Update: How cute! Old Navy marketing starts girls on sexualization path as toddlers

Michelle Cove, who is the founder of MediaGirls, a media literacy program in Brookline, Massachusetts, sent along this photo and comment, as a follow up to my previous post about Old Navy advertising. "Sexualizing girls early isn’t always about … [Read more...]

#BraveGirlsWant take back media campaign kicks off Friday

If you are anywhere in or near New York City tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 11 – the second International Day of the Girl Child – get yourself and your daughters down to Times Square for the kick off of the Brave Girls Alliance campaign. They are … [Read more...]

Baby apps, teen films, Stride Rite, Marissa Mayer, female-centric media or lack thereof, media research, Miley and Robin

This week, a mish-mash of media readings.  First of all, I'm grateful to my friend Melissa Wardy of PigtailPals for putting together this discussion for parents about the Miley Cyrus performance on MTV's music video awards show this weekend. What … [Read more...]

Where in the world is Jane? New research finds strong female characters missing from children’s shows

Do you love Geena Davis? She’s putting her time, and presumably her money, into the cause of gender fairness in media. Take a look at this delightful new PSA created by her organization, the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. New … [Read more...]

The ongoing great digital experiment on the brain development of children

Recently, two organizations surveyed teachers to learn their opinions of how digital technologies and media are effecting students, both academically and socially. The results were fascinating and if you have the time, take a look at the reports, … [Read more...]

L.L. Bean, Land’s End, dipping toes into pornification game

I’m not sure the trickle down theory works in economics, but it sure seems to be taking effect in sexualized marketing. It starts with a drip, drip, drip. While sexualization creep touches girls at younger and younger ages, it also starts moving into … [Read more...]

How the media train boys to be sexist

Watch this trailer from the Media Education Foundation, which highlights the powerful messages boys are getting from current popular media. Or, as they put, "Takes aim at the forces in male culture that condition boys and men to dehumanize and … [Read more...]

A reading list from the @mktgchildhood Twitter timeline

Time again for a roundup of interesting reading I have found and posted on Twitter with a focus on the topic of selling our kids to the highest bidder.(Do you follow me on Twitter? If you are interested in the topics we talk about here, then please … [Read more...]

Effort to stop release of brutally misogynistic Kanye West video

____________________________________________________________ Update: Adios Barbie announced June 27 that MTV has confirmed it will not air the video.It’s official folks, and you heard it here first: MTV and VH1 will not air Kanye West’s “Monster” … [Read more...]

Research shows positive media images do a world of good

The hoopla over the degrading photos of Glee actresses in GQ magazine reminds me of a similar phenomenon in which female athletes pose nude for men's magazines. Elizabeth Daniels, a psychologist at the University of Oregon, has been studying how … [Read more...]