Growing up too soon

Halloween Beyond the Cliché: Packaging Boyhood Part Two

October 27, 2009 by Amy Jussel 13 Comments

Oct. 7, 2014 Update I realize I've been 'deconstructing' Halloween for years with pushback on the societal sexploitation of girls as we fiercely try to "Take Back Halloween" by mythbusting "market demand"...But the little boys' lens of how some of the girls costumes land on them is one to watch too, instilling critical thinking early on...in this case, two posts by SheKnows.com … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Emerging trends & STEM, Growing up too soon, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth, Stereotypes & Diversity Tagged With: aggression, boys, branding, Bryn Kressin, Buffed-Boys, childhood, Comics, communications, Gender, Halloween costumes, Joe Kelly, Kids, Lyn Mikel-Brown, Mark Tappan, media-literacy, packaging, Packaging-Boyhood, Preteen-Boys, Sharon Lamb, slackers, sons, superhero, superheroes, Trick or treat, tweens, USC Annenberg

“I’m Not A Prude, But…”

October 23, 2009 by Amy Jussel 26 Comments

Oct. 23, 2009 How many times have you heard that preface to a conversation about pop culture lately? Tweens? Teens? Okay, I promised NOT to do a Halloween Horrors bit on girls' costumes and tramp vamp cues (been there, done that) BUT the irony in the timing of this post from Australia titled, "Musical Tarts are Infecting Our Children" that referenced us here at Shaping … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Consumerism, Emerging trends & STEM, Growing up too soon, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth, Stereotypes & Diversity, Vapid Values Tagged With: Amy Winehouse, APA, artist, Australia, boys costumes, celebrities, Celebrity worship, childhood, coarse, commodification, DIY costumes, domestic violence, fatherhood, Fright night, frugal costumes, Girls Costumes, Girls Gone Mild, Green Halloween, Halloween, Homemade Halloween, hypersexual, Kids, Lady Gaga, Lily Allen, Michael Jackson DIY costume, mind pollution, modest is hottest, Music, objectification, Packaging-Boyhood, Packaging-Girlhood, parenting, Patrick Kennedy, Poker Face, pop music sensation, Pop-Culture, Pussycat Dolls, raunchy, rock and roll, Sesame Streetwalkers, sexuality, Sexualization, Sheeple, slut-ho, So Sexy So Soon, teens, Tipper Gore, Top Costumes 2009, tramp, Twilight, vamp

Josh in a Box: Helpful Advice For Parents of Teens!

October 21, 2009 by Amy Jussel 7 Comments

Oct. 21, 2009 What if I told you a few of my favorite advice slingers and youth analysis pros aren’t even parents at all? There’s Anastasia Goodstein of Ypulse speaking from the GenX pulpit (ok, her days are numbered; she’s about to go on maternity leave) and Courtney Macavinta of RespectRx...Along with wünderkind GenY entrepreneur and media machine Vanessa Van Petten, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Emerging trends & STEM, Growing up too soon, Interactive Games, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, People Shaping Youth, Positive Picks, Pro-Social & Positive Picks, Shaping Youth, Stereotypes & Diversity Tagged With: advice, advice slingers, Anastasia-Goodstein, as seen on TV, attention, be yourself, being labeled, branding, bullying, challenging, childhood, choices, cliques, core values, Dear Abby for teens, Digital, empowerment, foster parents, freak, free to be me, Gen X, Gen Y, generation, Global Fund for Women, healthy, Hey Josh for Grownups, Hey Josh!, Hey Josh.com, identity, In Her Shoes, influences, inspiring, Inspiring-Teens, Josh in a box, Josh Shipp, Jump Shipp, Kids, know who you are, labeling, marketing, Media-as-super-peer, Millenials, motivational speakers, MTV, negative labels, Odd Girl Out, outsider, parenting, Peer pressure, Preteen-Identity, pundits, punk, Radical Parenting, reality, relational aggression, relationships, Respect Rx, School Loop, teacup parenting, teens, teens and parents, troubled teens, vanessa van petten, verbal abuse, who am I?, YPulse

Packaging Boyhood: What About BOYS Halloween Costumes?

October 19, 2009 by Amy Jussel 21 Comments

Oct. 25, 2016 Update: Given that media is slowly giving more coverage to the impact of body image on boys, including wee ones as young as six years old being 'fat-shamed' and toddlers even at age three, it seems sites from WebMD to health platforms are finally beginning to 'get it' that boys are being impacted with buffed boy cues and puffy superhero abs too! Choosing a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Emerging trends & STEM, Growing up too soon, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Misogyny & Racism, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth, Stereotypes & Diversity Tagged With: action heroes, aggression, APA study, body dissatisfaction, Body-Dysmorphia, boys, boys Halloween costumes, buffed boy, bullying, candy scares, Case for Make Believe, children, cliche characters, corporate social responsibility, costumes, DIY costumes, dominance, eating-disorders, Gender, ghoulish, girlish, girls Halloween costumes, Halloween, Halloween horrors, Halloween makeup, health, heroes, Jackson Katz, Kids, kids costumes, Lyn Mikel-Brown, machismo, macho, make believe, makeup tips, male, Mark Tappan, masculinity, media-literacy, Michele Borba, Packaging-Boyhood, pimp costumes, pirates, power, prostitots, racy, raid boys souls, Responsible Men, revealing, salacious, scary, Sexualization, sexy costumes, Sharon Lamb, skanky, slackers, So Sexy So Soon, social-media, special forces, spooky, superheroes, Ted Rutherford, teens, tough guys, toxic cues to kids, Trick or treat, true child, violence, wicked innocence, youth

Blog Action Day: Inspiring Kids As Stewards of the Planet

October 15, 2009 by Amy Jussel 24 Comments

Oct. 15, 2009 Today is 'Blog Action Day' powered by Change.org, when over 12,000+ global writers turn their sites on one topic to reach millions of eyeballs one day to appeal to their own readership. This year the subject is 'climate change' and while I've written extensively about eco-kids, green gaming, and grassroots orgs like Cool the Earth tackling the issue, I needed … [Read more...]