Posted March 1st, 2013, in Girl Crush, Recommendations Girls, Recommendations Grown-ups | 20 Comments
Daisy and I have been watching this Go-Go’s vid over and over (and over) lately. I’m struck by how much the women in the band, unlike most of today’s female artists, look like real people–even Belinda, whom I recalled as a sort of having an unattainable ideal of beauty vibe (maybe that came later, in the “Cool Jerk” era). And Jane, well, dang, how cool is Jane? This vid is all about having silly fun and making music with your pals, not what other people think about how you look. Yeah, they stop at a lingerie store for no apparent reason. But they come out empty handed as far as I can tell. Because unlike today’s lady stars, if they did buy leather thongs, they are wearing them under their clothes. And who knows? maybe (as my girl Caitlin Moran might say) they just needed to stock up on some stridently [...]
Tags: age compression, fighting back, girlie girl culture, Let kids be kids, premature sexualization
Posted October 25th, 2011, in Creepy Marketing, Girl Crush, Recommendations, Recommendations Girls, Recommendations Grown-ups | 12 Comments
The best thing we can do for our daughters is to teach them, as they get older, to make their own courageous way through the woods of the girlie-girl culture. So what a thrill to read this blog post by my friend Marcelle’s 11-year-old daughter, Ruby. Ruby wrote it after she and her mom, who live in New York City, went shopping for her Halloween costume. Needless to say, they didn’t find one, though Ruby sure found her voice. It’s one thing for us adults to talk to girls about the creepy (not in a good way) costumes, but how much more powerful to hear it from a peer! So Ruby and Marcelle, you are my sheroes and here, with her permission, is Ruby’s post: TRICKS AND TREATS: RETURN TO INNOCENCE by Ruby Karp So, you know what time it is! That’s right, Halloween! When you dress up as a scary [...]
Tags: age compression, fighting back, girlie girl culture, Let kids be kids, premature sexualization
Posted October 25th, 2011, in Creepy Marketing, Girl Crush, Recommendations, Recommendations Girls, Recommendations Grown-ups | 1 Comment
Oops I posted this twice but don’t want to take this down in case it’s the link that gets around. So please see newer version above!
Tags: fighting back, girlie girl culture
Posted August 12th, 2011, in Girl Crush, Recommendations, Recommendations Grown-ups | No Comments
I love Rachel Simmons. Even though she called me the grandmother of the girls’ movement when I was YOUNGER THAN SHE IS NOW (ahem!). Yes she did. And yet, we have grown to be dear friends. I’m forgiving that way. Anyway, in addition to her writing, speaking, coaching and work with Simone Marean and Ronald at the marvelous Girls Leadership Institute she has just released a revised and updated edition of her germinal (not seminal, get it?) book, “Odd Girl Out.” As she writes in the new introduction, ‘I wrote [this] as an observer, but I have revised it as a practitioner. According to Slate XX , Rachel returns to the material ”with more perspective”: Simmons’s transition has changed her book fundamentally, and for the better. In its original form, Odd Girl Out brought a largely unexamined social problem into the public eye with sensitivity and insight, but offered little by [...]
Tags: fight fun with fun, fighting back
Posted July 15th, 2011, in Asian American Me, Girl Crush, Japanophila, Recommendations, Recommendations Girls, Recommendations Grown-ups | 12 Comments
Oh my goodness! More good news! The next Studio Ghibli movie, Arietty, will open in the U.S. in February. Ghibli the Japanese company founded by the visionary auteur Hiyao Miyazaki is responsible for the fight-fun-with-fun screen gems My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Spirited Away, Ponyo, Castle in the Sky, Nausicaa, Princess Mononoke (not for little ones), all of which feature spectacular, wonderful, natural female protagonists. I could not have gotten through my daughter’s childhood without him. Plus, Miyazaki totally blows out of the water the old chestnut that female protagonists can’t be universal or hold boys’ attention. His creativity puts Pixar to shame. In fact, John Lassiter idolizes Miyazaki. According to an article in the UK Guardian: Ghibli is often lazily dubbed Japan’s answer to Disney, but the comparison only holds true in terms of box-office sales (Spirited Away is still Japan’s all-time top-grossing film – three other Ghibli films are [...]
Tags: Disney, pink, premature sexualization, princess culture, snow white
Posted December 2nd, 2010, in Fairy Tales, Girl Crush, Uncategorized, Why I Wrote CAMD | No Comments
She also does Belle and Little Mermaid. Each one is bitingly brilliant. Though I thought of some of the jokes independently and they’re in my book. Right here, right now, for the record: I THOUGHT OF THEM BEFORE I EVER SAW THESE VIDS!!!! But I still love these.
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