Tags: fighting back, Let kids be kids, sanity in education
Posted March 27th, 2012, in Education | 18 Comments
In CAMD I talk about “age compression” as a culprit in the Kardashianization of girlhood. Here’s how that works: products are initially pitched to older kids; younger ones who want to be “cool” like their older brothers and sister latch onto them making them instantly anathema to the original demographic. Since for girls being cool means looking “hot” we’ve seen a downward drift of things like spa birthday parties (now the rage among pre-schoolers) and cosmetic use. According to NPD group, for instance, nearly half of 6-year-olds say they use lipstick or lip gloss regularly and the percentage of 8-12 year olds who use mascara or eyeliner doubled between 2008 and 2010. 8-12 year olds are among the fastest growing sectors of the cosmetics market, prompting Walmart to launch its popular “anti-aging” Geo Girl line for elementary school girls. This month, Target introduced the Disney Fairies “PixiGlow” line of [...]
Tags: fighting back, girlie girl culture
Posted March 21st, 2012, in Creepy Marketing, Recommendations Girls, Recommendations Grown-ups, Why I Wrote CAMD | 4 Comments
Ah, the ironies of our media culture. First the film version of “The Lorax” commercialized anti-consumerism by pimping out its namesake to seventy corporate sponsors (including IHOP pancakes and Mazda cars). Now comes the deluge of “Hunger Games”-inspired products that are so contrary to the books’ message that they seem like a parody. Take the press release I received today: SAVING FACE in The Hunger Games – Best Beauty Solutions to Shed the ‘Tribute Tomboy’ Hi Peggy, Hope you’re doing well! In just two days the world will be watching as Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and the rest of their star-studded cast take center stage in The Hunger Games… so with all the hype surrounding the premiere, I figured you might enjoy this fun story idea! Fighting to the death doesn’t always end pretty (case in point, Glimmer’s notorious tracker jacker scene), but Katniss Everdeen made it look so easy, [...]
Tags: age compression, Barbie, girlie girl culture, pink princess culture camd, premature sexualization, princess culture
Posted March 18th, 2012, in Barbie, Creepy Marketing, Princesses, The Weight of Weight, Why I Wrote CAMD | 28 Comments
Yesterday I posted a link on my facebook page to an article on CNN.com called “Fat is the New Ugly on the Playground,” which featured a few nice quotes by yours truly. In response to the post were comments including the following: Excuse me in my experience fat has always equalled ugly on the playground, ain’t nuthin new here, take it from a former fat kid. ‘Fat’ has always been ugly on the playground, or any where else for that matter! I’m not sure why this is all of a sudden breaking news. Absolutely true. Fat kids—boys as well as girls—have long been tormented, demonized and excluded by their schoolmates. In CAMD I talk about the history of American attitudes towards fat—the reasons it came to be seen as a moral issue, a character flaw; how it became particularly taboo for women whose avoirdupois was once considered sexy. Check out an [...]
Posted March 9th, 2012, in Recommendations, Recommendations Girls, Recommendations Grown-ups, Stuff I've Written | 3 Comments
Ben Freedman, my friend, inspiration and the co-author (with his wife Nancy) of my favorite book as a girl—Mrs. Mike-died on February 24 at the age of 92. I found out earlier this week when the New York Times obituary page called me for a quote. Here is a picture of my original copy of Mrs. Mike, which I still have, held together by scotch tape and rubber bands. Ben and Nancy (who died in 2010) led rich, full lives—I loved going to their apartment to listen to stories of their adventures, schemes and foibles. Even in failing healthy, they were exuberant and intellectually engaged, full of plans for the future, still writing every single day. In honor of their lives, and to mark their loss, here is a link to Ben’s obituary. And here is a link to a piece I wrote for Oprah Magazine about what they meant to me [...]
Facebook
Twitter
Email Sign-Up
RSS Feed