(More Than) Grrrl Power! Girls Studies at UCF

http://girlsrockorlando.wordpress.com/ Check out the Rock N Roll Camp for girls website!! This is such an awesome camp in Central Florida! I volunteered with it this last summer and had an amazing time!!! You should volunteer too!

Original post HERE I saw this and just felt like it was the most perfect beautiful thing...

Who thought of this phrase and what inspired it? I always thought it was cute but did not realize its implications in this sexist society. What are little girls made of? Sugar, spice, and everything nice.  The photo above is of Pippi Longstocking who I grew up watching. Pippi was absolutely amazing. Though she sat on money, she always looked like a rag but her heart was kind and loving. According to the definition, Pippi is a girl yet why was she an outcast? She was nice with the exception of criminals who continually tried to rob her and she ate sweets all the time; doesn't that count for sugar?  Now let's dissect spice. What exactly did they mean by that? When people think of a spicy woman they think the sassy speak-her-mind type. Check mark for Pippi. So if she passes, why is she not the model we teach our girls to be? Why is the model we emphasize today based on a medieval type of princess who does what she's told, marries who she's forced to, and re...

UN Committee Calls for Ban on Female Circumcision Female genital mutilation, a longstanding practice in a myriad of cultures across the world and a sensitive topic pertinent to Girls Studies, is finally on the road to being banned, at least "legally.". Although this will not be implemented overnight it is about time that an initiative is taken to eliminate this heinous act and educate individuals in ALL communities, countries, and cultures why girls' rights to their bodies are human rights and choices they should be able to make for themselves.

Sarah Kay began her career as a spoken word poet at age 14 and presented her first TED talk at age 22.  Titled "If I should have a daughter, " Kay tells of the things she wants her future daughter to know: life, love and navigating it all.  She shares her experiences with performing to an audience and breaks it down into three steps.  I think the first is something we all need to remember:   " Step one was the moment I said, 'I can. I can do this.'"  For the complete talk, please listen at:  

There are inspirational blogs, videos, sites, songs and books; some independent, others affiliated with products.  The Dove campaign challenges traditional beauty ideals with diversity in size, shape, skin tone but we have to remember they are still a company and they are still out to sell us a product.  We still need to measure up someone else standard of beauty and theirs are products to get or keep us there. Look at the women in the Dove campaign, now look again.  The women in the campaign are all attractive by mainstream standards with  no physical attributes that might detract from beauty, no expansion of sex and gender ideas.  While they have taken a step in the right direction, we need to keep in mind that we are still seeing a media campaign.

'Tis the season and all that jazz.  We are inundated with marketing, at this time of year more than ever.   Before plopping down the plastic on something a store or manufacturer proclaims is the perfect gift for your daughter, sister, niece, etc.,  think about her interests, spend some time talking about subjects you enjoy and maybe you'll discover a shared hobby.  One place I like to browse for ideas is the http://www.amightygirl.com site.  The same idea applies to adults as well;  that dremel rotary tool on my wish list would a welcome surprise under the tree.  I might use it to make a piece of jewelry but that's okay too.  Girls don't have to eschew all "traditional" girl toys and activities, but they need to know they aren't limited to them.

http://feminspire.com/no-means-no-a-lesson-in-consent-for-all-ages/ It's an unfortunate outlook that seems prevalent in our society today: "Don't take no for an answer." Persistence is certain areas of life can be a good thing, but when it comes to consent, no always means no. As this article points out, "Society as a whole has a huge problem with accepting the fact that no means no." It's prominent in the media, on TV, in the movies, and all around us every day, and it's an extremely problematic way of thinking.