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Then and Now: What a Tangled and Toxic Web We Weave
Me, holding my daughter and my baby nieces. What messages are these girls growing up with? Media is a diet, and these days, we consume a lot of media. Screen time, advertisements, print, billboards,...
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Sexism is included in the ticket price at Legoland
This just in from a Pigtail Pals Parent after a weekend trip to Legoland: “After being there I realized the problem is far bigger than their friends line. The shows we saw have not one respectable...
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Sparkle Shoes
Sparkle Shoes, sans 80% of the sparkles. “Your shoes are ugly,” said the kindergarten classmate. “No they are not,” replied the 6yo Original Pigtail Pal, Amelia. “They are. Look how pretty mine are,”...
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Is Mattel Brave Enough To Make An Un-Sexy Doll?
Despite not yet having seen the movie, my entire family is quite smitten with the new Pixar film “Brave”. We purchased three books this weekend about the movie, and we’ve read them several times over....
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La De Da: More Fashion Dolls
La De Da dolls main character. While watching tv together this morning….. “Mom, are La De Da dolls appropriate? I don’t think they have too much makeup on.” -6yo Original Pigtail Pal “Well, some of...
View ArticleForget What the Media Is Telling You About Your Body
I need 4 minutes and 34 seconds of your day. I need you to watch this — every woman, man, girl, and boy — and I need you to absorb it. I need you to give yourself permission to start loving and...
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Purposeful
“At some point you have to wonder if this crap isn’t purposeful. And then you have to wonder why they’ve chosen to do this to our little girls.” –PPBB Community Member Miranda Lollis In response to...
View ArticleI Am Beautiful, In Every Single Way
This just happened: My family lives across the street from our state’s residential school for the visually impaired, and as I was walking to pick up Benny from preschool I saw one of their students...
View ArticleTwelve Year Old Girl Schools Her Teacher With Horrible Assignment
Love this, sent in last night….SMART girl! Hopefully her answer makes her teacher rethink this ridiculous assignment! “My daughter was asked whether she would like to be smart and ulgy, or pretty and...
View ArticleGo Look In the Mirror, After You Tell Me How You Feel You Look
This morning while getting dressed for school, the almost-seven year old Amelia rejected the t-shirt I had grabbed for her to go with her leggings and fleece jacket. It surprised me because it was the...
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Barbie in a Bucket
“Mom, how big is my waist? Like how big around?” asked my 7yo daughter, Amelia, this morning while getting ready for school. “It looks like it is seven years old big, just right for holding in your...
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Sexy Merida Did Not Take Place In A Vacuum
The redrawing and sexualizing of Merida did not take place in a vacuum. It is sexy Merida + cast of existing coquettish princesses + Barbie empire + Bratz + Monster High + Winx Club + sexy Tinker Bell+...
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Should – Guest Post by Cammy Nelson
“Should” – A Guest Post by Cammy Nelson “Should” is a powerful little word that has drained more energy, caused more stress and produced even more frustration than I want to think about for as long as...
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Fairy Tale High Makes My Brain Hurt
This is how girlhood is marketed to our daughters. What are they learning? Have you seen the newest doll for girls? Fairy Tale High is the latest to hit the shelves and I think it has all the...
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How to Talk to Kids About the Viral Adobe Photoshop Video
Image from Adobe Photoshop video. Smoke and mirrors! There is a video making the rounds that shows the transformation of a normal looking woman into a supernatural looking model via Photoshop. I see a...
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Bonding Over Beauty Isn’t So Pretty
Do you bond with your girl over beauty and the process to achieve it? Shouldn’t we be bonding with our girls over applying Band Aids to skinned knees, wiping dirt or finger paint off faces, fixing...
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Lying for The Scale: To Hell With That
Image via Fit Vs Fiction. Yesterday my friend and colleague Carrie Goldman (author, “Bullied”) tagged me in this post she wrote about her 10 year old daughter, K: “My 4th grade daughter told me that...
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Fancy Dresses and Hurtful Comments: A Lesson From Award-Winning Comedian...
A recent unfortunate event that comedian Sarah Millican experienced provides us with an important conversation starter for our kids. I’m uncomfortable raising my children in a culture where the public...
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This Is My Normal Face
Every morning I try to fix my hair or put on a touch of makeup to pull my overtired face together (I average four hours of sleep a night) before heading out with the kids. Usually only one happens,...
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Perfect Looking Girls at Target: Not Our Bullseye
The kids and I were running errands today and while walking past the girls’ section in Target my eight year old daughter Amelia asked me why all the girls on the signs looked perfect. At first I didn’t...
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