Empowering Girls Blog

Today Remind Your Daughter That...

2012-05-13T22:47:00.001+10:00

Today Remind Your Daughter That...

2012-05-12T20:34:00.001+10:00

Pretty Rad!!!

2012-04-14T16:04:00.003+10:00

Pink, Pretty and Princess: It is not Nature its Corporate Nurture

2012-04-08T07:58:00.001+10:00

The commercialization of childhood is reaching epidemic proportions worldwide; little girls still in nappies are already being bombarded with toxic messages from media, marketing and even toys.

Society reinforces these messages, as if pink, pretty and princess where genetically imprinted in every girl child. What is wrong with a cute four year old “princess”, playing dress up, wearing a beautiful pink frilly dress, pretty jewelry and glowing from a little touch of sparkle on her rosy cheeks? Nothing, there is nothing wrong with that if it wasn’t for the fact that there is an entire corporate machine ensuring that is all they have access to, that is all they can aspire to be.

Pink

In the mid 80s, as parents started discovering the gender of their baby through the rise of prenatal testing, marketeers found a new way to increase sales by segmenting the market. Gender neutral disappeared and we witnessed the birth of a new meme: pink equals girl and blue equals boy. From that point in time girls’ choices were forever reduced to a sea of superficiality.

Today in the pink isles of a toy store you will find makeup, jewellery, nail polish, frilly dresses, sparkly high heeled shoes, princesses, dolls with impossible waist lines and very little else. Items that drive one single message; that her value comes from her looks.

Science kits, games and building blocks rarely have a girl showcased on the product packaging and are nowhere to be found in the sea of pink that are the “girl” sections of the stores. The rare exception is likely to be simplified and beautified beyond recognition.

Pretty

Who benefits from making little girls obsess with their looks? The multibillion-dollar beauty and diet industry does.

What is their strategy? Get them young, objectify them, and sexualise them. Make them believe that they are what they own and how they look. Make sure that they know that their value is strictly dependent on external approval. Peddle unattainable ideals of beauty to ensure they are forever hooked, addicted to a never-ending cycle of consumerism as they try to look like the photoshopped girl in the magazine or the doll with the pin sized waistline.

The impact is significant; eating disorders are increasing all over the world and impacting girls that are still in pre-school. High profile institutions are also very concerned with the effects of the rising sexualisation, some of the most recent activity coming from the American Psychological Association, the Australian Medical Association and the UK Government.

What is the price of sexualisation? Lets first define it:

“Sexualization is not about healthy sexual development. All people are sexual beings, and have desires and thoughts that are a natural part of development. Sexualization is treating other people and oneself as an object of desire, with their value primarily from sex appeal and physical attractiveness. When someone is repeatedly sexualized, they begin to think of and treat their own body as an object of other people's desires. We call this self-objectification.” Dr. Jennifer Shewmaker

The price is paid by young girls as they enter their teen years. Pressured to follow the values and behaviors of celebrities like Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian, discarding professions that do not fit in with the stereotype, abandoning influential futures in STEM ( Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), showing lack of interest for leadership roles.

Princess

To date many of the princess characters have been portrayed as passive, compliant, in need of rescue and obsessed with external beauty. There is a glimmer of hope that the industry is starting to redefine this archetype. Perhaps Brave will forever redefine what it means to be a princess. We cannot afford another generation of women to be held back by stereotypes that weaken their ability to speak up, to assert their opinions and to acknowledge their value.

According to Peggy Orenstein the “Princess Industrial Complex” arrived in 2000 with the advent of the Disney Princess line. They earned $300 million the first year and $4 billion in the second year and by then there were 26,000 Disney Princess products. The choices are gone and little girls are peddled a combination of compliance, consumption and approval.

Pink, Pretty and Princess: It is not Nature it is Corporate Nurture

Every year corporations perform market research to determine what is popular for their target consumer segment. When anyone complains about the limited choices they market to girls, large corporate engines hide behind the research claiming that they are just responding to market demand. Do we really expect girls to come up with any other answer than pink, pretty and princess, after being peddled the same mind-numbing propaganda from the day they were born? It is a self-fulfilling prophecy! Corporations use the excuse that they know what girls want based on the stereotypes they have been promoting ruthlessly, using every single trick in the book.

Unplugging from the Corporate Matrix

As parents become more aware of the impact of toxic messages on their children’s future, they try to find alternatives, they look for ways to guide their daughters and provide them with empowering values. It is a very hard task, even if they manage to create an empowering environment at home, they have to deal with peer pressure at preschool, gifts from misguided friends and the fears of exclusion from social groups for themselves and their children.

The Rise of Pro-Girl

Some parenting and girl empowerment groups both online and offline are a safe haven where parents exchange advice, express their frustrations and share information in regards to books, media, toys and apparel that counter stereotypes or that are gender neutral. These communities are growing in number and strength and have also been able to influence corporations through the power of activism enabled by social media. Successful campaigns focused on Lego, JC Penney, Hamleys or Diva are good examples of the western world’s backlash against the sexualisation and stereotyping of girlhood. These communities are highly networked globally and can quickly self organise in defence of healthy girlhood.

Small values-driven businesses are also emerging focusing on apparel, toys, books and other media that counter stereotypes. But can small businesses really take on the corporate giants? It is hard, these businesses are typically ran by mumpreneurs, many rely mostly on word of mouth and online marketing, have limited investment capacity and spend most of their time driving literacy and awareness with parents and educators within their reach.

Our solution

A coalition of all pro-girl businesses from around the world, a values driven online marketplace similar to etsy.com but focused on products for girls. A way to unleash the passion of many into one single global brand, the combined power of the global pro-girl community creating a real alternative to the “Pink, Pretty and Princess Industrial Complex”. Taking back girlhood, showcasing that girls are strong, daring, intelligent, adventurous, athletic, outspoken, leaders and fun.

We already have the support of many Pro-Girl experts, not for profits and businesses, what we need now is the support of the general public. We need to prove that parents and educators care and are behind this project. Support the movement: AChainOfGirlGoodness.com

Inês Almeida

Chief Super Hero Wannabe @ A Chain of Girl Goodness and @7Wonderlicious

Inês recently resigned from her highflying role as an executive in a Global IT Consulting Firm to focus full time on this project: A Chain of Girl Goodness. She has an Engineering Degree in Computer Science and her experience includes business strategy, marketing, product design and development where Software is the enabler, leadership, organisational design, and change management. She is also the founder of 7Wonderlicious a parenting community and social business focused on overturning the gender stereotypes that limit our girls ' true nature and potential.

Dolls that inspires her to be active and sporty!!!

2012-04-01T09:29:00.002+10:00

I believe that when good people come together they can drive real change in the world. I am truly humbled by the support and generosity of all our partners in crime from all corners of the world. I could not have chosen to be in better company, these amazing sheheroes inspire me everyday.

Over the next seven weeks you will have the opportunity to win some amazing prizes. Items that were donated by our awesome partners as a gesture of support for the Chain of Girl Goodness. Businesses, not for profits and experts all connected by one single goal, to make the world a better place for women and girls.

I am delighted to introduce to you our first Shehero and her amazing giveaway.

Jodi Norgaard created Go! Go! Sports Girls™ Dolls as a fun and educational way to promote self-appreciation and the benefits of daily exercise, healthy eating and sleeping habits, self-esteem and overall healthy life-skills for girls ages 3-12.

Jodi created these dolls by working very closely with her expert consultant, her daughter that was 10 years old at the time.

Go! Go! Sports Girls™ are age and size appropriate. The image is innocent with a subtle yet strong message - appreciate and be true to yourself!

Jodi and her business the Dream Big Toy Company™ demonstrate that you can be successful without putting profit ahead of values, better yet, you can be in the business of inspiring healthy options and driving positive change in the world.

Jodi kindly donated three of her dolls in support of a Chain of Girl Goodness. If you are a blogger or own a website you have the chance to win one of the dolls.

Here are the detailed instructions on how to enter the competition:

1) add our Indiegogo donation widget to your blog or website by copying the html code bellow:

The widget will look exactly like the one at the top right corner of our blog page. You will need to keep the widget on the site until the end of our crowdfunding campaign (22nd May).

2) add a comment at the end of this blog post with the url of your blog or website.

3) the contest winner will be announced at the end of our crowdfunding campaign (22nd May).

Don't Worry! if you do not have a blog or a website you will have other opportunities to win a Go! Go! Sports Girls™ Doll. This is just the beginning!

IMPORTANT! I want to create a values driven market place, a market place where, in one single place, you can easily reach amazing businesses that care about the future of our girls. Please do help by donating to our crowdfunding campaign, I will not be able to move forward with this project if we don't demonstrate that there are enough people out there that support it.

Love,

2012-04-01T00:52:00.001+11:00

Have you heard the news? SheHeroes and New Moon Girls have launched a fabulous contest! They want you to help tell the Secrets of SheHeroes around the globe.

This contest is open to all girls under 18. You don’t have to be a member of NewMoonGirls to enter.

Deadline for all entries is April 30, 9pm, central daylight time. You can enter in two ways:

Make a short video interview of a SheHero in your community – see details below.
Watch the videos of women that are already posted at SheHeroes.org and make a short response video – see details below.

All entered videos will be posted on both the New Moon Girls & SheHeroes YouTube channels starting on May 20, 2012.

An international panel of girls and women will choose winning videos in 3 age groups. All the winners will be featured on both New Moon Girls and SheHeroes starting May 20! All winning video makers will receive special prizes.

Entry Guidelines for SheHero Video Response

Check out the amazing women already posted on the SheHeroes website. Make a video of yourself telling us what you think of a SheHero’s video and how it inspired you.

Entry Guidelines for Making Your Own SheHero Video

Find a woman in your life, school or community and on video ask her:

What did you like to do or study as a kid?
What challenges have you faced in your life?
What inspired you to become the person that you are today?
Why did you choose your path or career?
Ask her anything else you’d like to know about her.

All videos must be shorter than 3 minutes. Upload your video at:

http://www.newmoon.com/form/156/what-are-the-secrets-of-your-shehero?

You can enter as many videos as you want to before the deadline.

Girl Power!

I am giving away all 7Wonderlicious products in return for your support

2012-03-25T17:28:00.002+11:00

Every day I receive 5 to 10 requests to provide parents with recommendations of great products for girls. Parents are constantly on the lookout for:

gender neutral apparel,
books and movies with great female role models,
dolls with a healthy body proportions and age appropriate clothing,
games and toys that promote critical thinking and develop the passion for science, math, engineering and technology,
or any other item that counters the toxic stereotypes that surround our girls every single day.

At the end of this month I will leave my career as an executive in an IT consulting firm to work on a project that I believe can change the industry's standards in regards products aimed at girls. A project that will connect parents and educators with like-minded businesses that care deeply about the future of our girls.

This project is huge and I will not be able to move forward without your support. In return I am literally giving away all 7Wonderlicious products, including products that have been sold out for months and products that have not yet been released. I am putting it all on the line because I believe this project can have a massive positive impact to girls all over the world.

Today I start a crowdfunding campaign, will you please take part in investing in the future of all girls.

If my work over the past year has been of value to you and your girl, please help me create A Chain of Girl Goodness and in return I will share some awesome 7Wonderlicious goodness for the girl in your life.

Girl Power!

PS. over the next 60 days I will also be sharing with you some great surprises from our very generous partners in crime. Happy Dance!

11 year old Ashlee is set to change the world

2012-01-21T03:26:00.002+11:00

Guest post by our friend Ashlee Nicole Baritugo.

Hi, everyone.

My name is Ashlee Nicole Baritugo. Call me Ash. I am 11 years old born on January 9, 2001. I'm homeschooled but I think I'm going back to school after about three years! :) I am from San Pedro, Laguna, Philippines. I am the founder of www.thepowerofgirls.yolasite.com and it's Facebook page 'The Power Of Girls'. I made 'The Power Of Girls' because I was inspired by 7Wonderlicious and Operation Beautiful... I was also inspired by the hardships of my life. The hardest is not having much friends...I only have a 13 year old friend and a 9 year old friend. They both rarely go out of their houses... So I am pretty much a loner, I guess.

I was especially inspired by 7Wonderlicious because of every encouraging things they post on their Facebook page. I'm so lucky I found it. :) My mission is to help get rid of lack of self confidence, bullying, beauty issues ["fat talk"] and Girl limits boy limits [I kinda invented that. Girl limits and boy limits is like boys are only allowed to play with sports stuff, science stuff, cars etc. And girls can only play with dolls, make up, doll houses, etc.].

Are we gonna let our children grow up with the rules that they can only play with the toys they're SUPPOSED to play with??? NO. We will NOT. We shouldn't limit our children's dreams! We should be helping them FULFILL it. No matter how hard it is, we should still keep trying.

I want everyone who is reading to help me with my mission. Is that okay? Can you help me?

Thank you!

-Ashlee Baritugo. Founder of The Power Of Girls

--
You are beautiful, the way you are. -Ashlee Baritugo

Walking amongst giants

2011-12-29T01:31:00.002+11:00

This year was without a doubt the best year of my life to date. I may not be able to bottle up all that I have experienced, all that I have learned, all that was accomplished but I want to share with you in the next few blog posts a few key events that are relevant to this wonderful community. I start today with a moment I will cherish for the rest of my life.

I am not one that is easily impressed, as you can probably imagine I would not have started this community if I did not have an irreverent side to me that likes to challenge the status quo and cringes at individuals, communities or corporations fueled by ego and self-serving interests. This year I had the privilege and absolute pleasure to meet a few individuals that touched me deeply, left me humbled for the amazing opportunity I had to connect with them and inspired me to do more, so much MORE.

I spend a lot of my time supporting the women around me to acknowledge and speak about their capabilities and their achievements and I am in truly in awe of those that showcase these strengths, but I have to recognize that the leaders I connect with, that inspire me the most, that align better with who I am as an individual are the humble, servant leaders that spend little time focusing on their own image and interests instead focusing on the interests of their cause and community.

Amy Goodman is one of the hosts of Democracy Now a fully independent news organisation run by small individual donations that is literally taking the media back and providing a space for common people to have a voice. A media outlet not run by corporations or fueled by the interests of the finance, insurance, drug or war industries.

In June this year I had the privileged of spending some time with Amy Goodman. Although I was totally star struck and humbled by this opportunity I was able to shake it off and ask her a few questions and later listen to her wonderful speech that left me teary eyed, emotional and so so impressed with her lifetime achievements.

It would have been easy to for me to miss the giant and super shero sitting beside me in a wonderful summer evening near Chicago, a soft-spoken unassuming woman with a tiny frame, silver hair and a very kind welcoming open smile. It would have been easy to miss that this lady of strength and courage reports from the middle of war zones, was beaten up by the Indonesian army when trying to avoid the massacre of the East Timorese people and is one of the most knowledgeable human beings one can ever meet.

Amy is a wonderful storyteller, she does not speak, she sings, she paints a multidimensional picture, she takes you to a moment in history and analyzes the scene from a point of view of true humanity, raising the universal standard of justice around the world.

It would take me days to relate to you all that I have learned from this short but decisive interaction so I will touch on two key points; one is a lesson, the second a validation of my own belief system.

1) The importance of a truly independent media, of a truly independent point of view, free from corporate interests, free from advertisers, from corporate sponsorship, from corporate ownership.

Open and honest spaces that allow people to discuss the current issues of the day, that provide information about all points of view, not just the point of view of the privileged, of the powerful. A media that is not afraid of asking difficult questions, that is not under the shadow of the handful of big corporations that control 90% of all media.

2) That we are all interconnected at a spiritual level, that everytime we hurt one another we are hurting ourselves. I will not share the details of this conversation because we were talking about another great giant and shehero. This was not a conversation about religion; it was a conversation about a shared deep understanding that body-mind-community-planet-universe are intrinsically connected.

Amy Goodman allowed me to experience the kind of woman I would like to become, and the fun exciting part about it, is that I have a long long way to go and have a lifetime to attempt to achieve it. Because it is really not about the destination, what I really enjoy is the journey, with all the ups and downs, with all the struggles that allow me to appreciate the special moments like that weekend near Chicago where I was literally walking amongst giants.

Thank you Amy,

Inês

The impact of “Want to kill your daughters' self worth” aka @hamleystoys campaign

2011-12-18T22:36:00.004+11:00

Back in May this year I traveled to the UK on business and decided to visit the Hamleys toy store, at the time I was so shocked with what I found that I wrote two blogs posts about it. The 7Wonderlicious crew has been sharing these two posts every 6 week with our 60k plus followers on social media across our 1 facebook account and many twitter accounts. Here are the blogs posts:

Want to kill your daughters' self worth? stop by at the nearest toy store

Part 1 - the girls' floor
Part 2 - the boys floor

This blog post is our most popular post and goes viral every time it is shared. Both twitter and facebook enabled our community to share this story, which they do in a very passionate way. Groups like Pinkstinks shared the original story as well as many others across the world.

This week I went back in the UK and again visited Hamleys, I was so happy that they changed the floors and also stopped selling Bratz Dolls that I posted it on Facebook here.

Two days later the UK press was all over it, and another blogger was claiming victory for the events. Anyone following this community will know where it all started and all that we did together to make this a reality. You will also see that we shared the good news first.

Now here is what really really matters :)

what we have started has gone viral in the press and is raising awareness everyday of the damage caused by gender stereotypes.
what we have started turned into a meme, an idea that went viral and is now being broadcast by the powerful media to the hearts and minds of parents and educators that don’t always have the chance and the time to think about what is being consumed.
what we have started is being passionately owned by many groups in the UK who have joined the fight together with their communities.

So although for about 2.5 seconds I was disappointed and hurt that the 2 or 3 bloggers/organizations failed to mention us, the reality is I don’t do what I do to get credit by the media, I do what I do to make an impact and add value, and that my friends, was achieved 1000%.

During the past week I have received many emails from our tribe members saying how upset and sad you are with the events and stating wrong doing by others claiming victory, I have to say that I don’t agree that there was any ill intent. Memes travel very fast, people pick up ideas from conversations with others, from blogs, tweets etc. It is only natural that as our story was shared other picked up the words without ever connecting the origin back to us. If this is not the case…well who cares really :) we will be celebrating and feeling really good about the outcome and we will use this result to drives to do more. Right?

I want to thank you all for your support, this would not have been possible without you, our posts had hundreds of thousands of hits due to your social media sharing and your passion for this subject.

Lets not sweat the small stuff!

I am currently traveling the world for my day job, I have been on the road from November and will only return to Sydney in February. My travels include(d) San Francisco, London, Lisbon, Chicago, New York, Hamburg. I am trying my absolute best to keep our community active during this time. Hopefully with your help we can continue to make a difference across many continents.

Muahh!

Inês

7Wonderlicious - Empowering girls all over the world!

Happy parenting!

Children See. Children Do.

2011-11-09T03:00:00.001+11:00

Make your influence Positive!

Be sure to join us in our Raising Confident Girls online forum to connect with other parents and experts.

7Wonderlicious - Empowering girls all over the world!

Happy parenting!

Enough is Enough! Our children deserve more!

2011-11-07T13:26:00.001+11:00

by Elin Waldal www.elinstebbinswaldal.com

Be sure to join us in our Raising Confident Girls online forum to connect with other parents and experts.

7Wonderlicious - Empowering girls all over the world!

Happy parenting!

I believe my ideas should be heard!

2011-11-04T22:43:00.002+11:00

The meaning of feminism Vlog from ReelGrrls Workshops on Vimeo.
Also check out www.feministfrequency.com/

7Wonderlicious - Empowering girls all over the world!

Happy parenting!

Miss Representation Extended Trailer

2011-11-03T19:08:00.002+11:00

http://missrepresentation.org/

7Wonderlicious - Empowering girls all over the world!

Click on the image to order our Girl Power Toolkit!

Free To Be....Unbullied

2011-11-02T23:31:00.001+11:00

Free To Be....Unbullied
StopBullying.gov

Be sure to join us in our Raising Confident Girls online forum to connect with other parents and experts.

7Wonderlicious - Empowering girls all over the world!

Happy parenting!

I Loooveee my Hair, I Looveeee my Haaaiir...

2011-10-28T13:24:00.000+11:00

Muah!

7Wonderlicious - Empowering girls all over the world!

Click on the image to order our Girl Power Toolkit!

Rise Dark Girls, Rise!

2011-10-28T06:47:00.001+11:00

7Wonderlicious - Empowering girls all over the world!

Click on the image to order our Girl Power Toolkit!

Mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all? Who Freaking Cares!

2011-10-27T22:49:00.001+11:00

How can our amazing dark skinned girls ever feel good in their own skin while this madness is going on all around them?

1) The horrid ads for skin lightning products:

2) The lack of diversity in toy stores

Photos taken in Hamley, London's most popular toy store. I could not find one single doll that was not white and western looking.

3) The constant whitewashing in magazines and tv commercials

We Say...

7Wonderlicious - Empowering girls all over the world!

Click on the image to order our Girl Power Toolkit!

STOP the Fat Talk!

2011-10-26T07:34:00.001+11:00

STOP the Fat Talk!

7Wonderlicious - Empowering girls all over the world!

Click on the image to order our Girl Power Toolkit!

16 tips that will help your daughter overcome Gender Stereotypes #WonderliciousRevolution

2011-10-25T05:09:00.001+11:00

We are running a Wonderlicious Girl Revolution campaign this week, everyday we will focus on raising awareness and sharing information on a specific threat to girlhood. Today's theme is Gender Stereotypes and their effect on young girls.

Today we are rebelling against the pink and blue boxes. :) It is not a revolution against the colors themselves (we love all colors of the rainbow), it is a revolution against the limitations that the marketing departments of big corporations, the toy stores, the media and society in general are placing on the potential of each child.

If you want a detailed and very vivid illustration of this issue ensure you read our very popular blog posts: Want to kill your daughters' self worth stop by your nearest toy store – part 1 (the pink section), part 2 (the blue section).

Here are 16 tips that will help your daughter overcome gender stereotypes with your support:

1. Examine your own beliefs in regards to gender roles. Do you expect different behaviors from boys and girls? Do you threat them differently? Why?

2. Buy gender-neutral toys that stimulate creativity and help develop hand-eye coordination and motor skills, color recognition, patience and self-esteem;

3. Involve your daughter in sports and physical activity, as this is a very effective and essential strategy to build her confidence and self-esteem. It promotes better health, wellness and body awareness; it builds life skills and may create social networks. Ensure she knows you value strength and fitness in girls. It is also very important for her to get exposed to team sports as they teach her to work with others and help her learn social skills;

4. Limit her exposure to TV and to advertising;

5. Increase her awareness and understanding of gender related biases and discrimination. A great way to do this is to have her examine the different ways men and women are being portrayed in movies, tv shows, commercials and books. What are the differences? Are they real?

6. Encourage you daughter to speak up, express her point of view and ask questions. Encourage her to think like a scientist. Right from the time she cannot speak, ask her the question – well, what do you think and encourage her to respond. If she asks you a question and you don’t know the answer, tell her you don’t know and follow this up with – come, let’s find out. Encourage her to evaluate options when solving a problem, ask her to go over her options out loud, ask her what worked, what did not work and encourage her to reflect on the reasons for the different outcomes;

7. Encourage your daughter to try new things, to move out of the stereotypical “female” activities. Does she know how to fix her bike? Have you though her how to read a map? How about encouraging her to try a new sport that is not traditionally played by girls? maybe a martial art?

8. Let your daughter solve her own problems or at least attempt to do so. Encourage her to be creative in solving problems and “think outside the box.” Explain that there are answers to every question and solutions to every problem;

9. Encourage her to follow her dreams and interests. Advice her to do the things she enjoys and loves with commitment and hard work. Nurture in her the desire to take risks and achieve excellence;

10. Teach her to become financially intelligent and help her break the Disney princess culture that a woman needs a prince to care for her. A woman will only develop real confidence if she is financially independent and has the ability to make her own choices in life;

11. Take your child outdoors and wherever you can, identify and enjoy with her the beauty of physics, chemistry, biology and math. Your backyard is the best place to start;

12. Girls can be encouraged to love and learn math and science by motivating them to get their hands dirty trying out various things just like boys. Give them a lot of books on science, dinosaurs, books and material on construction and transportation. Provide games that develop spatial skills such as puzzles, model kits, checkers and chess, etc;

13. Be mindful of role play and the characters children adopt i.e girls are the nurses and boys are the doctors…etc. Play with them, help them adopt many different characters instead of the stereotypical ones;

14. Introduce her to strong female role models (characters and real people);

15. Expose her to a variety of career options and women who are fulfilled and successful in those careers;

16. Find reasons to praise your daughter but be genuine and keep it matter of fact. Compliment your child on skills, abilities, initiative, hard work, dedication and values. Minimize focus on appearance. Most of all, Believe in Her.

Happy parenting!

ps. If you wish to fully understand what is fact and what is fiction in regards to gender differences and the true impact of nature and nurture in your child's development we highly recommend the books:

"Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow Into Troublesome Gaps -- And What We Can Do About It" by Lise Eliot. Here is a video of Lise going through a summary of her findings.

"Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference" by Cordelia Fine. Here is a video by Cordelia going through a summary of her findings.

Here is also a very insightful video with Shelley Correll explaining How Gender Stereotypes Influence Emerging Career Aspirations.

7Wonderlicious - Empowering girls all over the world!

Click on the image to order our Girl Power Toolkit!

Sexualization of Girls - Theme of the day #WonderliciousRevolution

2011-10-24T09:23:00.001+11:00

We are running a Wonderlicious Girl Revolution campaign this week, everyday we will focus on raising awareness and sharing information on a specific threat to girlhood. Today the theme is Sexualization of little girls.

We love this video from Colorado College Psychology Professor Tomi-Ann Roberts as it provides you with a deep understanding of this issue. Please take the time to view it.

Happy parenting!

7Wonderlicious - Empowering girls all over the world!

Click on the image to order our Girl Power Toolkit!

Sometimes little girls need to just say NO! Join the Revolution!

2011-10-22T20:45:00.001+11:00

7Wonderlicious - Empowering girls all over the world!

Click on the image to order our Girl Power Toolkit!

Jackson Katz: Male Characters in Hollywood by @RepresentPledge

2011-10-20T08:01:00.001+11:00

Be sure to join us in our Raising Confident Girls online forum to connect with other parents and experts.

7Wonderlicious - Empowering girls all over the world!

Happy parenting!

Girls Change the World!

2011-10-18T10:52:00.001+11:00

Way to go Sesame Street. Share this with the girls in your life.

Muahh!

Be sure to join us in our Raising Confident Girls online forum to connect with other parents and experts.

7Wonderlicious - Empowering girls all over the world!

Happy parenting!

A Wonderlicious Rebellion - Our Shop is now OPEN! Happy Dance!

2011-10-13T23:00:00.002+11:00

Sometimes a little girl must say No! Today I bring to you a Wonderlicious Rebellion! :)

I must admit that when I started this tribe, I was a little naïve. I truly believed that inspiration, motivation and great role models would be the only tools we were going to need to support our girls.

I wanted young girls to experience the sparkly world of possibilities. To learn and develop without ever needing to understand or care about the unfair representation of girls in the media or the tricks played by corporate marketing to get them to be a lifetime consumer of their products…

But as I visited toy stores, reviewed children’s media and read the never-ending list of very depressing studies about eating disorders, problems with body image and self-esteem and sexualisation and objectification of children... I changed my mind.

I realised that it was very important to also provide media literacy and promote critical thinking at an early age.

I realised that we need to equip our girls with the ability to evaluate what they watch and hear. We need to teach them to question and to challenge stereotypes, and we need to do this at an early age because unfortunately if we don’t get to them first…they will:

Toy stores that are divided into girls/pink and boys/blue sections where the pink area is overflowing with items that send her one single message that external beauty is the only thing that can possibly matter to her.
Billboards, ads, magazines and dolls showcasing unattainable and highly stereotyped images of external beauty that do not represent the true beauty and diversity of real body shapes and skin colors.
The violence against women depicted in movies, on TV and in magazines.
The absence of women and girls portraying multidimensional roles in the media, from children's books to movies and tv series.

I decided to create a little tool to help parents and educators explain in simple terms what is right and what is wrong to a preschool aged girl. I am not suggesting in any way that you call attention to nasty things that she does not see: let's keep toxic media as far away from our girls as possible for as long as we can. DO surround her with a supportive and inspirational environment full of positive influences, but... when she does comes across bad influences and stereotypes and unfortunately she eventually will we have a created a very simple tool that allows you and her to simply say:

No!No!No!

It is a visual symbol of the Wonderlicious Rebellion, a gesture that will allow her to think critically about what she is experiencing and determine if it is not right!

Because as a girl she can proudly say:

I can do and be anything I wish to be, my imagination and potential are limitless, all the colors of the rainbow and toys are available to me.
I am a little girl, I have all the time in the world, I don’t need to grow up fast.
I want see real girls of many shapes and sizes, just like my friends and me, represented in toys, books, magazines, movies and on TV.
Skin and hair come in many beautiful colors; I want to see girls and boys that represent all the wonderful diversity in the world.
Yes! I am gorgeous inside and out but I am more than just a pretty doll to be looked at, I like to jump, to explore, to have fun, to get dirty, to learn and so much more.
It is not right to promote violence against girls or any other creature in the world.
Where are the girls? I want to see girls and women too.

As part of our Girl Power Toolkit and together with our posters, stickers and our story cards, you will also receive seven books of post-its with these designs so that when she and you come across something that it is not right, she can just take one of the notes and stick it to the book, magazine and even to on TV, or give it to someone else. A gesture that will make all the difference!

With your guidance and the help of our little rebellious role models we will guide her to critically question what she is presented with, disregard what is not right and embrace a girlhood free from limitations.

Learning to challenge stereotypes is an important building block to nurture the girl power seed.

Let the revolution begin today!

I almost forgot ... our store is now open to take your orders. I have only ordered from the printer 500 Girl Power Toolkits, as that is all I could afford to buy in advance, so don't miss out, ORDER TODAY!

Muahh!

Chief Super Hero Wannabee @ 7Wonderlicious