Thursday, September 22, 2011

Happy 'Day of the Girl' !!!

Today marks international Day of the Girl. School Girls Unite, which is an organization made up of students and young women leaders in the US and Mali who are working towards the UN's Millenium Development Goals (universal basic education, child marriage prevention, etc), has created this day to "highlight, celebrate, discuss, and advance girls lives and opportunities across the globe."  I recently started volunteering with 3rd-5th grade girls, and more than ever before have I seen just how important it is to educate young girls, especially regarding media and their perceptions (more on this later!).


The purpose of this day- Day of the Girl- is to advocate for girls all over the world by raising awareness of some of the issues that are unique to girls. Some of these issues include sex trafficking- which takes place here in the US as well as other countries around the globe; female mutilation; relationship abuse/domestic violence; education and literacy; and negative media images. This last one is one that I often highlight on my blog. You can check out these posts below for more on media, mixed messages, and advertising.
These are just a few of the posts I have written in the past on the media and its impact on how we view beauty, health, etc. If you have girls, if you work with girls, if you are a girl or woman yourself (!), if you live with a girl or are married to one, I would encourage you to have conversations about what you are noticing and seeing in the media about girls, women, bodies and beauty. There are so many negative and confusing messages out there, and by being mindful of what we see and hear, I think we are able to diffuse some of them so that we don't absorb them in the same way. I think at this point, its impossible to be impervious to all of the media's messages (because there are just so many!), but I think if we can take a pro-active stance and do our best to call out inconsistencies, then we're doing something!!


Take time today to think about how you might raise awareness about issues that face girls, no matter how big or small! Happy Day of the Girl! :)
Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. CarolineSeptember 22, 2011 at 9:52 PM

    Hi Meredith-
    I hope you are doing well. I wanted to let you know that Sweet Lemon Mag is a little behind schedule, but should be out by mid-October. I think the article turned out really well. Thanks again for your help. Just wanted to update you :). Have a great Friday!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Meredith Stokke, MC, LPC, NCCSeptember 23, 2011 at 9:51 AM

    Hey Caroline!
    Thanks so much for the update :) Glad it turned out well- and glad that I could help! Looking forward to seeing the first issue sometime soon- how exciting! Keep me posted- hope your semester is getting off to a good start. :)

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)