Don't Believe The Hype

Shakira: A celebrity worthy of the hype

Shakira! Shakira! 

(That was my homage to "Hips Don't Lie"... love that song btw)

Why can't everyone be like Shakira?  She's donating $40 million dollars to areas in Latin America stricken by natural disasters.  She's also going to donate money to help the children of these areas going forward.

Talk about giving back.  The people she's going to be helping are probably the same people who buy her CDs,  go to her concerts, feed and clothe her.  I think it's AMAZING that she is putting her fame and fortune to good use.

Can you imagine if every celeb did?

MOMFERENCE: Really cool Teleconference Extraordinnaire

Hit it!

So, first 'real' post of the new school year and all that jazz.....  And what I want to tell you about is an AMAZING teleconference--nay,  global teleSUMMIT!-- that I'm participating in in early October called the MOMFERENCE. 

It's a meeting of the Moms.... it's out to educate moms and women on topics like raising children with high self-esteem...about creating a work/family/personal time (which I no longer have any of) balance etc....

There are TONS of expert speakers, individual telepresentations, panels focusing in on specific topics and more.

It's all happening from Oct 1st-6th.... and I'll be participating in the following:

Topic:	PANEL DISCUSSION: Spotlight On… Raising Self-Empowered Children
Day and Time:	October 3, 4:00-5:00pm (EST) / 1:00-2:00pm (PST)
Topic:	DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE - IT'S ALL MADE UP! A Mom's Guide to Seeing Through Celebrity Hype and Helping Their Daughter Celebrate Real Beauty
Day and Time:	October 6, 11:00-12:00pm (EST) / 8:00-9:00am (PST)

To  listen in, you gotta register!  So if you're a mom... or know a mom,  zoom over to Momference.com for information about the event and how to register!  Then sign up for my sessions, and email me questions live!

So cool, no?

"Vanity Sizing" (ie a 6 is not a 6 is not a 6)

Back when Miss Leslie Bibb was just a teen on a show called Popular, I was an editor at a very cool magazine called Jump ("For girls who dare to be real").  It was published by the same company that prints Shape, and competed with Seventeen, YM, Teen People etc for readers.  Only it was way better. (Sadly, it folded in 2000.. .but that's another story)

Anyway, one of the articles I wrote for Jump was titled "Size Doesn't Matter" and it was all about how a a girl might be a size 4 in one brand of clothing, yet a 6 or an 8 in another.  That's because some companies purposefully change the names of their sizes because they think it will appeal to consumers.  (IE, a 30 inch waist may have once been the basis for a size medium.  But heck, let's start calling everything with a 30 inch waste a size SMALL!  Then more people will want to buy our clothes because when they wear them, they'll feel thin.  And thin is good!)  Get it?

I've posted a scan of the article here in case you feel like giving it the once over....
But what I really want to do is relate all this to Spain's announcement that it's going to try to standardize women's sizing....

Because according to news reports out today, Spain's government has reached an agreement with major fashion designers to "standardize women's clothing sizes with the aim of promoting a healthier image."

Ay Mami that's good news!  Especially since the designers on board are Mango (cheap and trendy... a la H&M), El Corte Ingles (THE department store of Spain) and ZARA  (um.... famous everywhere!)

Another cool componant of the program? It will also prevent participating companies from using window displays featuring clothes smaller than a European size 38 (10 in Britain, 8 in the United States). Dude, I can dig it.

And check out this sane quote: 

"It is not reasonable for a modern and advanced society to establish stereotypes of beauty that are far removed from the social reality of a community. It is everyone's commitment that beauty and health go hand in hand," Health Minister Elena Salgado said at a signing ceremony Tuesday.

Hola Elena..., we should hang out some time.

And one more cool bit:

The Health Ministry's program aims to end a situation in which a woman who buys a size 40 dress from one designer may not fit in a size 40 garment from another designer. The ministry said the differences sometimes lead women to feel compelled to lose weight.

****

Very, very interesting.  Not sure how all this will play out.... or if this is the best course of action....but I'm happy to see someone doing something at a high level on this important issue. 

What do YOU think?

Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" is being turned into a book for teens

This is great news!

Becuase as long-time readers of DBTH know, I think that teens can start thinking about important issues (celebrity hype, definitions of beauty... environmental problems) WHILE their teens... instead of blindly accepting mainstream messages, and then getting into deconstructing them/reversing them once they are off at college or whatever.

So cheers to Rodale Books and and the Penguin Young Readers Group, which is bringing the book out this spring.  Go HERE and scroll down to read the official press release

Changes at teen magazines

If you work in the teen industry like I do... you might have heard that before the holidays, Atoosa Rubenstein (the founding editor of Cosmo Girl, and the editor in chief of Seventeen) announced that she was leaving.  Off to start her own consulting organization and write a book or something....

That left the top spot open at Seventeen... and yesterday it was announced that Ann Shoket, currently Executive Editor (ie #2 in command) is moving over to take charge at Seventeen.  Confusing, I know.  The mag world is kinda small an incestuous. 

So why am I going over all that here on DBTH?  Well, the Ed in Chief of a teen magazine really sets the tone of what's going to be included, what to focus on, who to photograph etc... so they have a lot of power when it comes to shaping the pop culture that reaches girls and young women on a daily basis. If you've been reading DBTH since last summer, when the teen book Elle Girl folded, you'll know that I am a big fan of Christina Kelly (who was at Sassy, Jane, YM and Elle Girl).  She took great care in creating a pro-girl environment in the magazines and balancing fun/entertainment with real substance (articles about important teen issues, profiles of girls making a difference).  So I've got my eye on Ms. Shoket to see what tone she sets.

****
And all this magazine news comes at the same time that a new University of Minnesota study has come out saying that girls "who frequently read magazine articles about dieting were more likely five years later to practice extreme weight-loss measures such as vomiting than girls who never read such articles."   EGADS, people!

In response, my colleague Nancy Gruver (who is the founder of New Moon, the magazine for girls and their dreams AND the executive director of the amazing non profit called Dads and Daughters,has put together some great tips for Managing Magazines.

She suggests:

1. Decide ahead of time at what age you will allow her ( ie the teens in your life, your daughter, niece, little sister etc...) to read which magazines. Try to avoid censorship, which makes the magazines “forbidden fruit” she reads in secret—where you can’t discuss their content with her.

2. Read her magazines yourself so you can converse casually (not lecture her!) about them.
 
3.  Don’t use pornography. Look critically at the magazines you read as an adult. Do they objectify females or reduce them to body parts? How would you feel if it was your daughter in those photographs?  Do your magazines make you judge your own body? Do they make you crave certain clothes, cars, products, etc?
 
4. Ask your daughter to identify her favorite article and ad in each issue. Listen for her underlying emotional need and think about other ways you can help her meet that need.  Is she concerned about her body?  Is she worried about fitting in or getting male attention?  When you provide positive attention for ALL of who she is, she’ll have less desire for “appearance-only” attention from others.
 
5. Ask her what she thinks is real and unreal in each issue. Are the celebrity photographs altered?  Do the models look like girls or women she knows?  Does the magazine address everything teen girls are thinking of?
 
6. Tap your own family history for women of accomplishment and influence.  Developing a sense of family heritage can feed pride in her ancestors who look like her and did wonderful, important things.
 
 7. Ask her what effect she thinks an article or ad is trying to have on readers.  Express your opinions (after listening to hers) about the articles and ads.
 
8. Provide her with alternatives like New Moon (https://www.newmoon.org/specialoffer/?source=DADS) and Teen Voices (www.teenvoices.com), even if she doesn’t ask for them.  It’s like stocking the kitchen with healthy snacks, even if she begs only for chips and soda.9. Take old magazines and cut out images and words with her to create articles and ads with respectful, nurturing messages. Compare them to the usual fare.
 
10. Most important, keep the communication lines open and trust that as she matures and gains self-confidence, with your support, she’ll find shallow magazines less interesting.

*****

Hope you find all that helpful!

 

 
 

Nancy Pelosi becoming the first female Speaker of the House TOMORROW!

That's right!  Tomorrow is the day that she is going to elected Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

There will also be a record 71 female representatives this session, giving women 16 percent of the seats.

And while that IS cause to celebrate.... we've still got a long way to go baby (even if we're allowed to smoke in public places a la those crap Virginia Slims ads from the 1980s.  But that's another story)

According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, an association of national legislatures, women make up a larger share of the national legislature in 79 other countries, including China, Cuba, 

North Korea and Vietnam,  The U.S. even trails a couple of fledgling democracies: ie Afghanistan and Iraq.

How's that for a grim comparison?!

New Year... New Reading

Since we're officially into 2007... I want to draw your attention to a book that's coming out in a few months.  It's called How Sassy Changed My Life: A Love Letter to the Greatest Teen Magazine of All Time," by Marissa Meltzer and Kara Jesella. It actually doesn't come out until early April... but there's going to be a lot of buzz about it.... so I'm getting in my (first) entry now.

For those of you who don't know me, I was am/was/always will be a Sassy devotee.  I was NOT a reader of other teen magazines when I was a teen in the late 80s (ooooh, did I just date myself horribly?  Ahh well... c'est la vie).  I couldn't stand YM and Seventeen and Teen... and then Sassy appeared. It was funny, smart, irreverent feminist and cool.  And I fell in love.  So much so that I wrote a paper during my junior year of college chronicling how it was changing what sort of role models and paradigms were being made available to teens in pop culture.  I got an A on that paper... and decided to then write my senior thesis for American Studies (my minor in college) on how the representations of femininity in Sassy... and how the magazine was breaking the mould in its content and images.  It was called Sassy: Corporate Zine....and writing it was one of the best, coolest experiences of my life.  I interviewed Sassy staffers (especially the lovely Diane Paylor who made herself available to me, answered all my questions, invited me to the offices etc) and really started to get into all of the issues (girl culture, which women are celebrated in pop culture etc) that I discuss in All Made Up and here on DBTH.

So why am I telling you all this?  Well, just in case you want to spend some time getting acquainted with Sassy before the book comes out (Wikipedia entry here!), or try to track down some copies  (I have a TON...but I don't lend them out. Some come for a visit if you'd like to lounge around and read them....).  It was a hugely important magazine that redefined the teen genre AND still affects teens and women's magazines today.

(Oh and full disclosure... I'm acquainted with the authors of the forthcoming book.  They interviewed me for it.. but I have no idea if my comments are included or not....)

A play about teen issues, starring teens

There's a new play in NYC called Spring Awakening... (Think of it as "Rent" but grittier, cooler, and younger) 

It's been getting AMAZING reviews because it deals with teen issues....and stars actual teenagers...and I'm DYING to see it.  If anyone does before I do, please email me and tell me about it!

Turn Beauty Inside Out 2007

For those of you who don't know, Turn Beauty Inside Out is an awesome 4 day leadership retreat that happens every year for teens (boys and girls) plus parents, chaperones, mentors, professionals who work with adolescents etc...

It's put on by the non-profit called Mind on the Media (full disclosure: I sit on the Mind on the Media board of directors), and the event is with interesting speakers, activities, field trips, workshops etc.

The 2007 dates/location have just been announced: June 27-30 in midtown Manhattan.... AND already confirmed as speakers: reps from Olgilvy and Mather, the top ad agency that created the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty.  THAT'S HUGE.

Registration is now open at the Mind on the Media website...and there's a special discount for all those who register before DECEMBER 31st...

Hope to see you there!

Girls Gone Wild... justice is served!

As I've prolly made clear in at least a dozen posts, I'm not a fan of the whole Girls Gone Wild-/Get in touch with your inner stipper defition of pop feminism today. I've got NOTHING against sexiness, fun etc, but I absolutely DO NOT feel that these images/trends, which are increasingly prevalent in pop culture are true incarnations of female liberation.  Rather, I believe that they just perpetuate the same old crap and don't help women break any new ground.

So imagine my personal glee when my colleague Elaine (Hey there!) forwarded me an AP news report about the founder of Girls Gone Wild, Mr. Joe Francis, being sentenced to community service for failing to monitor the ages of the women in its videos. 

He's also agreed to pay one-point-six million dollars in fines for using drunken 17-year-olds in videos it filmed on Panama City Beach during spring break.

But here's the part I like best:  The company must also issue a news release about its federal
offenses and publish it in five newspapers, including The News Herald of Panama City . The judge says he added the community service because it did not appear a fine would be a meaningful punishment.

THAT is cool.  That the judge realizes that asking Joe Francis to throw some money around in more fines isn't going to create cultural change.  The fact that he has to admit that what he did was "wrong" (depending on your point of view, of course)... well... that's pretty interesting. 

If ANYONE comes across one of these ads that he has to take out... PLEASE PLEASE let me know about it, or let me get you my mailing address or something.  I'm DYING to see how he frames everything!