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• Pole Dancing Kits and Other Modern Toys

  Padded bras for first graders, bikini waxes for eight-year-olds, pole dancing kits sold alongside Etch-a-sketches in the toy store—excuse me, but how did this happen? How is it affecting girls' self-image? And, um, what happened to feminism? These are a few of the questions tackled in a recent Salon interview with M. Gigi Durham, author of “The Lolita Effect: The Media Sexualization of Young Girls and What We Can Do About it.” Read More... Posted May 21 2008, 06:30 PM by Hannah Tennant-Moore with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: barbie, sex ed, media, tweens, Salon, sex education, feminism, young girls, abstinence only, teenage girls, sexualization of young girls, gigi durham, pole dancing kits, the lolita effect, female sexuality, padded bras, sexualization of youth, bikini waxes, teen girls

• Target Sells Boys Powertools, Girls Purple Crap

  I'm in the middle of "Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers' Schemes," which I know is sooooo last year (I'm behind on my reading). So perhaps my knees had been primed to jerk just as this half-catalog/half-circular from Target, featuring all their new spring stuff for kids, showed up in the mail. I had initially thrown it aside, but then I noticed a $5 coupon. I started flipping. By about Page 4, I get perturbed. Read More... Posted Mar 07 2008, 08:51 AM by Madeline Holler with | with 27 comment(s) Filed under: doll, Target, girl power, gender differences, dress up, young girls, boys toys, toys for 2008

• Naughty or Nice? Who Cares? Lingerie Dolls Are A Perfect Holiday Gift

  I am super excited about the just-mailed Victoria’s Secret holiday catalogue because it’s going to make “Santa’s” job so much easier when it comes to gifts for my daughters. I have been wondering how to get my older one more interested in her appearance and the sexy, sexy things that are out there for her to experiment with, feel pretty in, those things that will help her upgrade from just girl to an even better girly-girl. I mean, right now her response to bras is giggles, maybe a rousing chant of “boobs, boobs!” with her little sister, so I’d like to find a way to get her to take it more seriously. After all, she’s going to be seven years old soon. Enter: the VS Pink label ... Read More... Posted Nov 01 2007, 05:03 PM by Madeline Holler with | with no comments Filed under: doll, Toys for 2007, Madeline Holler, girl power, lingerie, dress up, young girls