Posts tagged media messages

What Moms Can Do About Kids Who Want to Be Sexy

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As I started reading this article, “Why 6-Year Old Girls Want to Be Sexy,” I could hear my mind saying “UGH!” and thinking about the conversations I have been having…and will need to continue to have…with my two young daughters.

As I got to this section, however, I breathed a bit of a reassured sigh–validated that despite the challenges from the media, there is indeed much that Moms (and Dads and other caregivers!) can do about sexualized media messages:

“Mothers feel so overwhelmed by the sexualizing messages their daughters are receiving from the media that they feel they can do nothing to help,” she said. “Our study’s findings indicate otherwise — we found that in actuality, mothers are key players in whether or not their daughters sexualize themselves. Moms can help their daughters navigate a sexualizing world by instructing their daughters about their values and by not demonstrating objectified and sexualized behaviors themselves.”

Check out the whole article here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/17/6-year-old-girls-sexy_n_1679088.html?ref=topbar

If you are interested in hearing more about what parents can do to help their kids become critical thinkers and consumers of media, I have a few other recommendations:

  • First…check out Friendship & Other Weapons, of course, and the featured sections on helping young girls examine music lyrics, advertising, social media, and technology.  My article “Thinner, Sexier, Hotter” talks about sexualization in media and gives adults practical ideas for helping kids think critically about these messages.
  • Next, check out Pigtail Pals and Ballcap Buddies, led by the tireless Melissa Wardy who always has something bold, brave, and inspiring to say about the impact of media sexualization on kids.  Mattel and Monster High–watch out!
  • Third, check out the innovative work of Ines Almeida and her new online marketplace that celebrates childhood without limits and gender stereotypes.
  • And fourth, New Moon Girls is a great publication and option for young girls who want to be inspired by their peers and celebrate all the things that girls can do without the limits of having to be “sexy” at a young age.

 

 

What to Say When Your Daughter Says, “Mom, I’m Fat.”

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What do you say when your daughter says, “Mom, I’d fat?”  This Mom couldn’t have said it any better:

http://www.rachelsimmons.com/2012/01/mom-im-fat-one-mothers-inspired-response-to-her-7-year-old/

Fotoshop is the PERFECT Teacher for Young Girls Facing Media Pressures

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If you’re familiar with the phrase “sad, but true,” this must-watch video is hilarious because it’s so sad that it’s so true. 

Moms, watch this one with your daughters!  I know I will be showing this in my Mother-Daughter workshops based on Friendship & Other Weapons when we talk about the media’s impact on young girls.  This is the perfect clip for creating awareness about healthy body images, photoshopping, and self-esteem. 

Fotoshop by Adobé from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

 

“Maybe she’s born with it.  No…I’m pretty sure it’s Fotoshop!”

Thinner, Sexier, Hotter: 3 Ways to Help Your Daughter Resist Media Pressures

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How many times have you heard your daughter singing along to a popular song on the radio and innocently belting out the kind of lyrics that would otherwise get her sent to her room? In the moment, you believe (desperately want to believe!) that she is unaware of the innuendo and unaffected by its explicit content. But messages embedded in song lyrics, along with video imagery, and advertising influence do have an impact on the ways girls think about themselves and their relationships with others. Without having to resort to a full-on pop music ban or complete shunning of media, you can help your daughters-and other young girls-become aware of media messages that violate values and degrade girls.

Please check out my article at Huff Post for ideas on talking to girls about media pressures:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/signe-whitson/thinner-sexier-hotter-3-w_b_1007496.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=1751110,b=facebook

Miss Representation: How Girls are Influenced by the Media

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Wow. Some things you know intuitively, but you don’t take the time to consider how astounding they are until someone puts all of the pieces together like this filmmaker did.   In Friendship & Other Weapons, parents and professionals have three chapters devoted to helping kids examine media influences and pressures, knowing that awareness can build resistance.

Please check out this amazing short film–with your daughter!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=2349117563337

Girl-Caught is a Great Activity to Build Awareness in Your Daughter

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In honor of September 22’s Day of the Girl, New Moon Girls is launching its Girl-Caught campaign, designed to give each of us an empowering way to comment on media messages about girls and women.

You’ve heard about baby beauty pageants, lingerie marketed to pre-schoolers, and JC Penney’s, “I”m too pretty to do my homework” T-shirt.  The Girl-Caught campaign aims to raise awareness about these ubiquitous and degrading media messages because, as I write in Friendship & Other Weapons, “When girls are aware of how entertainment and advertising images are altered, they are better able to resist the pressures of “measuring up” to the images.”

Get involved in Girl-Caught with your own daughter.  Log in to the New Moon Girls site to download or print out your own Girl-Caught stickers.  Paste them to the negative or positive Girl-Catches you find, then upload them to Girl-Caught!  This is a great, interactive campaign that parents and kids can enjoy–and learn through–together. 

Most of all, Girl-Caught “encourages girls to think critically about media images and to become informed consumers rather
than passive recipients of the media.” (Whitson, 2011).

 

Beautiful Disaster

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Seeing Through “Perfect” Media Images

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Young girls see over 400 advertisements per day telling them how they should look. How can someone–especially a young person–not be effected by this?  Here’s a great article that tells about a glimmer of hope & a small bit of progress.

http://www.sparksummit.com/2011/08/08/pulled-perfection/

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Rosalind Wiseman, The WWE & the NEA

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I just love a good debate…especially when I get to listen in on a conversation that is so well-stated by Rosalind Wiseman.  Check out her most recent article, The Smackdown on Common Sense: How the Anti-Bullying Movement is Hurting Itself, a rebuttal of sorts and follow up to her article about the dubious partnership between the NEA, the Creative Coalition, and the WWE.

5 Practical Strategies for Encouraging Your Daughter to Enjoy Being a Kid–and Not Rush Growing Up

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Love this site.  Adore this article.  Great, practical strategies for parents grappling with the question of “what is age-appropriate for my daughter?”

http://www.daughters.com/article/?id=344&page=1

I especially love the idea of letting our daughters know that it’s okay to enjoy getting to be young–that growing up quickly doesn’t (more…)

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