Gender Portrayal

Hollywood Climate Change: Warming to Sheroes or Still in Denial?

January 7, 2014 by Amy Jussel Leave a Comment

Jan. 7, 2014 2014 is the year of Redefining Girly. Not just Redefining Girly, the new book on gender stereotypes and sexualization of kids by parent actionist Melissa Wardy, but redefining girly in the creation of lead characters who aren’t all about form over function.Can you feel the climate change? The energy surge? The sardonic wit of media critics pointing out the tired … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Emerging trends & STEM, Shaping Youth Tagged With: Amy-Jussel, Bechdel Test, Brave Girls Alliance, Brave Girls Want, female superheroes, Female-Action-Heroes, Frozen and Catching Fire teen heroines, Geena Davis Institute, Geena-Davis, gender equity, gender inequity, Gender Portrayal, Keep Merida Brave, media matters, media-literacy, Miss Representation, money talks Hollywood, not buying it, redefining girly, See Jane, sexism, Sexualization, Shaping Youth, sheroes, Sheroes Sell, stereotypes in media, stereotypes-girls, strong female characters, strong female roles make more money, Top 50 movies by Bechdel breakdown, toy industry complicity, Vapid Values, Vocativ, Women in Film, Women in Hollywood, Women in Media, Wonder Woman film, year of women at box office

Disney’s Frozen: Critical Thinking Skills to Ice Out Personal Bias

January 1, 2014 by Amy Jussel 2 Comments

Dec. 29, 2013 “It was soooooooo booooooooo-tiful with snowfwakes evweeewhere wiff fweeedeee (3D) gwasses!” the five-year old’s eyes lit up and widened almost as large as the animated sheroes in the film (ok, admittedly not as huge as “her eyeball is larger than her wrist” dimorphism that body image critics are charging Disney with perpetuating, but BIG nonetheless)…Her … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Media Literacy Tagged With: 3D animation, body image in Frozen, Brave Girls Want, Critical-thinking-skills, Curse of the Good Girl, Disney-Princesses, Disney’s first female director, Disney’s Frozen, dual sided debate, eliminating personal bias, Elsa and Anna, Frozen, Frozen and Catching Fire teen heroines, Gender Portrayal, girls empowerment, girls leadership, Let it Go, media-literacy, Merida makeover, mind the bias, movie-merchandising, Norway tourist board, Project Implicit, Sexualization, sheroes, So Sexy So Soon, spot your blind spots, subconcious bias, talking points, toy industry complicity

The Tooth Fairy Is Not A Brand. Parents…Arise!

July 22, 2013 by Amy Jussel 9 Comments

Aug. 6, 2013 Update! Honored to be accurately quoted in this pithy parenting prose by Heidi Stevens in The Chicago Tribune's thrilled to see all the parenting pushback on Twitter that CCFC put together in this 'Storify' synopsis! (New York Times also covered CCFC's efforts here) Keep at it, families...save our traditions and narratives from marketing greed!July 22, 2013 It’s … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Branding & Consumerism Tagged With: ADA, Amy-Jussel, baby teeth, backdoor branding, brandwashing, CCFC, child exploitation, childhood rites of passage, children’s icons, Commercialization of Childhood, Consumerism, corporate accountability, corporate profiteering, dentists, direct marketing to kids, Disney Dia de los Muertos, Disney-Princesses, Equestria Girls, family narratives, Gender Portrayal, Hasbro, imagination, imaginative play, Mattel, media siege, media-literacy, My Little Pony rebranding, Official Real Tooth Fairy Dentist, parenting peeves, parents under siege, Pinkification, Pop culture impact on kids, princess culture, Save the Tooth Fairy, sexploitation, sexualization of children, Stop Corporate Abuse, storytelling, The Real Tooth Fairies, The Tooth Fairy, toy industry complicity, trademarking a holiday, trust breach, unethical marketing, Vapid Values

When We Were Free To Be: Revisiting A Classic w/Deesha Philyaw

December 18, 2012 by Amy Jussel Leave a Comment

Dec. 18, 2012 This year marks not only the 40th Anniversary of Title IX changing women’s sports forever, it’s also the 40th Anniversary of the cycle-breaking, movement-making pop culture childrens' classic Free to Be, You and Me created by one of my very first childhood ‘sheroes’ Marlo Thomas. Marlo Thomas’ Free to Be Gold record and '70s era bestseller flipped the script on … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Emerging trends & STEM, Growing up too soon, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, People Shaping Youth, Positive Picks, Pro-Social & Positive Picks, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth, Stereotypes & Diversity Tagged With: 40th Anniversary Free to Be, 40th Anniversary Title IX, 70s sitcoms, African American sitcoms, Amy-Jussel, black sitcoms, children's classics, Cinderella Ate My Daughter, Co-Parenting 101, cultural literacy, Deesha Philyaw, feminine versus feminist, Free to Be, Free to Be at 40, Geena Davis Institute, gender and media portrayals, Gender neutral toys, Gender Portrayal, gender research, Girl Child Press, Glee, kids free to be kids, Laura Lovett, Lego Friends, Lori Rotskoff, Marlo Thomas, media-literacy, Michael Jackson Grew Up, Modern Family, Nancy-Gruver, New Moon Girls, Norman Lear Center, Packaging-Boyhood, Packaging-Girlhood, Peggy Orenstein, Pop culture impact on kids, Pop-Culture, race and class stereotypes, SEL, Self-worth-kids, Social Emotional Learning, Title IX, When We Were Free to Be

Toward The Stars: New Online Marketplace of Goods for Girls to Soar

November 19, 2012 by Amy Jussel 5 Comments

Nov. 20, 2012 “To the moon!” was once an iconic working class phrase that 50s TV star Jackie Gleason made famous in mock-threat to his sitcom wife Alice in The Honeymooners. He'd shake his fist, “why, I oughta…kapow!” Nowadays, media like that would be rightfully trounced and denounced by domestic violence prevention and girl advocates across the board, as we instill … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Emerging trends & STEM, Growing up too soon, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Positive Picks, Pro-Social & Positive Picks, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth, Stereotypes & Diversity Tagged With: A Mighty Girl, Achilles Effect, Amy-Jussel, appearance, Black Friday, brain plasticity, Brave, change the channel of influence, Cinderella Ate My Daughter, curated kids toys, Cyber Monday, Geena Davis Institute, gender in media, Gender Portrayal, girl-empowerment, girlpower, healthier messages, in defense of girlhood, Ines Almeida, kids socioemotional health, Media-Kids, Monster High Dolls, neuroscience, New Moon Girls, No labels no limits, not about pink, PFZ Inc, PigTail Pals, pink and blue, Pink Think, Princess Free Zone, reach and teach, Redefine Girly, STEM programs for girls, stereotypes in toy aisle, Super Tool Lula, to the moon, to the stars, Toward the Stars, toys with positive values, USC Annenberg