New Moon Girls Chat

[Cynthia Mosher]

Mothering would like to have run this news piece in its weekly newsletter but the timing doesn't make it possible. So we thought we could at least put it here for MDCers that might be interested.

The Kaiser Family Foundation released a report yesterday showing 8- to 18-year-olds "live media-saturated lives.” http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_...detail&hc=1377

But just because kids are consuming media doesn’t mean they are happy with what they are seeing.

Girls are fed-up with the sexism and impossible images of women they see in movies and TV, say the 16 girls ages 8-14 who edit New Moon: The Magazine For Girls And Their Dreams:

“I get mad when movies portray girls as weaklings who must be saved by the muscle-laden male hero.” –Selene, 10

“I feel slightly betrayed when I watch a movie that doesn’t have any strong female characters. Maybe they think we like this stuff.” –Kelly, 14

“We need to let Hollywood know their consumers are unhappy with the images they are being force-fed.” –Carly, 14.

The New Moon girls are issuing a direct challenge to Hollywood executives and other media professionals to improve the standing of girls and women in movies and TV.

Two of our girl editors, Amanda and Clare, both 13, will be chatting online with girls across the nation on Sunday, March 13th, from 2 – 3 p.m. CST. Amanda and Clare want to get the girls’ opinions and ideas about movies and TV to take to the Turn Beauty Inside Out (TBIO) Conference in LA in April. Nell Minow, yahoo’s “Movie Mom” reviewer, will be leading the discussion.

It’s an excellent opportunity to chat with 8 of the girls who will be featured in New Moon’s May/June “25 Beautiful Girls” issue (our answer to People’s “50 Most Beautiful People”). The girls are from New York, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, Texas, and Minnesota.

The chat is limited to 20 girls. Anyone interested will need to contact catherine of new moon for the password and access info. She will check her email today and tomorrow morning for any requests.

[e-mail]

You can also request a Turn Beauty Inside Out Day Action Kit at www.tbio.org.

[Cynthia Mosher]

If you'd like to read the transcripts of the chat you can download the PDF file of it here:
http://www.newmoon.org/About_Us/gebchattranscript.pdf

[Cynthia Mosher]

More from the Turn Beauty Inside Out conference:
Here's a link to a blog that girls will post to during conference April 13-15. Participating girls will report after each session. It'll be a great way for folks who can't be there to get a peek at what's going on!

http://tbio2005.blogspot.com/

[fourgrtkidos]

Thanks!!!