I have just been playing with the creepiest website aimed at young girls. I've got to have a rant about it.
Yesterday's New York Times (June 6, 2007) ran a story about interactive websites aimed at girls, including a number of sites that allow users to dress dolls. What a great idea, eh? Something that is designed to engage girls in using technology. My daughter is a real doll lover, so I thought I'd take a look - maybe she could use one of them.
Yikes. Feminism fails again, it seems. Society has obviously learned nothing.
Take a look at www.cartoondollemporium.com and try making a few of the dolls. Just about every "doll" I looked at was:
- skinny
- slender-waisted in a Barbie-esque way
- strongly featuring breasts, even on the ones with no hips which are obviously meant to be young girls
- wide-eyed or pouting
- posed in a vulnerable or "come hither" stance
- and I could go on!
I had two favorites. The first was "Belle of the Ball". This snake-hipped young chick comes dressed in underwear (nudity is, at least, not an option) and you add all kinds of clothes to her. By the time I had added a see-through skirt, laced-up corset, long black gloves, fishnet stockings, sparkling hair ornament, big earrings and high heeled shoes I had created - a hooker. No other way to describe it. Then I spotted the "Prom Date" option. Hmm. Yes, you can add a protective male to "escort" this girl to her big night. Should I choose the Michael Jackson lookalike? How about the foolish creature in a silver suit who is giving her demeaning bunny ears behind her back? No, I decided on the dapper guy with his arm slung protectively around her shoulders. (It made me think of the early humans exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, which assumes - without any evidence - that two sets of tracks must have been created by a big male protecting a smaller female.)
My second favorite was "Greek" (by "Deborah") who is listed under the "Seasonal" category. This is the Christmas Hooker. You have to see it to believe it: the Santa girl in stockings.
There was only one contributing artist whose "dolls" were even slightly acceptable: "Sandra", recently arrived in the USA from Sweden, who was displaying more feminist (and maybe European?) sensibilities. Her women have breasts, not balloons. Some of her dolls are doing stuff: she has a female knight, and a female viking, for example. She has real characters, like Oprah and Hillary Clinton: and they are presented in regular kinds of women shapes. Applause to you, Sandra.
Haven't we learned anything? As a mother, I can see that my daughter would love to play with a website like this. It is a really fun idea to have all these options, bright colors, fashion ideas and so on. But does it have to be a meat market of virtual flesh? Do we have to offer the kids such a demeaning set of choices?
Go take a look at that report on the sexualization of girls by the American Psychological Association that I mentioned a couple of posts ago. This stuff really harms our girls.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
That Goodbye Time of Year
The end of the academic year is upon us at Stanford, and so we are saying goodbye to some of our community. Yesterday, our undergraduate research assistant said goodbye till 2008 - she is off on an exciting, and much sought after, fieldwork program. We hope she'll be back at the Institute in the future, with a whole load of new skills and great stories.
Today, we had a special lunch to say goodbye to this year's Graduate Dissertation Fellows. We usually have seven "GDFs", but this year we had 10, through the generosity of Adina Paytan. Adina is currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Earth Sciences, but will also be leaving Stanford this Summer. We will be sorry to see her go, as she has been a strong supporter of the Clayman Institute, and is very active in pursuit of equal treatment for women in the STEM fields. (That's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, for those uninitiated to the jargon.) Adina had some spare money to use on student activities and she decided that the best use for it was to support more young scholars. We could only agree, and we were delighted that she gave the money to our GDF program.
Each year, we give each GDF a stipend of $3,000, and they benefit from monthly meetings where they can share work in an interdisciplinary setting and, perhaps even more importantly, in a safe space where they can ask all kinds of questions and show their ignorance about different fields of research in the knowledge that no one will laugh at them or think less of them. (Needless to say, as their facilitator, I model this behavior for them, as I rarely know anything about anything they are talking about.... And they all know so much!) We really wish we could give our GDFs a larger stipend. I've been looking at other fellowships around Stanford, and find that they go up as high as $30,000 in some cases - with tuition fees paid - and with office space. Wow. We've got some way to go..... Luckily graduate students apply for our fellowship program because of its prestige, and not for the money.
Our GDFs are working on some incredible research, from Mukta Sharangpani's study of violence of all kinds against women in India, to Brooke Ricalde's consideration of the relationship between human capital, social capital, financial capital and gender in Peru's small business sector, and Michelle Zamora's examination of female knowledge and leadership in Mexica tradition and culture. They shared some powerful work at our informal meetings during the course of the year and I, for one, am much better educated as a result! I think Mukta's chilling descriptions of methods of infanticide may live with me forever.
Each year, the GDF group leaves me with at least one highly memorable fact or theory that I just have to share with others. I have to say that my favorite so far is Tiffany Romain's description of the annual "Frozen Dead Guy" festival in the town of Nederland, Colorado. Tiffany was studying cyrogenics and the practice of freezing eggs and embyros for reproductive use, but this story about the town that is proud to acknowledge the frozen man kept in a local shed just took the blue ribbon. (And it's really true - see http://www.legendsofamerica.com/CP-FrozenDeadGuy.html for the story of Grandpa Bredo Morstoel, who died in 1989 and has been frozen ever since. If you want to find out about the festival, visit http://www.nederlandchamber.org/FrozenDeadGuyDays/index.html.)
OK, I digress. I just love that story, I've told it lots of times. People find it so hard to believe.
I'm really thrilled to say that four of this year's GDFs are leaving Stanford for full-time employment: Kjersten Whittington moves to Reed College as an Assistant Prof in Sociology; Sapna Cheryan becomes an Assistant Prof at the University of Washington in Seattle; Nikki Slovak will be teaching at Santa Rosa Community College; and Brooke Ricalde will be our ambassador for gender analysis at McKinsey, the management consultancy. Jessica Payette, Karen Rapp, Kari Zimmerman, Michelle Zamora, Mukta Sharangpani, and Lalaie Ameeriar will be continuing their studies at Stanford. You can read more about their work on our website at http://www.stanford.edu/group/gender/FundingOpportunities/GradDissertCurrentFellows.html.
We have loved having all of them at the Institute this year.
Today, we had a special lunch to say goodbye to this year's Graduate Dissertation Fellows. We usually have seven "GDFs", but this year we had 10, through the generosity of Adina Paytan. Adina is currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Earth Sciences, but will also be leaving Stanford this Summer. We will be sorry to see her go, as she has been a strong supporter of the Clayman Institute, and is very active in pursuit of equal treatment for women in the STEM fields. (That's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, for those uninitiated to the jargon.) Adina had some spare money to use on student activities and she decided that the best use for it was to support more young scholars. We could only agree, and we were delighted that she gave the money to our GDF program.
Each year, we give each GDF a stipend of $3,000, and they benefit from monthly meetings where they can share work in an interdisciplinary setting and, perhaps even more importantly, in a safe space where they can ask all kinds of questions and show their ignorance about different fields of research in the knowledge that no one will laugh at them or think less of them. (Needless to say, as their facilitator, I model this behavior for them, as I rarely know anything about anything they are talking about.... And they all know so much!) We really wish we could give our GDFs a larger stipend. I've been looking at other fellowships around Stanford, and find that they go up as high as $30,000 in some cases - with tuition fees paid - and with office space. Wow. We've got some way to go..... Luckily graduate students apply for our fellowship program because of its prestige, and not for the money.
Our GDFs are working on some incredible research, from Mukta Sharangpani's study of violence of all kinds against women in India, to Brooke Ricalde's consideration of the relationship between human capital, social capital, financial capital and gender in Peru's small business sector, and Michelle Zamora's examination of female knowledge and leadership in Mexica tradition and culture. They shared some powerful work at our informal meetings during the course of the year and I, for one, am much better educated as a result! I think Mukta's chilling descriptions of methods of infanticide may live with me forever.
Each year, the GDF group leaves me with at least one highly memorable fact or theory that I just have to share with others. I have to say that my favorite so far is Tiffany Romain's description of the annual "Frozen Dead Guy" festival in the town of Nederland, Colorado. Tiffany was studying cyrogenics and the practice of freezing eggs and embyros for reproductive use, but this story about the town that is proud to acknowledge the frozen man kept in a local shed just took the blue ribbon. (And it's really true - see http://www.legendsofamerica.com/CP-FrozenDeadGuy.html for the story of Grandpa Bredo Morstoel, who died in 1989 and has been frozen ever since. If you want to find out about the festival, visit http://www.nederlandchamber.org/FrozenDeadGuyDays/index.html.)
OK, I digress. I just love that story, I've told it lots of times. People find it so hard to believe.
I'm really thrilled to say that four of this year's GDFs are leaving Stanford for full-time employment: Kjersten Whittington moves to Reed College as an Assistant Prof in Sociology; Sapna Cheryan becomes an Assistant Prof at the University of Washington in Seattle; Nikki Slovak will be teaching at Santa Rosa Community College; and Brooke Ricalde will be our ambassador for gender analysis at McKinsey, the management consultancy. Jessica Payette, Karen Rapp, Kari Zimmerman, Michelle Zamora, Mukta Sharangpani, and Lalaie Ameeriar will be continuing their studies at Stanford. You can read more about their work on our website at http://www.stanford.edu/group/gender/FundingOpportunities/GradDissertCurrentFellows.html.
We have loved having all of them at the Institute this year.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Are you raising your daughter to be an over-pressured sexy supergirl?
I bet that's not a question the parents out there get asked very often!
On the plane back from the NCRW conference in Atlanta, I read two reports of great interest to parents of girls - in fact, to anyone who cares about how girls view themselves, and the role they will be taking in society as they get older.
First, "Report of the American Psychological Association's Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls." (May 2007). It's an easier read than it may sound! You can download a copy from: www.apa.org/pi/wpo/sexualization.html
- or request a printed copy from Leslie Cameron at the APA on lcameron@apa.org
It has all kinds of interesting things to say about a huge range of influences on how girls see themselves (and are seen by others) from toys that encourage a sexualized view of women and girls (think Bratz), through the media and advertising, to the new fashion for "sexy" underwear for little girls (the prime example being a little girl in a thong, an article of clothing that started life as stripper wear....).
The second report comes from Girls Inc, which is a great organization with many effective programs to ensure girls, especially from disadvantaged backgrounds, have higher self-esteem and more opportunities. The report, "The Supergirl Dilemma: Girls Grapple with the Mounting Pressure of Expectations", is an analysis of a survey that examined the beliefs of about 3,000 people (girls, boys, and parents). It asked, for example, whether the respondents believe it is true that teachers think it is less important for girls to study math; or whether girls should make marriage one of their life goals. The study looks at girls in 3rd to 12th grade. It is available as a PDF on their website, www.girlsinc.org. Well worth a look.
One of the great things about being at the NCRW conference was the chance to meet so many of the researchers who are creating wonderful research on gender issues in all areas of life, from domestic violence and reproductive rights to workplace issues and international development. I plan to share some of this with you over time, and hopefully wet your appetite for some unguided exploration of what women's studies and gender research can offer to all of us, whether we are parents, employers, students, politicians, service providers, or just plain curious.
On the plane back from the NCRW conference in Atlanta, I read two reports of great interest to parents of girls - in fact, to anyone who cares about how girls view themselves, and the role they will be taking in society as they get older.
First, "Report of the American Psychological Association's Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls." (May 2007). It's an easier read than it may sound! You can download a copy from: www.apa.org/pi/wpo/sexualization.html
- or request a printed copy from Leslie Cameron at the APA on lcameron@apa.org
It has all kinds of interesting things to say about a huge range of influences on how girls see themselves (and are seen by others) from toys that encourage a sexualized view of women and girls (think Bratz), through the media and advertising, to the new fashion for "sexy" underwear for little girls (the prime example being a little girl in a thong, an article of clothing that started life as stripper wear....).
The second report comes from Girls Inc, which is a great organization with many effective programs to ensure girls, especially from disadvantaged backgrounds, have higher self-esteem and more opportunities. The report, "The Supergirl Dilemma: Girls Grapple with the Mounting Pressure of Expectations", is an analysis of a survey that examined the beliefs of about 3,000 people (girls, boys, and parents). It asked, for example, whether the respondents believe it is true that teachers think it is less important for girls to study math; or whether girls should make marriage one of their life goals. The study looks at girls in 3rd to 12th grade. It is available as a PDF on their website, www.girlsinc.org. Well worth a look.
One of the great things about being at the NCRW conference was the chance to meet so many of the researchers who are creating wonderful research on gender issues in all areas of life, from domestic violence and reproductive rights to workplace issues and international development. I plan to share some of this with you over time, and hopefully wet your appetite for some unguided exploration of what women's studies and gender research can offer to all of us, whether we are parents, employers, students, politicians, service providers, or just plain curious.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Into a brave new world?
I spent most of the week at the National Council of Research on Women's annual conference in Atlanta, representing my employer, Stanford University's Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research. There's always a bunch of take-aways from something like that - read this book, connect with that other center, did you know about XYZ? - but one of the suggestions was, try a blog. So here I am, inspired by one of the young students commenting that email is "sooooo twentieth century".
Hey, I'm not 40 yet y'know.
I'm going to use this blog to talk about the work of the Clayman Institute and share some of the great research that is out there on women and gender, especially gender issues in science.
Got gender? Yup, you do.
Hey, I'm not 40 yet y'know.
I'm going to use this blog to talk about the work of the Clayman Institute and share some of the great research that is out there on women and gender, especially gender issues in science.
Got gender? Yup, you do.
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