Circle of 6 Campus Safety App: What It is And What it Isn’t

Update: March 7, 2013 It's official! The President Signed VAWA! Feb. 28, 2013 Finally! The Violence Against Women Act has passed both the House and the Senate and is moving on for final signing by … [Read more...]

Ground Hog Day: Super Bowl Sexism Keeps Popping Up

Feb 2, 2013 It's Ground Hog Day and as reliable as Punxsutawney Phil, parents and pundits await to see what shadows will be cast on kids from the Super Bowl media hype blaring at surround sound … [Read more...]

War Games Blitz the Homefront: Halo 4, Call of Duty Livestream

Nov. 12, 2012 There’s irony noting many who’ve never served in the armed forces are in a firestorm of shoot ‘em ups with newly hyped titles lobbed into the media mix like grenades bombarding the … [Read more...]

Wanted: Female Creative Directors To Change the Media Landscape

Update Oct. 30, 2014  This coming week Nov. 3 & 4, 2014 Kat Gordon's highly successful 3PercentConference circles back to its origins in San Francisco after gaining momentum across the country, … [Read more...]

Bratzillaz, Novi Stars, Monster High: Same Sexualized SnoreFest

Update April 7, 2015 Toy Joy! New offerings upending the toy industry to send healthier cues to kids: Lottie Dolls, GoGoSportsGirls, and now this new Kickstarter, Ember World adventure dolls, … [Read more...]

Mattel’s Manipulative Monster High Marketing Machine: Unkind.

June 15, 2012 Last year when I wrote about Mattel’s vampy campy Monster High dolls I purposely didn’t even name their brand, hoping it would quietly fizzle and bury itself in the outcry of parents … [Read more...]

Sexism in Video Games: Tropes, Trolls and Terrific Upstanders

Update YET AGAIN: Oct. 15, 2014 Reprising Anita Sarkeesian's important words, "The most radical thing you can do to support women online" given the cancellation of her Utah State University event … [Read more...]

Boys, Body Image and Sexualization: An Equal Opportunity Destroyer

Aug. 8, 2016 Update More new research shows marketing is responsible for creating body image issues with boys, which I've written about here, and certainly here devoted to the impact of 'bigorexia' on … [Read more...]

Miss Travel: Misrepresentation Way Beyond Arm Candy

April 26, 2012 “If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck”… It doesn’t take much inductive reasoning to see Miss Travel is afoul. That said, using critical thinking skills to see why … [Read more...]

Public Health: DV Grammys, Too Short Of A Memory, Sexualization

Update Feb. 12, 2016 With the 2016 Grammys coming up this weekend, I wanted to add two posts by the author of The Achilles Effect and Boys, Sex & Media as a ponderable question about what we're … [Read more...]

The Supermodels, Then and Now + A Chat With Janet Lansbury

Feb. 1, 2012 “25% of young women 18-34 would rather win America’s Next Top Model than the Nobel Peace Prize..." ..."And 23% would rather lose their ability to read than their figures” opens Lisa … [Read more...]

Love Is Respect: Teen Texting Tools Aim To Dial Down Dating Abuse

Feb. 2, 2015 Update February marks the beginning of "Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month" and given the powerful PSA from "No More" on domestic violence in the Super Bowl yesterday that I wrote about … [Read more...]

The Bro Code: Media, Masculinity & Misogynistic Misfires

Update Sept 3, 2015 From the maker of The Bro Code and Generation M, Thomas Keith announces his newest film trailer via Media Education Foundation titled, "The Empathy Gap: Masculinity and the Courage … [Read more...]

Man Down? Girl Up, Rihanna. Own Your Influence.

June 6, 2011 We interrupt our positive picks programming to hand over a pail and a scrub brush so parents can prep for the latest mop up of "young and the RECKLESS"... This week in Rihanna Redux, … [Read more...]

Using Media With Mindfulness

Update Jan. 14, 2016 Fame focus...don't bite the hook! Adding this excellent post by Ryan Holiday of the NY Observer calling out the recent Rolling Stone ratings raunch along with a slough of … [Read more...]

First Person Storytelling: The Real Deal Impacts Youth

Feb. 15, 2014 Update: Don't miss Frank Baker's fabulous article  about inspiring photojournalist Gordon Parks; perfect storytelling for Black History Month and year round engagement. Jan. 20, 2014 … [Read more...]

Vogue “Cadeaux”-Children ARE Gifts. Not To Be Wrapped & Sold

Jan 6, 2011 “You have to separate the art from the artist.” How many times have you heard that turn of phrase relating to everything from hotel smashing rockers and hiphop thuggery to mind-bending … [Read more...]

Tips From the Trenches: Re-Imagining Youth Activism, SPARK Change!

October 18, 2010 Ancient Chinese proverb: “The best soldiers are not warlike.” Welcome to youth activism 21st century style. (pithy "model waiver" for American Apparel street theater protest at … [Read more...]

New Spark Summit Social Media Widget! Share It!

 … [Read more...]

SPARK Ignites A Firestorm of Powerhouses: Geena Davis, & More

October 16, 2010 The countdown to the SPARK Summit (Sexualization Protest: Action. Resistance. Knowledge) is in its final week, culminating in the NYC Summit Friday Oct 22, 2010 and the hits just keep … [Read more...]