’d be in great shape.

Supergirls on lizfunk.com
Supergirls on Amazon

Excessive Drinking is Apparently a Turn-Off to Guys

2009-03-11T17:49:00.000-04:00

Brought to you by Australian Yahoo news: "Young women who think drinking to excess makes them more sexually attractive to men are mistaken, a new international study shows." Read on.

I love studies that show men are humane and have brains too. Gender equality both ways, folks.

And a quote from the article that seems relevant to much more than just who's drinking how much and for whom: " 'I don't want to portray that women are always out to do what men want ... but there is some confusion with equality being seen as having to act in the same way'." Concise and thought-provoking. In my opinion, feminism should not be about imitating men, but it can be an easy trap to fall into when there seems no other way to express female power.

And the Worst Choice Award Goes to Nickelodeon

2009-03-11T02:25:00.001-04:00

Chris Brown is up for a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award, even though his abusive behavior toward Rihanna (who's also up for an award) makes him a hurtful role model for kids. ...Check out the release at PRNewswire.

NYT Video: Sex, Lies, and Photoshop

2009-03-11T02:19:00.000-04:00

This New York Times article and video says we ought to give credit where credit is due: Magazines should credit their photo retouchers. Why? Because their craft is an art that takes talent and effort, and after all, results in graphic creations that bear no relationship to how real bodies do and should look.

Barbie's 50, and never looked...er....worse

2009-03-09T22:08:00.000-04:00

Check out this article from the BBC, What Would a Real Life Barbie Look Like?

The line that makes me the most sad is from Sarah Burge, a woman who has tried to become a real-life Barbie through plastic surgery: "At the end of the day you don't see a personality from across a room do you." Honestly, I would disagree.

Save Dora the Explorer from a Tween Makeover by Mattel!

2009-03-05T18:29:00.000-05:00

I've just heard from Hardy Girls Healthy Women that Mattel plans to give Dora the Explorer a "tween" makeover--please sign this petition to help keep Dora as the adventuresome, independent role model that she's been!

Dear Friends,

We need your help to save Dora the Explorer from a 'tween makeover' by Mattel!

You know the original Dora - she is beloved by little girls and boys everywhere for her adventuresome spirit, curiosity, and bravery. But if Mattel and Nickelodeon have their way, Dora's getting a makeover. There are already too many dolls out there that limit the potential of girls. Find out more and sign our petition.

Thanks for your help!
Hardy Girls

Theater for Social Change

2009-03-03T02:36:00.000-05:00

I'm passing along a message from Dori Robinson, who is committed to the power of theater to make change in the world. Here's Dori's note followed by the deets. Hope you can make it!

As many of you know, I am directing and producing a V-Day event.

V-Day is a global movement to end violence against women and girls that raises funds and awareness through benefit productions of Playwright/Founder Eve Ensler’s award winning play The Vagina Monologues and other artistic works. In 2008, over 4000 V-Day benefit events took place produced by volunteer activists in the U.S. and around the world, educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls. To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $60 million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women and the efforts to end it, crafted international educational, media and PSA campaigns, launched the Karama program in the Middle East, reopened shelters, and funded over 6000 community-based anti-violence programs and safe houses in Democratic Republic Of Congo, Haiti, Kenya, South Dakota, Egypt and Iraq.

Next weekend, on March 6th and 7th, will be facilitating a reading of the play A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer - the only piece which includes men in the performance. This is a project I am deeply passionate about, as I feel it aligns with my goals towards being a theatre practitioner for social action and change.

Attached please find the press release and the flyer for the event. Please spread the word to individuals/list serves you think would be interested.
Thanks, and I hope to see you there!

Sincerely,

Dori

Who: Members of NYU Steinhardt Graduate School, Nan Smithner (Faculty Advisor)

What: V-Day New York 2009 presents a benefit reading of Eve Ensler and Mollie Doyle’s
“A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant, and a Prayer.” This year, 10% of proceeds of every V-day event go to “Stop Raping our Greatest Resource: Power to Women and Girls of DRC.” For this event we are giving the rest of our proceeds to Day One - an educational outreach program for the New York City youth - www.dayoneny.org

Where: Small Pond Entertainment-38 2nd Ave New York, NY

When: March 6th 7:30pm, March 7th 2:00pm and 7:30pm

Tickets: $12 (NYU students with valid ID), $15 (General Admission)

Contact: To reserve tickets e-mail nyuvday2009@gmail.com (Tickets are cash only)

Check us out on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=52460566709

Goal: To raise awareness and funds in order to stop violence against women and girls.

Proceeds benefit Day One and Stop Raping our Resource: Power to the women and girls of the DRC.

Read, Watch, Check Out

2009-02-21T02:09:00.000-05:00

I've been stockpiling some links definitely worth checking out...

Double standards turn up at, yup, the dry cleaners
NEW YORK REGION | February 05, 2009
At the Cleaners, One Woman Seeks Gender Equality
By CARA BUCKLEY
Women's shirts often cost much more to launder than men's, even if they are smaller and made of the same cloth. Janet Floyd is out to change that.

Where media, pharmaceuticals, and women's health intersect (and I love that this is in the Business section, and not Fashion or Lifestyle for once!)
BUSINESS | February 11, 2009
Advertising: A Birth Control Pill That Promised Too Much
By NATASHA SINGER
As part of a settlement, Bayer is running ads that clarify the side benefits of its birth control drug, Yaz. Regulators say earlier ads played down the risks.

Very much in line with articles and books written by my contemporaries on the pressure on girls and women to be perfect...
According to new research at UC Berkeley, Pressure to be a supergirl is causing teen mental health crisis

*I'm excited to say that more on this topic will be coming up as well: An interview with Liz Funk, author of Supergirls Speak Out: Inside the Lives of Overachieveing Girls, will be posted here during her virtual book tour March 12th.

Weight bias videos by the Rudd Center

2009-02-01T18:05:00.000-05:00

The Rudd Center has recently released videos on YouTube about weight bias at home, school, and in health care. Check out the preview trailer, or watch the full length weight bias in youth full video and the weight bias in health care full video.

When watching the preview, I was really struck by just how confused we are about weight and health. While we campaign for tolerance of people of all sizes, shapes, genders, races, and ethnicities and encourage youth to love themselves as they are, we also campaign for help against obesity as a medical problem that causes many other health issues, in a way demonizing obesity (and its "hosts") even more.

How can we look out for our actual health without becoming wrapped up in how we look and how we are treated because of our appearance? How can we expand our definitions of beauty to include the myriad types of people that there are, while still promoting health?

I'm glad that these videos address the often unacknowledged weight bias that hurts many children and adults - even in an ideal world where everyone eats and lives healthfully, we hopefully will still be able to revel in our diversity.

The Obamas stand up to marketing to children

2009-01-30T14:51:00.000-05:00

Check out this editorial by Susan Linn from the latest CCFC (Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood) newsletter, called Protecting the First Daughters (and Other Kids, Too).

When the Ty Company celebrated Barack Obama's inauguration by exploiting his daughters, the First Parents were understandably outraged. The company launched two new African American dolls named "Sweet Sasha" and "Marvelous Malia," laughably denying that they had any connection to the real Obama children. Michele Obama issued a powerful statement about the dolls saying, "We believe it is inappropriate to use young, private citizens for marketing purposes."

The Obama's laudable effort to protect their girls from commercial exploitation is going to be an uphill struggle. They were already publicly urged to appear on the hit Disney show, Hannah Montana. The press refers to them as "first tweens," a marketing demographic dumping ground for children ranging in age from 6 to 14-and the Washington Post has called them "fashion icons."

Before his inauguration, President Obama wrote a public letter to his daughters sharing his hopes for them and, by extension, his hopes for all of the children in America. President Obama clearly sees his daughters as individuals, but can also see "every child" in them. I'm hoping this is one of those times.

While the form of their exploitation might be unique, the Obama girls are not alone. Corporate America routinely uses young private citizens for marketing purposes. They might not be turned into dolls, but they are exploited as research tools and as a vast, unpaid sales force. Companies like The Girls Intelligence Agency exploit children's friendships by conducting market research during pajama parties. Nickelodeon and Toys R Us, among others, have conducted market research in elementary schools. In the name of Internet safety, market research firms track children's online activities for their corporate clients. Popular social networking websites like Webkinz and Barbiegirl.com routinely encourage young users to reel in their friends through viral marketing.

What differentiates the Obamas from other parents struggling to protect their children is that the President actually has the power to take on Corporate America. As a first step, he could call on Congress to reauthorize the Federal Trade Commission's capacity to regulate commercial access to children, and repair the damage done when it was stripped of much of its power at the dawn of the Reagan era. As his administration reclaims the right of government to set limits on the market, I hope he remembers his children-and other people's children as well.

I would just like to add that these dolls were created by Ty, the same company that makes the Ty Girlz Dolls that I blogged about last year...'nuff said.

YPulse Mashup in June

2009-01-26T12:24:00.000-05:00

I've just gotten word of this year's YPulse Mashup, a conference coordinated by tween/teen technology maven, Anastasia Goodstein, "Where today's top brand, corporate and social marketers, media professionals, educators and non-profit organizations gather to share best practices, research and latest strategies on marketing to youth with technology."

Anastasia says, "Hey everyone. Please help spread the word about the big Ypulse event coming up in June. If you're press, email me at anastasia@ypulse.com for a pass. If not, use the code FB for an extra 10 percent off the early adopter rates..."

The details
Event: Ypulse 2009 Youth Marketing Mashup
What: Business Meeting
Host: Ypulse
Start Time: Monday, June 1 at 5:00pm
End Time: Tuesday, June 2 at 8:00pm
Where: Hotel Nikko

You can also see more details and RSVP to the event on Facebook.

A Sisterhood of Workplace Infighting

2009-01-15T22:41:00.000-05:00

Peggy Klaus writes in the NY Times article, 'A Sisterhood of Workplace Infighting,' "If we really want to clear one of the last remaining hurdles to gender parity and career success, let’s start treating one another not worse or better, but simply as well as we already treat the guys — or better yet, the way we want our nieces, daughters, granddaughters and sisters to be treated." I second that and top it with ice cream.

When women respect, value, and help each other--instead of fearing and competing with each other--we will go further in our goals. And *everyone* will benefit from those efforts!

Check out the full article, brought to my attention by none other than....my wonderful sister. No joke.

"Bulimia is Curable" guerrilla toilet stickering

2009-01-10T13:47:00.000-05:00

Hey all. I just got word about ProMädchen's (ProGirl) in-your-face guerrilla campaign that targets sufferers of bulimia by stickering the inside of toilet lids. Way to go right to the source.

What do you think? Know any other projects like this? Let me know.

Feeling irked? This magazine does something about it!

2009-01-07T13:48:00.000-05:00

Irked Magazine is a very cool publication where people talk about what irks them and what they're doing about it! I'm honored to be included in their zine, and am posting to help spread the word about the cool work they're doing.

New Narrative Medicine degree at Columbia

2008-12-19T19:43:00.001-05:00

Just spreading the word about the new Masters of Science in Narrative Medicine that's starting this coming fall at Columbia University - sounds like a wonderful place to explore women and health issues, among others.

Here's the official blurb:

"Narrative medicine is an emerging clinical discipline that fortifies the practice of doctors, nurses, social workers, therapists, and other caregivers with the knowledge of how to interpret and respond to their patients' stories. The program of study in this pioneering masters program is profoundly interdisciplinary, incorporating the humanities and social sciences into a seminar-based learning experience that includes supervised practice in clinical settings. More information can be found at www.ce.columbia.edu/narrativemedicine."

You can contact Marsha Hurst, Ph.D. at 917-834-0427 for more information.

Guide to Commercial-Free Holidays

2008-12-01T19:08:00.001-05:00

The CCFC has just released their guide to commercial free holidays. Check it out!

Scholarship opportunity for girls

2008-11-08T02:28:00.000-05:00

A lovely intern at the Emma Willard School sought me out to ask me if I would spread the word about their Davis Scholarship. Here's her quick blurb - please help spread the word about this opportunity for girls!

"The Davis Scholarship really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, providing full tuition, room & board, and even travel expense coverage for girls (10th grade and up) to attend Emma Willard, the oldest (and, in my admittedly biased opinion, best) girls' school in the country. As if this weren't enough, the Davis scholarship program even provides its recipients with a certain amount of money towards college tuition (amazing!). Although the Davis United World College Scholar Program (the parent of our program) was started with the purpose of giving talented international students the chance to study in the U.S., the Davis program at Emma provides the same opportunities for domestic students, drawing a broad spectrum of applicants. It's also the first time that Emma Willard has been able to offer international girls financial aid of any kind. Needless to say, we're all really excited about this and we hope that by reaching out to women like yourself, women with active interests in the needs and well-being of girls today, we can get the word out to even more amazing girls."

Turn Beauty Inside Out!

2008-10-17T22:38:00.001-04:00

I'm writing from Minneapolis, where the Turn Beauty Inside Out Leadership Retreat was held today. I was honored and lucky to lead a workshop with a group of 50+ awesome girls ranging in age from 10-17. As usual, what girls have to say continues to blow me away, and I am ever hopeful that since they are conscious of the need to get their voices out in the world (something the prior generation might not have been aware of, despite being told we could be anything we wanted to be), more and more positive change for girls and women will take place.

Together, we thought a lot about identity and how that feeds into our goals. Here are some thoughts from the girls!:

1. Identity is who we are and what we like
2. Identity is your "core" - it's important to hold onto that, since sometimes identity can be manipulated to make others like us more or less
3. Sometimes we feel pressure or expectations to be a certain person that isn't authentic
4. True identity can come out when we can express ourselves freely without feeling judged (like with good friends!)
5. Confidence comes from being touch with your real self
6. Adapting to situations is great; changing who you are to "fit in" hurts

And here are some traits that girls look for in leaders, and hope to lead the next generation with:
1. Courage
2. Self-confidence
3. Strength
4. Good listening
5. Out-spokenness
6. Uniqueness
7. Honesty
8. Focus
9. Cleverness
10. Power

Whoo! I vote for that...

We also talked about how many "leaders" (celebrities) today are simply noticed because they're sexy or appear a certain way - and acknowledged that those aren't really the things we wish the world revolved around.

I was truly touched to hear the girls' final thoughts about how meaningful the simple act of coming together today was. Finding commonalities amongst such a diverse group about how we all struggle to "be real" was very impactful. I love moments when girls and women can find each other and really see each other as allies rather than as competition, and today certainly seemed to be one of them.

And time spent watching girls create vision boards and positive self-messages with pom poms, glitter, and the like never fails to inspire me!

Love Your Body Day is Tomorrow!

2008-10-14T18:14:00.000-04:00

My wonderful ladies at Hardy Girls Healthy Women are amongst the many groups celebrating Love Your Body Day tomorrow. Here's a blurb from them if you want to join in the fun, and otherwise, I hope you have a great day celebrating in your own unique way!

Hardy Girls' Love Your Body Day Celebration and Open House is tomorrow, Wednesday the 15th from 4-6 pm. Stop in anytime between 4 - 6 pm and find out more about what we do, eat some yummy food, and play some games!

Don't Miss:
Door prize drawings every 15 minutes
The Hardy Girls Trivia Game at 5:00 pm
A scavenger hunt for prizes
Fun activities for all ages
Warm cider and yummy snacks

What is Love Your Body Day?

The NOW Foundation's Love Your Body campaign helps raise awareness about women's health, body image and self-esteem. Since 1997, Love Your Body has given girls and women the tools and the encouragement to "just say no" to the air-brushed, cookie cutter images that Hollywood and Madison Avenue are trying to sell.

On Oct. 15, NOW chapters and campus and community activists across the country are celebrating Love Your Body Day with actions and events

Hollywood and the fashion, cosmetics and diet industries work hard to make each of us believe that our bodies are unacceptable and need constant improvement. Print ads and television commercials reduce us to body parts — lips, legs, breasts — airbrushed and touched up to meet impossible standards. TV shows tell women and teenage girls that cosmetic surgery is good for self-esteem. Is it any wonder that 80% of U.S. women are dissatisfied with their appearance?

Women and girls spend billions of dollars every year on cosmetics, fashion, magazines and diet aids. These industries can't use negative images to sell their products without our assistance.

Together, we can fight back.

Celebrate Love Your Body Day with Us!

Your Connection to the Election

2008-09-27T00:29:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,

I know that the In Her Image blog focuses on things like women's rights and media literacy, but since I feel that without Obama in the White House we won't have much women's rights or free media, it seems like time to blog about the election.

Here are two really fast, painless things you can do and can pass on to friends to support getting the Democrats back into office. (By the way, if you're undecided or thinking of voting for McCain, I will personally buy you a coffee and pastry and we can sit down and talk about the future of this country and the world because I seriously want everyone possible to vote for Obama.)

1. Voice your opinion to Moveon about how to persuade undecided voters to vote for Obama here
http://pol.moveon.org/y2f/y2fsurvey.html?id=13765-4394626-R3erKAx&t=1

2. Give the price of a pizza or movie ticket ($12) to Moveon to help get young voters in swing states registered, and get your very own Obama t-shirt! (This is the *good* kind of free advertising folks ;) Seriously, this is a great deal - who can get a shirt for $12 normally anyway in our brand-crazed society? And right now there's really nothing better to put our money and efforts toward, right!?
http://pol.moveon.org/obamatshirts/index13.html?id=-4394626-EXBd_Mx

The state of the world is only hopeless if we think it is, and we are only powerless if we don't act. If everyone does something small, amazing waves will be made! (Of course, if you want to do something big like calling undecided voters, kudos to you too.)

Thanks for letting me get on my soapbox for a brief moment there. Only for the important things :)

Other than that, I apologize for falling off the blogging bandwagon completely last month during some travels, but I'd still love to keep updated on your thoughts and what you're up to! And if you're going to Turn Beauty Inside Out or the Girl Scouts Leadership Institute in October, please come say hi!! I'd love to see you round.

Contribute to an upcoming book!

2008-09-24T18:19:00.000-04:00

The awesome ladies Claire and Magali over at Inside Beauty and the 5 Resolutions blog are writing a new book about body image, pregnancy, and motherhood--and they want your input! You can fill out surveys, be interviewed, or pass the info along to friends to help get real women's voices and issues out there.

Check it out at their full blog post!

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Gallery

2008-07-06T09:31:00.000-04:00

I just found out about the Lifeline Gallery, an online space where "survivors of suicide, suicide attempt survivors, those who struggled with suicidal thoughts, and those in the suicide prevention field [can] share their stories of hope and recovery" by speaking out through avatars. These avatars can be embedded in websites and blogs to help spread suicide support, which I hope will help to release the topic from its taboo status that so often leads to unnecessary and sad deaths.

This innovative project was created by Chris Gandin Le, the husband of an awesome feminist writer I know, Jennifer Gandin Le, and you can read more about it at the Crucial Minutae blog that she contributes to. In the Lifeline press release, Chris says, “If you can’t [talk about suicide], maybe your avatar can...The Gallery offers a safe platform for people who have traditionally stayed silent about suicide and mental health.”

You're Amazing!

2008-07-06T09:29:00.001-04:00

I just got word from the awesome Claire Mysko at 5 Resolutions that her book for girls is out this week!

Claire writes: "You're Amazing! A No-Pressure Guide to Being Your Best Self is based on the Girls Inc. "Supergirl Dilemma" study, which shows that girls are feeling increasing pressures to be perfect and please everyone. Perfectionism is a major source of girls' stress (60% of girls in the study reported that they often feel stressed), low-self-esteem, and poor body image. That's the bad news. The good news is that with the right tools and support systems, girls can learn to give up the quest to be "super" and start celebrating what makes them amazing. My hope is that this book will help to kick-off that celebration. I would like to say a big, big thanks to you, dear readers! Your support and kind words have meant so much to me. Speaking of amazing...you all fit the bill."

To kick things off, Claire is doing a book giveaway for girls on her blog! Girls who post a comment about what makes them amazing will be entered to win an autographed copy of the book. The contest runs through July 7th and girls can enter here.

Woohoo for positive change!

Pop Politics

2008-06-08T18:33:00.000-04:00

In honor of all the awesome political discussion, analysis, and action that went into and will come out of the NCMR, I thought I'd post some political links. I'm really glad to have met some of the awesome political feminists behind these sources like Jenn Pozner, Shireen Mitchell, Samhita Mukhopadhyay and Deanna Zandt at the conference as well!

From Feministing:
Politics Made Sexy for Men
GOP Consultant: Sometimes it's "accurate" to call a woman a "bitch"

From AlterNet:
Anti-Feminist Backlash Out in Full Force

From the New York Times:
Judith Warner: Woman in Charge, Women Who Charge
[In a nation indifferent to the sexist attacks on Hillary Clinton, no wonder a film like "Sex and the City" is a hit.]

We of course still have much to do, but I do have a feeling of movement, and sharing information--spreading awareness--is the first step.

2008-06-08T00:21:00.000-04:00

Nancy Gruver , founder and CEO of New Moon Girl Media, and I are back at the National Conference for Media Reform today! I'm feeling tired but excited by--as Bill Moyers just said in his keynote speech--being surrounded by "kindred spirits."

Moyers' speech was of course excellent. He handed us the challenge and the power to insist on free media, accompanied by the inspiration and feeling of community to continue to do so. His words even brought a tear to my eye.

After his speech, Nancy Gruver and I agreed on what a great speech it was. And then Nancy said, "But out of all those quotes, examples, stories, and anecdotes he mentioned, not one involved a woman." That fact had slipped right past me, the feminist that I am, because I was listening to the value of his words in my life and my work. And his words were incredibly valuable! But it's just worthy noting that yet again, female voices have been excluded from media, even at the Free Press conference for media *reform.* (There IS an awesome panel coming up today regarding how "there is no media reform without women" that I'm really looking forward to, and I hope they keep panels like this in the future and increase their number.)

I'm not criticizing Moyers for a personal oversight; his speech simply reflects the male-dominated history of media that continues up until today. When women's voices have been absent and silenced, their quotes and stories are much harder to find.

I'm really psyched that In Her Image and New Moon join tons of other awesome organizations that address this issue - What else do you think we can do to help girls' and women's voices matter? What actions are you taking that you want to share? We're all together on this, and I'd love to hear your comments and ideas!

I'm at the NCMR!

2008-06-06T18:09:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! I'm writing from the National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis. Everyone here has goals of shaping a free, tolerant society with open communication; this is the kind of world I want to help create for girls and women. The girls that I'm lucky enough to work with at New Moon have the passion and energy to change things that frustrate them, and I hope that vigor never gets kicked out of them. When girls continue to speak out as they turn into women, it's much more likely that they will be future leaders in many industries as well as government.

After listening to panels all day, I have a bit of information overload but my overall feeling is of inspiration. Many experts feel that we're at a cross-roads of change, and that calls for media reform and social change are stronger than they've been in a long time.

Also really important to me is the emphasis on collaboration I've been hearing. Events like this conference make the possibilities of the change that can happen with collaboration seem within reach. There are so many passionate, hard-working people here, gathered together to meet each other and work together. It's easy to become embittered or cynical when working alone, but remembering that each of us here today (and many others who aren't!) are out there, contributing to improving life on this planet, refreshes me and helps me keep going. (As always in that vein, contact me if you want to collaborate or guest blog!)

For now, I'm off to the art opening for Project Girl, a really exciting project where girls respond to negative media images with their own art and media pieces.

More later!

Barbie's Not a Real Woman

2008-06-03T02:07:00.001-04:00

Looks to me like "Lingerie Barbie" (pictured left - I can't believe she really exists, ack) and this line of Barbie-inspired couture for real women are part of the same harmful trend that tries to sexualize girls and youth-ify women. It seems no one's perfect the way they are and absolutely everyone female should be Barbie incarnate.

An awesome girl I know at New Moon did a piece on Barbie, with all those stellar facts like, "If Barbie were real, she would cease to menstruate because of her unhealthy body weight."

Yeah.

Lessons on Sex? ie What my spam mail has to say on the topic

2008-05-28T19:33:00.000-04:00

I get a lot of spam in my email. Today, instead of just grumbling about it, I began to actually *read* the subject lines on these emails, and they are really ridiculous. But obviously not that ridiculous, or someone wouldn't be writing them thinking that I'll open the email.

So let's see...I'm an alien from the next galaxy and I drop in to do a little anthro study on junk email topics. And imagine that, they're all about - sex. And they're all addressing men. And yep, they're all rather macho and violent, or at least James-Bond-sexy-dangerous. Here's a sampling:

"increase girth, length, and thickness"
"don't settle for anything less than 9 inches"
"length translates directly to happiness"
"cuum [sic] on her face longer and harder"
"penetrating deeper and harder"
"be a lethal weapon in the bedroom"
"you banged her while her guy waited"
...and the oh-so-believable "mariah carey wants to have your kids"

But how do these spammers propose males do these things? With pills and porn (and plastic surgery). And if you don't want to spend money trying to be SuperSexman, well shame on you. The "stop being the joke around town" type of subject lines I also see in my inbox that imply that if you're not super macho, you'll be laughing stock. Which means women are laughing stock. And men who are caring are laughing stock. Couples who have loving sex are laughing stock. Just brilliant.

It's not healthy for men to feel this much pressure to be sexually aggressive, and it's not cool that insurance companies continue to cover costs of Viagra etc. and while not covering birth control pills (not to mention medicines that help cancer patients and so on). When women spend money, effort, and time whittling themselves away into the "perfect" skinny body while men do the same to be bigger and more physically aggressive than ever, I'd say feminist work is really not done yet.

We all could benefit from a wider spectrum of acceptable behaviors, appearances, and ways of being. We should be free to just be who we are, since we're each all these things - simultaneously sweet, tough, sexy, powerful, and kind.

Yogurt...The only food women eat with happiness (according to TV)

2008-05-27T18:28:00.001-04:00

This video just cracks me up. Really, why is yogurt the only food (maybe besides salad) a woman can eat without guilt?

It's too bad that yogurt has become a diet aid, a stand-in for other proteins you can sink your teeth into, because you know, it's actually good. But when you have it all the time while wishing you were eating something else, it really gets old.

Poor yogurt is so tied up in all our bad body associations...

There used to be a Dannon ad that read something along the lines of, "Proof that god is a woman and she's watching her figure." I think they were trying to imply that their yogurt was heavenly, so amazing that god was eating it, but mixing together the empowering notion that throws off the patriarchy and says god might actually be female (or, gasp, sexless!) with the fact that feeling insecure about how you look (need to look good being priority #1) is an inherently female trait super duper irks me.

Women certainly deserve the quality of life that comes with health, but they definitely don't deserve the quality of life that comes with the daily air-and-yogurt lunch. Let's not confuse dieting with a healthy lifestyle, please!

Guest Post Invite

2008-05-22T19:48:00.000-04:00

I've been doing this blogging thing for a bit and I have to say it feels strange. I'm just sort of talking into outer space as if I'm important, and it's been feeling fake and lonely.

So I have this idea of doing something I've really enjoyed on other blogs: featuring guest writers.

If you've got blog posts already written up you'd like me to feature, if you want to do a Q&A, if you want to write something especially for In Her Image readers, if [insert your brilliant idea here] - please let me know!

Feel free to comment on this post or email me at inherimage@juliabarry.com.

I can't wait for your company and insightful writing to brighten up this solo shop. :)

Happy Turn Beauty Inside Out Day!

2008-05-22T15:26:00.000-04:00

Today is Turn Beauty Inside Out Day and we should all celebrate! TBIO is meant to spark awareness and action about the images of girls and women in the media, and what we can do to expand definitions of beauty. (Every day is TBIO day for feminists, media activists, and the lot, but you know, we all need a reason to party and get our social change stuff organized.)

You can participate by requesting your free Turn Beauty Inside Out Action Kit and asking friends and parents to donate to the Turn Beauty Inside Out Campaign. Also, encourage tweens and teens you know to submit to the Turn Beauty Inside Out essay contest!

Here's the essay question:"There have been arguments that the media has portrayed/covered the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign differently because she is a woman. Do you agree with that statement? Why or Why not?"

Essays must be 500 words or less and received by June 30, 2008 via email to tbio@mindonthemedia.org.

1st Prize - $200 2nd Prize - $100 3rd Prize - $50

The winning essay will be distributed nationally during the Turn Beauty Inside Out campaign. Good luck!

p.s. Buy Me Something artist statement

2008-05-21T21:11:00.001-04:00

As a p.s. to that last post, here are exhibit comments from the artist behind the Buy Me Something photos.

"Play is an integral part of the growth and learning that all children undergo on their way to adulthood. With Buy Me Something, I look specifically at the tools of play, the modern consumer experience, and how these entities provide children with an education in desire and culturally acceptable behavior. I am influenced by my own, not-always-so-traumatic childhood toy memories and fascinated by the elements of contemporary culture I see reflected, amplified and impregnated in children's commodities. My hope is that these images challenge people to consider how toys and the mechanisims that facilitate their sale inform and reproduce a distinct set of culturally-defined values." - Nat Ward

Disturbing Images of the Day

2008-05-21T16:24:00.000-04:00

From childhood "My Scene" (obscene!) dolls to boyfriend-tracking technology, here are my disturbing images of the day.

I don't even know where to start!

"Sniff," the boyfriend-finding application was advertised on the sidebar of Facebook...It truly creeps me out how technologies and programs that bring friends together also sort of encourage a culture of spying, gawking, making fun of, and intruding. (That said, I promise not to do any of those things on Facebook and would love to be your friend :)

The "My Scene" dolls are a shot from a photography show at NYU called "Buy Me Something." If you have a chance to check that out, please report back! It looks really interesting and thought-provoking and I do wish I could go. (I'm a big fan of how the arts can make such direct points in fresh ways.)

So yeah. Today's moral is...? Girls should objectify themselves, to try from a young age to look a certain way in the hopes that one day they'll be hot and fit into a "scene" (I can't really tell if this is supposed to be a beach party, night club, strip joint, or what); meanwhile, when you get there, your self-esteem is so low that you feel you need to stalk your own boyfriend. Why are boys not to be trusted? Why is a girl's boyfriend-choosing judgment supposedly so bad that she'd need to track him? (And what partner wants to be stalked?!)

None of this is healthy, folks.

The saddest part to me is, I'm sure little girls think those dolls are glamorous and gorgeous and love them because of that. There have been studies that show girls prefer dolls (and probably even friends!) that look "pretty." Hey, when I was a kid, I had one Barbie doll (a gift) - and she always went out on the town with her boyfriend while all the other toys and dolls had to stay home to mind the house, feeling inferior. Even if her body proportions were alien, at least she had the confidence to leave her boyfriend-tracking devices at home.

I'd love to hear your take! Thanks for reading and being your awesome, aware self. :)

My Beautiful Mommy

2008-05-19T18:29:00.000-04:00

Hold the phone. I just got a Media Watch Alert that included protest of a picturebook for kids called My Beautiful Mommy. No, it isn't a loving and appreciative book about how awesome moms are and why they're beautiful in so many ways, it's a book about how to adjust to your mom's plastic surgery.

What an awful, self-esteem-bashing thing to teach your daughter! Mothers' insecurities and/or values of self-worth are often passed on to their daughters, but this book has made sure we're all going in the negative direction. Having the "option" of plastic surgery as a way to happiness is not, in my humble opinion, what feminism should be achieving.

Instead of needing books that teach kids how their mothers will go to drastic measures to look a certain way (note the Mom's thought bubble of being Miss America and getting lots of attention for her surgically enhanced beauty), perhaps we should take the daughter's advice in slide 3 who says, "You're already the prettiest mommy in the whole wide world!"

Body Envy...the Shampoo

2008-05-05T15:44:00.000-04:00

Envying someone else's body is so normal in our culture that a major shampoo brand can make an advertising pun out of it for the name of their product. Introducing Body Envy - the shampoo.

This is a 'volumizing' shampoo - it gives your hair 'body.' Body--as in bulk, resilience, stand-tall-and-be-proud fullness. We want our hair to be noticed for its fullness, its body, while we whittle away at our actual bodies in the hopes that they will be as small as possible.

Beauty standards just seem so random to me, and so damaging.

Commercials make it very clear that having shiny, "perfect" hair complements the rest of our necessarily sassy selves. Flawlessly gorgeous models swoosh their hair to show us that all kinds of things from happiness, sexiness, youth, feeling liberated and natural, to being better than the next gal are won through hair confidence. Girls spend hours posing front of the mirror, practicing to be attractive, and these motions definitely include that particular hair swooshing neck-throw-with-coy-look, which supposedly lands us a mate. (Not to mention that my African-American friends always complain, "How am I supposed to love my hair when I can't swoosh it?!")

And the shampoo takes it one step further, lest we didn't quite get the double meaning: the tinier slogan on the bottle says, "get a lift in all the right places." I'm glad that using shampoo is cheaper and less painful than plastic surgery, but it's pretty clear that having 'volumized' hair is just another piece of the pie when it comes to putting together the "perfect" image.

So, why is puffy hair better than flatter hair? Why do I need to envy other women's hair and looks, instead of appreciating their beauty? Why should I want other women to envy my hair? This is not the kind of power women really need.

It's just a name of a shampoo, you say. Your panties are in a wad and you need to chill out. I'm not blaming Herbal Essences for all the beauty regimens and lack of confidence women have to face every day, but just doing the usual probe. Most of the things we accept as obvious reveal major things about our culture that can be quite disturbing.

Looking at this shampoo bottle I'm reminded that women's lives are often spent in comparison, feeling inadequate, primping and posing and continuously being conscious of the impact looks have on social interactions and relationships. The fact that a name of a shampoo can tap into such dark feelings (that women often injure themselves or die over) in a coy, playful, attractive, making-light way bothers me.

Who knew that keeping your hair clean could be so complicated? Phew.

From one of the most fashionable places on earth - thin is most definitely "out"

2008-04-17T20:14:00.000-04:00

Check out this New York Times article:

INTERNATIONAL / EUROPE | April 16, 2008
French Bill Takes Chic Out of Being Too Thin
By DOREEN CARVAJAL
French legislators adopted a pioneering law Tuesday aimed at stifling a proliferation of Web sites that promote eating disorders with “thinspiration” and starvation tips.

This follows a weight minimum decree from the Spanish fashion industry last year and Miss London being told to gain some weight before she returns to the arena. It's when I hear things like this that I'm hopeful that all our small efforts or individual voices really are coming together for healthy change. Of course, what about freedom of speech? I'm usually vehemently against censorship and governments meddling with an open internet, but I think I have to admit that in this case, I'm glad that a serious forum (that neither disease-ifies nor glamourizes eating disorders as often happens) has publicly recognized the dangers of these "thinspired" communities.

Fox News is So Not Funny

2008-04-12T20:33:00.000-04:00

I was really hoping this offensive newscast from Fox was a Comedy Central sketch, but alas, I think it's real.

Feministing.com writes:
Regarding the actual story, it looks like the nurses are rightfully pressing charges against the clinic. The Chair of the Nurses Working Committee said, "We feel like ornaments in the skirts. We don't have freedom of movement and can't bend over to tend to patients. We are made to expose our bodies to do our work."

Sexy Empowerment is a Tough One

2008-03-28T16:07:00.000-04:00

I have to hand it to Christina Aguilera for promoting messages of female strength in many of her songs, where most popular entertainers don't. But at the same time, her career seems to depend on her sex appeal, which of course embodies the same old confusing message about female power as ever.

I discovered her video for Can't Hold Us Down the other day. To me, this video seems sadly to enact the double standards of gender that we navigate all the time, while attempting to speak out against them. (It also plays heavily on race and class issues as well: the way Aguilera sets herself in the dress, body movements, and neighborhood traditional to black rappers and singers who perform about their oppression, poverty, and so on is a whole other sticky identity politics blog post!...and interesting in light of something I just learned today: a Girl Scouts study about girls and leadership recently found that black and latina girls are more likely to imagine themselves speaking out as future leaders than caucasian girls. Hm. Help me with that one!)

The entire song is portrayed as the reaction to a man physically harassing Aguilera (in this case, grabbing her ass) on the street. The lyrics to "Can't Hold Us Down" are a global call to feminist community and to not staying silent in the face of oppression and abuse, which are messages I think we need to hear more often in commercial media outlets: "This is for my girls all around the world/Who've come across a man who don't respect your worth/Thinking all women should be seen, not heard/So what do we do girls?/Shout out loud!" She also gives context to why women often stay quiet when raped, molested, or abused, mentioning that, "If you look back in history/It's a common double standard of society/The guy gets all the glory the more he can score/While the girl can do the same and yet you call her a whore."

BUT. As she sings that no one "can, never will...hold us down," she struts around in runway sashay and slides her crotch on a hose spouting between her legs. (I'm quite sure I don't need to go into an explanation of the symbolism on that one!) During Li'l Kim's mid-song rap about the player/whore double standard, she does a hip-hop version of strip tease meets lap dance choreography. Later on, she gives a fierce look to camera while pushing up her boobs. So while these women sing about the power of speaking out and sisterhood--two aspects of feminism I'm all about!--they suggest through their visuals that these things come from sexual appeal and aggression.

The video and song itself pits men against women, excluding men from joining feminism through blame (which I think is ultimately hurtful to feminist goals--men need to care too or we'll never get anywhere!). And confusingly, while pointing an angry finger at men, the women's power and enjoyment in this video seem to come from making the men want them, and themselves being in a perpetual state of heat. The sexually charged dance-off (plenty of crotch-grabbing and eying-up amongst the break dancing and hip-hip moves) depicted between genders culminates in faux violent footage at the end of the video: women form a front to push the men back in a style reminiscent of riots, ironically tying violence back to empowerment and sex appeal.

And while I'm at it, I'll throw in my usual commentary on media and body confidence--Isn't it easier for us to hear this message from a thin, toned, made-up and digitally-retouched celebrity than women at home, work, or in our government!?

As usual, I feel conflicted. This is not a video I'd want a girl to watch, yet Christina is taking feminism mainstream, which is normally a difficult thing to do--but a thing that is necessary for widescale social change for women.

What do you think? Do videos like this aid or impede, crystallize or muddle a revolution? Is flaunting sexuality equal to true power? Should we be thankful for or disappointed in her voice amongst other pop stars'? Do videos like this damage or create respect for women? I'd love to hear.

Even Superheroes Can't Escape Body Norms

2008-03-14T12:59:00.001-04:00

In Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's book, Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History, she writes that Wonder Woman was created by a man who thought the world needed a female hero and leader--that the strong and nurturing qualities of women were just what the world needed to make it a better place. I think it's really cool that a man created her with that ideal (we won't mention the disaster which apparently was his family life), but I still have my mixed feelings about what I call the "Kill Bill syndrome": the need for female heroines to be kick-ass and hot at the same time.

Fun with feminism picks up on this theme with their post, Even Superheroes Can't Escape Body Norms. Go check it out!

What do you think? Are female superheroes and comic book characters good role models for girls? Does it matter what they look like? Comment away!

Join the In Her Image Facebook group!

2008-03-06T10:40:00.001-05:00

Help me join the 21st century (better late than never, right? ;) by joining my "In Her Image" group on Facebook! I've also got a "Julia Barry" profile and would love to link up there too. (And, if you're on LinkedIn, you can find me there too.)

Got other ideas for how I should reach out? Post 'em here!

Well if this isn't incentive, I don't know what is...

2008-03-06T10:38:00.001-05:00

Apparently, guys who chip in with housework get more sex. Is it just me, or is it kind of obvious that helping out with chores leaves time for other (more fun) things? Glad we're all catching on.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080306/ap_on_re_us/sharing_chores

The Incredible Shrinking Bride

2008-03-04T20:14:00.000-05:00

Check out this article from Newsweek about the pressure brides feel to be super-skinny and flawlessly beautiful on their wedding day. It's a shame that we can't feel beautiful as our genuine selves, especially on a day that hopefully marks the beginning of a genuine partnership...
http://www.newsweek.com/id/115866

These Dolls Don't Play Nice

2008-02-19T20:29:00.000-05:00

I was at the Hallmark store the other day getting birthday cards when I saw a rack of Ty Girlz – plush adolescent-looking dolls accompanied by an online code which grants the buyer entry into the Ty Girlz virtual world. I was curious about what Ty (the company that makes these dolls as well as the popular Beanie Babies) had created as their world, and why lately, I have witnessed an outbreak of teenager dolls (think Bratz, This is Me, etc.). I decided to buy one and do some of my own dollerific research.

Perusing my options, I wondered why all the dolls had such downright mean and sarcastic facial expressions. It seems we Americans think that teenage insolence is the coolest thing around, and further reinforce this idea—often culturally attributed to movies, music videos, and celebrities—by selling such dolls to 6 to 13-year-old girls. (I recalled a small girl I had seen the day before in a parking lot, strutting around in a mini skirt and high-heeled boots while holding her mother’s hand. It seemed to me the sale of those clothes benefited the manufacturer more than her.) In the end, I chose Rockin’ Ruby, a rocker chick in all-black faux vinyl or leather. Outfitted with a belly-button ring, choker (wow, a whole ’nother blog could be written on why it’s called that!), platforms, and oodles of makeup, she seemed like the toughest of the lot. (They each sported heels of some sort, makeup, and plenty of accessories though.)

As it turned out, Rockin’ Ruby had just been “retired” (no more of her type of doll will be made), but I could see from her goodbye messages in Ty Girlz world that her persona was a young woman on tour with a band, a teenager whose “positive” traits of independence and musical talent were actually just a hankering to party and dress like a celebrity bad-girl. The rest of the Ty Girlz were equally as into being flirty and glamorous (aka sexually suggestive and super-duper slim) according to their bios and appearances—but who can enjoy your own snazziness when you’re so busy worrying about how you look and which new clothes you need to buy? (You apparently also “NEED” to buy the rest of the Ty Girlz dolls to complete your collection, a direct marketing effort built straight into this world for girls.)

I apologize for judging the dolls based on their external features and certainly hope I am not promoting any negative stereotypes by discussing the personality types these dolls are meant to be, but it’s important to point out that someone purposely created their “looks” and “personas” in order to turn a profit. These skinny, lollipop-headed dolls make cool the anorexic/bulimic body figure, as if feeling bad about yourself, your life, and the state of the world, is normal or even fun and desirable. They imitate the insecurity many of us feel about our external appearances, activities, and relationships—and that makes them cool enough to buy? How confusing.

The Ty company, by involving real girls in their dolls’ virtual world, have infused these toys with a celebrity effect: that of being role models despite that they’re not real people in girls’ personal lives. The Ty Girlz world is a higher-pitched, curliqued version of the commercial MTV atmosphere. As I surfed the site, loud rock or dance music erupted from my screen to accompany chat rooms, fitting rooms, and bedrooms. All there is to do is shop (for clothes or furniture for your house), chat, and play games that all center around a gabby (even catty), sexy climate—and one that ultimately is simply there to endorse the Ty product. After playing some shopping, dressing, and dancing games (whose characters ask you aloud in a girls’ voice to help them “look perfect” or “look my best”), I became hopeful that the trivia game might offer a more interesting and 3-dimensional horizon to this world. When I found that it only featured Ty Girlz “facts,” I truly felt the narrow confines of the Ty Girlz universe: It would be like living in a mall, where every fashion, friend, activity, and thought is dictated to you. For all its colors, cell phone rings, zooming cars, makeover before-and-after shots, and easily-earned Girlz world money—all you have to do is stay and play, and your bank account fills again—its shallow interactivity would not normally hold girls’ attention. But feeling bad about what they look like, what activities they do, and how much money they have compared to their co-avatars sure might.

I am highly disappointed that today’s toys—objects that used to stimulate children’s imaginations—now tell girls not only how to play with them and who they should aspire to become but also who to be now. (One could criticize traditional babydolls for influencing girls’ hopes of eventual motherhood, but Ty Girlz and other such dolls pressure girls to be chic, sexually active, and exterior-focused in their current lives.) And while the Ty Girlz dolls may be accompanied by a bajillion play options that seem to expand or improve upon real-life make-believe—She’s not hard plastic! She’s a friend closer to your age! You can buy her tons of virtual outfits in any color!—her personality, fashion sense, wishes, and ambitions are built-in and pretty unchangeable. (Yes, Rockin’ Ruby’s shiny silver panties are woven into her skin and the rest of her clothes are sewn on—not to mention, the size of her head ensures that she will stick with her current top forever. Clearly, this IS the outfit she wants to be wearing.)

Even if I consider social or community aspects offered by the Girlz world that one might not have with a regular ol’ lone toy, in addition to the confusion between doll and self caused by the online avatar world, these dolls as playthings teach girls that appropriate friendship activities are to “dress up your room” and “give your girls makeovers.” (In imitation of today’s narcissistic ‘social networking’ friendship sites, the “All About Me” section is coming soon to tygirlz.com.) The Girlz chat-room scene is equally as grim. The fact that—against a background of animated silhouettes clubbing—clickable pre-written phrases exist to aid girls too young to type gives me a clear signal that perhaps they shouldn’t be there, and that this is not a place where real friends are found. (Moreover, the fact that I signed up as a 25-year-old yet had full access to the chat rooms doesn’t make me feel any better about the security of girls who might be excited by a stranger’s flattery.)

One website cannot of course single-handedly make a girl devalue herself, no less contribute to how secure she is as she becomes a woman in her teenage years. But in a nation where girls’ (and therefore women’s) self-esteem is dropping, I would say that it certainly adds to—and profits from—the cacophony of voices telling females of all ages who and how to be.

But enough of my ideas—what do YOU think about these dolls? What are your opinions about doll ages (baby, girl, teen, adult)? Do you have TY Girlz or similar dolls with an online playspace? How are they the same and different than dolls that don’t have an online world? What do you think are the pros and cons of playing online? Feel free to disagree with anything I said or comment on a related question I didn’t mention—let your voice be heard! I look forward to reading…

Where Feminism Has Gone (Wrong): Why today’s definition of feminism is detrimental to our work

2008-02-18T19:15:00.000-05:00

As media-makers, our messages ride on the dynamism inherent to media forms: the direct and emotional impact on people, the ability to reach a huge and diverse population, and possibly most important in today’s web 2.0 culture, the speed at which media can be shared.

Independent and Hollywood media-makers alike gear their work toward user participation, and those working for social change are generally excited by the “viral” nature of social sharing of media (even if one does lose control over one’s product in order to obtain mainstream involvement). Women working for social change have looked to film as a powerful media in which they can bring female voices and struggles forth (it is no wonder that most of feminist art was also video art). Today, with film’s expansion into mobile, shareable media, women especially use the internet as one big “indie TV channel” where their messages can be heard loud and clear, skipping over years of festival circuitry and involvement in the commercial film industry—a capitalistic field reliant on connections, near impossible to break into, and generally “an old boys’ club.”

However, as a female indie filmmaker/feminist activist, I have experienced sexism, aversion to “the f-word”—usually predicated on assumptions that feminists are either mean-spirited men-haters or naïve pot-smokers—and bureaucratic coldness like that found within the commercial film industry. And what upsets me most, is that the majority of these experiences have happened with other women. Why?

The openness of today’s indie media platforms also comes with an over-abundance of available media, so the freedom to post and share one’s voice does not mean it can be heard over the cacophony of everyone else doing the same. Being indie is still hard, and being an indie woman filmmaker is even harder. While the film industry can be a harsh world where individuals use other individuals for their own gain, unfortunately, these inhuman standards are alive and well in the indie world too, as we each strive to make “my project” the one that “makes a difference.”

Current feminist media heroes are women who can break into the film industry (Sophia Coppola was the first American woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing (she didn’t win but got “Best Original Screenplay”) for Lost in Translation, Halle Berry was the first African-American woman to win “Best Actress”), women who start their own film companies that comes to be known and profitable, women who star on TV and in movies who contribute to charities and women’s causes, women who break “female” stereotypes and are funny, loud, smart, and so on (see Ms. Magazine’s recent article “Comic Relief”). These women are an outcome of 70’s feminist efforts, showing the world through Amazonian feats of persistence and assertiveness that yes, women are valuable members of society. But these women are also ostracized and scrutinized for wailing away at the norm. It takes “balls of steel” to withstand this cultural critique.

We owe thanks to the strength and competitiveness of these women, for girls today aspire to be everything from lawyers to Oscar-winning film producers. But with all this feminist effort came a backlash, which I feel we are experiencing now. Women said, “Wait! Why can’t I like lipstick and sports? Why can’t I be a mother and a CEO?” We want it all. And why shouldn’t we?

Unfortunately, “wanting it all” has transformed into a tacit social understanding that we must be and do it all (read Courtney E. Martin’s book, Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters: The Frightening New Normalcy of Hating Your Body, for more on this). We sift through today’s barrage of commercial images, our mother’s advice, and our own internal wishes and desires and conclude that we should be able to be and do all things, since after all, this is age of empowered women, right? We want to be pretty and smart. Powerful but not a bitch. Sexy but respected. Yet we find this a near impossible goal, and incredulously (and in some cases, jealously) wonder how on earth the women around us seem to be pulling this all off—making today’s “empowered” women experience and contribute to increased competition amongst women.

But women need to stop seeing each other as competition in the way of the powerful world of men. We need to stop believing that men hold all the power, and that “female” traits are not those that belong or contribute to power. We need to stop feeling that we must be perfect in order to deserve our power. Why aren’t “chick flicks” films that affect the public? Why is feminism the new f-word? Women need to recognize each other as sisters in the same fight–a fight that will go nowhere if we continue as individuals championing personal causes. It’s true that the personal is political. Our bodies are ourselves. The issues we care about at home are those we base our votes on. But in trying to liberate ourselves from the “female” roles and characteristics that suppress us (i.e. the all-forgiving, timid, nurturing mother/wife/family chef and maid), we have taken on the oppressive hard, cold, egocentric roles and qualities of maledom that we blamed for holding us down. In doing so, we have alienated ourselves from each other and even from our own selves.

Gaining the American signs of success (wealth and possessions) is an extremely individualistic process. This mindset of individualism as the road to power, as the path to getting one’s voice heard, even to the “female” goal of bettering the world (which requires power and getting one’s voice heard), leads to isolation and tremendous amounts of singular work and struggle.

Jack Lemmon used to say (according to Kevin Spacey) that those who get to the top must send the elevator back down. There are not enough women who are recognized as having power, this is true, but that does not mean we do not have power. Those women who are in recognized powerful roles need to be open to the queries and efforts of women “below” them, whose powerful efforts to change women’s lives (or even just change the world) are halted by other women who harbor the “I worked hard to get here so you will too” attitude. And women who are not in recognized positions of power need to look at other women as allies, not as competition to achieving their goals (or even snagging that cute someone at a bar).

The world needs to be told that not just anomalous loud, fierce women can “withstand” the responsibilities of bearing their own power. Or that loud, fierce women are not an anomaly. Or that women who are shy, who wear lipstick, work at night, teach kindergarten, have a power that is just as loud and fierce as any feminist lobbyist or protestor, and that women’s needs and rights are still not met on a global scale.

The world needs to hear the voices of many women banding together.

What do women want to achieve with indie media? Beauty? Humanity? Meaning? Social change? While we’re so busy combating the unrealistic, damaging portrayals of women on the screen, behind the scenes we’re treating each other with little respect and interest.

Many women (and men) believe that feminism is over, that because the Vice President of Google is a woman, gender equality has been reached—and that by harping on women’s rights, activists are actually hindering the chance for women to simply be treated as people. However, even from my own personal experience and the experiences of my friends, I say that feminism should not call victory so easily (watch Google’s Vice President, Sheryl Sandberg, talk about women’s lack of professional confidence and how we can utilize user-generated content). Half the population of this earth is female, yet by rejecting feminist group identity for individual "success," we have pushed our quests for respect, confidence, and legitimacy into private and internal realms, where they become impossible one-woman efforts.

Whether you’re a grip, CEO, or teen girl playing with a camera, we all need to keep the broader community in mind. The effects of your media will be greater with collaboration, since the combined efforts of women involved in many types of projects can change society. If our voices come together in media, if we cooperate on the social change work we are each currently attempting to do separately, society will be forced to respect and value us. First, we must respect and value each other.

Some groups of women I enjoy working with who value each other and each other’s work include the REAL Hot 100, New Moon Girl Media, and the Fund for Women Artists, which is currently helping women across the globe collaborate on projects for Support Women Artists Now Day March 29th! Please share your work with these organizations and others…Let’s get to work ladies!