30 Allies in 30 Days

Hardy Girls Healthy Women is highlighting 30 Allies in 30 Days leading up to their SPARK Summit on how to fight the sexualization of girls in media.  You've got to check out all the inspiring things these women are doing and join them in their efforts! I'm honored to be included as today's sister ally.  See you at SPARK!

Guest Post: Beauty and Popularity

by Nancy Gruver

Peggy Moss’ wonderful new book, One of Us, got me thinking about the definition of beauty and how girls decide if they fit into it or not. The book takes us along with Roberta James, the lively and open main character, as she navigates the cliques on her first day at a new school.

As various groups tell Roberta that “you’re one of us,” only to say she doesn’t really belong with them as they learn more about her she begins to feel she doesn’t fit anywhere. Nearly all of us have felt like this one time or another. 

To soften the blow of rejection, Roberta even starts telling groups she doesn’t belong with them before they tell her that. She’s internalized the message that she can only be part of a group if she’s like them in every way.
Fortunately for readers, a group has formed around being different from each other. They welcome Roberta as she is. 

In its simplicity, the story provides wonderful opportunities for readers to observe and relate to the many differences between people. It gently conveys the limited divisions we impose on each other and encourages us to transcend them. 

One of Us will start great conversations with girls and boys of all ages who are seeking ways to make peace between who they are and who the outside world wants them to be.  Read it and share it. 

Nancy Gruver is Founder of www.newmoon.com - a creative online community and magazine for girls ages 8 and up where girls also like being different from each other, even when it’s hard.

The *real* beauty issue

Some great reading for girls...

Check out New Moon's mag issue on real beauty and recommend these books to girls you know for their summer reading list!

(Full disclosure: I'm a New Moon affiliate--but I am because I believe in what they do and want to promote it!)

Great summer media literacy programs!

Just got wind of a couple great media literacy programs this summer:

Press Pass TV Media Camp
Project Look Sharp Media Literacy Institute

And I'm sure there are more...so please add them in comments!

Eve Ensler's new book for girls

Eve Ensler’s Mission: Awaken the Girl Self

By Marianne Schnall

Eleven years after the launch of V-Day, Eve Ensler sets out to do for girls what she did for women—uncover the truth of their experiences and create a global dialogue. Her new book is being published February 9...

Read more.

Today (and every day I hope) is Love Your Body Day

Today is Love Your Body Day!  Here's the deal (official press release from NOW):

For Immediate Release
Contact: Mai Shiozaki, 202-628-8669, ext. 116; cell 202-641-1906


Unrealistic Images of Women Make Love Your Body Day More Important Than Ever

October 15, 2009

For years now, advertisers and fashion magazines have airbrushed photos to turn models into the latest beauty ideal. Women and girls are constantly bombarded with these artificial images -- fantasies they can't possibly live up to in real life.

This Photoshopping of models and celebrities has really gotten out of hand lately. Self magazine felt the need to digitally slenderize singer Kelly Clarkson before putting her on the cover of its "total body confidence" issue, even though Clarkson has said that she is comfortable with herself just the way she is. Model Filippa Hamilton recently revealed that she was fired by Ralph Lauren for being too big, despite being a size four. Hamilton is the same model who appeared in a Ralph Lauren ad that was so aggressively retouched that she appeared emaciated and completely out of proportion.

If models can't catch a break, how can the rest of us hope to have a healthy self-image? Starting at younger and younger ages, eating disorders, low self-esteem, and a preoccupation with appearance plague women and girls, sometimes with disastrous results. "In my teenage years, I was hospitalized for anorexia," said eating disorder survivor and NOW Action Vice President Erin Matson. "I remember a fellow patient winning a modeling contest while she was on a pass from the hospital. The only way to end the glorification of unhealthy beauty stereotypes is to stand up proudly for real women's bodies."

That's why the NOW Foundation is celebrating its 12th annual Love Your Body Day on Oct. 21. This campaign is a giant shout out to the fashion, beauty, diet and advertising industries: No more fake images! Show us real women, diverse women, strong women, bold women. And to the women and girls who are targeted by messages telling them that the key to success and happiness is manufactured beauty, we say: It's okay to "Be You" -- the true you is beautiful.

Many different kinds of Love Your Body events will be held across the country on Oct. 21. Contact the NOW Foundation to learn more.

More Information:
Kelly Clarkson Photo Retouched to Make Her 'Look Her Best', Janet Mock People Magazine
Size 4 model: I was fired for being too fat -- Former Ralph Lauren model Filippa Hamilton is 5' 10" and 120 pounds, Today MSNBC

New affiliation with New Moon!

I'm excited to announce my new affiliation with New Moon, a great ad-free magazine and web community where girls 8-12 can truly be themselves! Sign up for a free trial today!!

via newmoon.com

New Moon Girls is an online community and print magazine where girls create and share poetry, artwork, videos, and more; chat together; and learn. All in a fully moderated, educational environment designed to build self-esteem and positive body image. Membership is just $29.95 for 12 months unlimited online access + 6 bimonthly issues of New Moon Girls print magazine.

Posted via web from

Donate to help Women, Action & the Media transition into its new organization!

Women, Action & the Media

READ BELOW FOR A MAJOR WAM! ANNOUNCEMENT


BIG NEWS!

The Center for New Words is transforming into WAM! (Women, Action, & the Media), which will now be an independent national organization.
Jaclyn Friedman, co-founder and director of WAM!, will head the effort to move WAM! into its new role as an autonomous organization. In its first five years, as a program of CNW, WAM! has already grown from a small-but-spirited gathering of 100 women to an influential national force that this year convened more than 600 activists and media-makers from 29 states and 9 countries, and recently forced the Washington Post to revise its editorial policy after WAM!mers publicly protested yet another sexist slur aimed at Hillary Clinton.
There is some bad news: in order to focus on the strategic planning, leadership development and fundraising required to launch an independent WAM!, we have postponed the next WAM! conference until 2011.
We won’t lie — it’s not going to be easy. In order for the new WAM! to succeed, we have to find brand-new sources of funding at a time when many funders are having a hard time even fulfilling their existing commitments. But we have one thing most organizations don’t have: YOU.
If you’ve ever considered yourself a part of the CNW or WAM! community, this is the moment to be counted. What you do right now will determine WAM’s future.
Yes, we are asking you for a donation. One that means something to you. We are trying to raise $30,000 by October 20. These crucial funds will not only be the seed money from which we can begin to grow the new, independent WAM!, they will also demonstrate to potential large-capacity funders that WAM! has the broad grassroots support to be a national force to be reckoned with.
But we’re not going to make that goal without everyone pitching in. Can you donate to WAM! right now?
With your support and Jaclyn’s leadership, WAM! is now poised to take another great leap in power and influence.
In the next two years, we can launch thriving local WAM! chapters in major cities across the country, which will foster on the grassroots level the kind of cutting-edge thought and action WAM! already inspires nationally. We can build an engaged online WAM! community through monthly webinars on timely topics, a brand-new WAM! website designed to foster action, and of course, our ever-flourishing listserv. And we can ensure that the next WAM! conference — now planned for Chicago in March 2011 — is the largest and most influential yet, creating an unstoppable force for gender justice that will change the media landscape for good.
New Words has a 36-year history of responding creatively to changing times. In 1974, we opened New Words Bookstore. Thirty-two years later, we evolved into the Center for New Words, where our events and programs have galvanized feminist voices and ideas. Our evolution reflects larger changes in the publishing industry, the women’s movement, technology, and the economy.
Every day, WAM!mers help each other place op-eds and articles, get powerful media jobs, leverage new technology, hold the media accountable, produce and promote books, films, and other projects, get stories told about our lives and work, and change the very structure of the media itself. You can continue your support for New Words’ legacy and join this growing movement by making a contribution today. Please donate now to join the WAM! movement. Once you do, you’ll receive regular updates on our progress and ongoing opportunities to shape our new direction.
With your help, we can ensure that everyone will be hearing the loud, wise “new words” of women for many years to come.
Jaclyn Friedman, Director, Women, Action & the Media
Tina Brand, CNW Board President
P.S. Here’s that button again. Please donate today.

We use Google’s secure server to receive donations. Your donation will go directly to CNW and will be used to support and grow the new WAM!.

via centerfornewwords.org

I just donated and you should too--If you have $5, 5 cents, or 5 pieces of pocket lint, give them to WAM!. This is one of the most important, helpful, and sisterhood-focused group of people...now becoming an organization. Reach into those pockets--even a little help will really make a difference!

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Another reason why the beauty industry is bad for your health

Check out the work being done at the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics....

Power of the arts toward social change

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?

Film Clip: "Beauty Mark"

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.

Weight bias videos by the Rudd Center

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.

YPulse Mashup in June

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.

Feeling irked? This magazine does something about it!

 

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

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

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

Contribute to an upcoming book!

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!

You're Amazing!

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!