(More Than) Grrrl Power! Girls Studies at UCF

   Songs that are written or sang are primarily dominated by the culture around the artist and how they reflect on personal experiences. The domestic lifestyle was a valuable trait for women to possess in the 1950s and 1960s, therefore, most music produced by girl groups was about love or innocence. Today's culture is less prim and female singers, such as Rihanna, Beyonce, Pink and Jessie J characterize their music with sexuality, realistic emotions and a party atmosphere to relate to listeners. However, unlike the pop/hip hop music mentioned, female country singers encourage their audiences to be independent and embrace their inner thoughts instead of pleasing others. The songs and what they are about are listed below to indicate how gender roles in music have changed over the decades.  The McGuire Sisters - "Ev'ry Day of My Life" (1956)      The three sisters croon about being dutiful and loving to their admirer each day, "trying to do wha...

National Geographic    Meet the Hailstone family of Noorvik, Alaska and the National Geographic television show, "Life Below Zero." Each day, Chip, Agnes and their seven children live off the land around them and craft the remains of animals for trade, which supports the lifestyle of Inupiaq Eskimos (Agnes' heritage). From a young age, the Hailstone daughters were taught how to safely and efficiently operate hunting rifles, spot which caribou are pregnant to leave alive for the next season, and successfully skin each animal they kill. As an Alaskan, utilizing the entire prey is vital for survival and the family's business, such as when the oils of an animal's brain are used to clean knives and shine boots.          In the video above, the Hailstones hunt a gray wolf, which is one of the most valuable pelts that can be sold on the fur trade. Agnes discusses the importance of "freeing the soul" of the animal, paying homage to both ...

by Taylor Pittman, Voices Staff Writer, The Huffington Post “My goal is to show girls that I‘m fighting so they don’t have to.” Why Soccer Star Alex Morgan is Proud to Play #LikeaGirl

Menstrual Man Makes Waves in India Menstruation is something that unites as much as half of the human population, and yet the menstrual experience can be radically different for different people depending on where they live.  Girls growing up in the US are socialized to view menstruation as a nuisance that must be endured with as much discretion as possible, and thanks to the accessibility of disposable, easily-concealed products, this is fairly easy to do.  Since pads and tampons became readily available in the 1920’s and 30’s, it’s been possible for girls and women to remain active in sports, school and the work force without anyone ever knowing that they are menstruating  (Scharpf & Kauder Nalebuff, 2011) .  For women in other regions, however, the experience of menstruation is much different.  In areas in Africa, as many as half of all school-aged girls are unable to attend multiple days of school each month while they bleed because of insu...

Studies Show Environmental Factors Causing Early Puberty in Girls  Last year, Terry Gross of NPR’s Fresh Air released a segment on the age of puberty occurring in girls.  Gross interviewed the authors of The New Puberty , Dr. Julianna Deardorff and Dr. Louise Greenspan, who conducted a long-term study on puberty, following 444 girls aged six to eight years old from the San Francisco Bay area.  Their study found that, while it was once accepted that age eight was the earliest a girl would begin experiencing puberty, the age for puberty is now decreasing, dipping more and more frequently into the six and seven years-old range.  However, just because girls are approaching this turbulent time earlier in life does not mean that they are ready for it emotionally.  “It has been established that girls are more likely to have symptoms of anxiety, higher levels of depression, initiate sex and sexual behaviors earlier,” Dr. Deardorff told Fresh Air .  Matu...

"The exchange program aims to empower teen girls to break down cultural barriers and study subjects they love."                                                                                                            by David McNair via  Takepart "Hosted by the U.S. State Department and  Legacy International , the young girls—who range between 15 to 17 years of age and hail from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, Yemen, and Tunisia—are currently working side by side with American teens and leaders in the tech industry at the fourth annual  TechGirls exchange program  in Washington, D.C., and at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia."

"Former US President Jimmy Carter should be enjoying retirement right about now. But instead, the 90 year old (yep, NINETY!!) has decided is not done in leadership just yet. In an  interview with CNN , he revealed that for the rest of his life, he is making it his mission to fight against the injustices toward women and girls worldwide." “He’s doing it for the more than 200 schoolgirls abducted by the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram in Nigeria, for those who have become ISIS militants’ sex slaves and for girls everywhere who can’t go to school. He’s doing it for the  estimated 160 million babies aborted or killed at birth in Asia in recent decades  because they were not boys. He’s doing it for American college co-eds and women in the military who suffer rape and see the men responsible walk free,” writes Greg Botelho at CNN. Read full article HERE .

Now this is an intriguing concept. As technology continues to develop, so do the products that serve our most basic needs (deodorant, birth control, feminine hygiene). I was initially posting this to share the actual product as technology and hoping it wasn't too expensive to try...just to see if it actually works and could be the simpler version of cloth diapering. But I see that this product is associated with an initiative to provide assistance (financial, training, products) to Ugandan women. Ideally, this makes the product even better. Unfortunately (or not), I'm always suspicious when I see products that seem to potentially capitalize on ________ (fill in the blank with a social justice issue). However, I haven't given them a fair shake yet so will follow up with more research and/or encourage reviews of their products! They also serve as an example of the possibilities for women-run industries, ethical and mutually beneficial cross-global collaborations, and practic...