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Tag Archives: society

Book Review: Bullied

10 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by in Book Review, Causes, Children, Family, Parenting, Politics/Current Events

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Today I’m reviewing Bullied, by Carrie Goldman. I received this book as part of a promotional tour, and I could not be happier that I did.

Everyone – parents, teachers, all adults, all teenagers, even younger kids – needs to read this book. Now.

Carrie Goldman came to the bullying issue when her first-grade daughter was bullied because she brought a Star Wars water bottle to school. Star Wars is for boys, apparently, not girls. Carrie wrote a blog post about the issue and the response was overwhelming. People wrote about their own experiences with bullying, women wrote about loving Star Wars, men wrote about being bullied because they were too girly. The massive influx of support inspired Carrie to look at the issue more deeply, and the result was this wonderful book.

Bullying is an incredibly complicated issue that involves not just relations between two children on the playground, but our entire society. Continue reading »

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How the Media Makes Us Hate Ourselves, And Other Adventures in Feminism

16 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by in Causes, Children, Gentle Parenting, Parenting, Politics/Current Events, Toddlers

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  • American teenagers spend 31 hours a week watching TV, 17 hours a week listening to music, 3 hours a week watching movies, 4 hours a week reading magazines, 10 hours a week online. That’s 10 hours and 45 minutes of media consumption a day.
  • Women hold only 3% of clout positions in the mainstream media.
  • 53% of 13 year old girls are unhappy with their bodies. That number increases to 78% by age 17.
  • The number of cosmetic surgical procedures performed on youth 18 or younger more than tripled from 1997 to 2007.
  • 65% of American women and girls report disordered eating behaviors.
  • 25% of women are abused by a partner during their lifetime in the U.S.
  • 15% of rape survivors are under the age of 12.
  • Rates of depression among women and young girls have doubled in the past ten years.
  • The United States is 90th in the world in terms of women in national legislatures.
  • Women are merely 3% of Fortune 500 CEOs.

As stats like these (and many more) flashed across the screen, I sometimes had to fight back tears.  Looking around the room, I saw the same dismayed expressions on the faces of my friends that I’m sure they saw on mine. I had gathered together a group of ten women to watch Miss Representation, a documentary about how the media misrepresents women and how that damages everyone. It was a wonderful night, full of friendship, wine, great conversations and many laughs. But it was, also, a very depressing night. Continue reading »