Margaret Krome writes: Countering marketers' messages to young girls



"For a parent, challenging a child's culture is a high-wire act. How do we criticize the cultural messages without criticizing the child? If they've been drawn in by the bombardment, which they may well have been, given the unrelenting and calculated strategies targeting this plum market sector, then it's hard for them and us to remember at whom our anger should be directed." Journalist Margaret Krome served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon.

Margaret Krome writes: Countering marketers' messages to young girls

Margaret Krome: Countering marketers' messages to young girls

By Margaret Krome

"Oh, Mom, look!"

At bedtime Friday night, my daughter and I sat laughing about sex stereotypes. I had retrieved a fragrance advertisement from the trash with Paris Hilton flashing a come-get-me pose. The ad describes the fragrance and its namesake as "sophisticated, sexy, sensual, high society party girl, 21st century socialite, trend-setting, glamorous and confident."

I had tossed the ad earlier that day but pulled it back out as an interesting object lesson.

We had just come back from the opening night for the excellent Project Girl exhibit at Edgewood College. Project Girl has been a yearlong engagement with middle school girls in the Madison area, exploring the effects of commercial advertising and mass media on their lives in discussion and art. (Susan Troller wrote about this on the front page of the March 2 issue of The Capital Times.)

There were girls' and other artists' depictions of real girls and of ways the media sexualizes and otherwise distorts their images. The program also included a presentation of girl-targeted marketing trends, images of girls and women, and examples of stereotypes, many of which I'd never noticed and many of which start very young.

The Friday evening audience was rewarded for braving a blustery night to attend.

We saw images showing how a racy adult culture is being aggressively marketed to teens, and how a phony teen party culture is marketed to pre-teens and younger girls.

We learned how marketers create the illusion of power, control and choice by offering pre-teen girls choices of lip gloss and tank tops.

Watching the media images flash by, I felt awash in 1950s stereotypes of princesses, tidy housewives, cooks and shoppers (I had never properly noticed how many little girl toys have purses with them), but also "mean girls," party girls and amazing displays of girls making boys and men happy by being sexy.

We saw "Math makes me dizzy" and "Little Hottie" T-shirts, Bling-Bling Barbie and Bratz dolls with pouty lips and sexy clothes marketed to little girls.

One of Wisconsin's greatest feminists, Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton, challenged such stereotypes as an assault on a girl's sense of self. She told girls how much society needs their full, engaged and complex selves and urged them to find their muscle and "reject any compromise to your dignity."

I was pleased that she also asserted that to reject such images isn't to reject femininity or our gender identity.

Last month, the American Psychological Association issued a report decrying the growing sexualization of marketing and other media images targeting girls. The association's Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls suggests it is likely that serious problems for girls will be demonstrated to result from such sexual stereotyping.

They note that studies have already shown the strong links between such sexual images and three of the most common mental health problems of girls and women: eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression. These as well as other messages are harmful to boys and how they view girls and women also.

For a parent, challenging a child's culture is a high-wire act. How do we criticize the cultural messages without criticizing the child? If they've been drawn in by the bombardment, which they may well have been, given the unrelenting and calculated strategies targeting this plum market sector, then it's hard for them and us to remember at whom our anger should be directed.

I'm sure my daughter and I will disagree at times about clothing, trips to the mall and makeup. But Project Girl provided a creative forum for a crucial conversation between us and helped us decode destructive media messages together.

Suddenly, we read "party girl" and "confident" on the fragrance ad in a new way.

We realized that the marketers were working to create the glib association between their product and being worthwhile, a party girl, and therefore, a confident, social success.

Maybe discussing sex stereotypes isn't my choice for every bedtime talk. But I was grateful as I watched my daughter take the bait off the hook she was handed and toss it away.

Margaret Krome is a Madison resident who writes this column every other week. E-mail: mkrome@inxpress.net
Published: March 7, 2007

Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: March, 2007; RPCV Margaret Krome (Cameroon); Figures; Peace Corps Cameroon; Directory of Cameroon RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Cameroon RPCVs; Journalism; Speaking Out; Children; Women's Issues; Wisconsin

When this story was posted in March 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:




Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers

---

Subscribe to Peace Corps News Don't miss our new web site, Peace Corps News, for the latest news about the Returned Volunteer community and what is going on with the Peace Corps around the world. Subscribe to our news feed to get Peace Corps news delivered to your desk as it happens. Then visit the Peace Corps Library, History of the Peace Corps, the worldwide RPCV Directory or leave a message for the RPCV community on the RPCV Bulletin Board.

---

---

February 23, 2007: This Month's Top Stories Hill announces Draft Accord in North Korea Nuclear Talks 12 Feb Dodd builds connections in New Hampshire 19 Feb PCVs accused of counterinsurgency activities 19 Feb Harris Wofford declares support for Obama 18 Feb Tschetter becomes the first Director to visit Malawi 16 Feb New Fellows Program at Yale University 15 Feb Sidney Slover helps start donut production in Honduras 16 Feb Kevin O'Donnell's Daughter and Granddaughter are PCVs 14 Feb Joe Krueger helps restore Liberia's timber industry 14 Feb Peace Corps Hippies 13 Feb Maryland RPCVs to screen "American Idealist" on March 3 9 Feb Aaron Kase writes: Moon over Africa 8 Feb Margaret Krome writes: 'Rogue nations' aren't only threat 8 Feb Shays says he would Support McCain 8 Feb A Mistrial for Lieut. Watada 8 Feb Chris Matthews drops the F-bomb 8 Feb RPCVs - Believe it or not 07 Feb White House requests $334 Million for Peace Corps 5 Feb Carol Bellamy writes: We need an Earth Corps 3 Feb First Group of PCVs arrive in Cambodia 2 Feb Mae Jemison wears red for charity 2 Feb Dear Miss Lonelyhearts 30 Jan

---

February 2, 2007: This Month's Top Stories Peace Corps Volunteers in Guinea Are Safe in Mali 28 Jan Lee Wilbur writes: Muslim media images are shocking 31 Jan Gregory Acker plays African drums for 3rd Goal 31 Jan "Jimi Sir" now available for free internet viewing 30 Jan Is Civilian Reserve just another Bush throwaway line? 30 Jan Tony Hall writes: What North Korea really wants 30 Jan Paul Tsongas remembered on 10th anniversary 28 Jan Ben Bell attends Washington march against Iraq war 27 Jan First Peace Corps Volunteers to Serve in Cambodia 26 Jan Phil Hardberger sees 'golden years' ahead for San Antonio 26 Jan Doyle wants smoking ban in Wisconsin 24 Jan Mark Udall to run for Colorado Senate Seat 17 Jan Meredith Walsh works with Burmese refugees 16 Jan Tschetter spends MLK Day with Habitat for Humanity 15 Jan Robert Buckley founds Himalayan Healers 14 Jan James Rupert writes: An aging king in Thailand 14 Jan Michael O'Hanlon writes: A Skeptic's Case For the Surge 14 Jan Senator Dodd opposes Iraq surge 11 Jan Pat Waak celebrates 2008 Democratic Convention 11 Jan Al Kamen writes: The six rules for Congressional Junkets 10 Jan Bill Moyers slams Bush on global warming 10 Jan Psychological biases favor conflict rather than concession 1 Jan

---

The Peace Corps Library The Peace Corps Library is now available online with over 40,000 index entries in 500 categories. Looking for a Returned Volunteer? Check our RPCV Directory or leave a message on our Bulletin Board. New: Sign up to receive our free Monthly Magazine by email, research the History of the Peace Corps, or sign up for a daily news summary of Peace Corps stories. FAQ: Visit our FAQ for more information about PCOL.

---

Chris Dodd's Vision for the Peace Corps Senator Chris Dodd (RPCV Dominican Republic) spoke at the ceremony for this year's Shriver Award and elaborated on issues he raised at Ron Tschetter's hearings. Dodd plans to introduce legislation that may include: setting aside a portion of Peace Corps' budget as seed money for demonstration projects and third goal activities (after adjusting the annual budget upward to accommodate the added expense), more volunteer input into Peace Corps operations, removing medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older volunteers, providing more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process, a more comprehensive health safety net for recently-returned volunteers, and authorizing volunteers to accept, under certain circumstances, private donations to support their development projects. He plans to circulate draft legislation for review to members of the Peace Corps community and welcomes RPCV comments.

---

He served with honor One year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor.

---

Meet Ron Tschetter - Our Next Director Read our story about Ron Tschetter's confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that was carried on C-Span. It was very different from the Vasquez hearings in 2001, very cut and dried with low attendance by the public. Among the highlights, Tschetter intends to make recruitment of baby boomers a priority, there are 20 countries under consideration for future programs, Senator Dodd intends to re-introduce his third goal Peace Corps legislation this session, Tschetter is a great admirer of Senator Coleman's quest for accountability, Dodd thinks management at PC may not put volunteers first, Dodd wants Tschetter to look into problems in medical selection, and Tschetter is not a blogger and knows little about the internet or guidelines for volunteer blogs. Read our recap of the hearings as well as Senator Coleman's statement and Tschetter's statement.

---

Peace Corps' Screening and Medical Clearance The purpose of Peace Corps' screening and medical clearance process is to ensure safe accommodation for applicants and minimize undue risk exposure for volunteers to allow PCVS to complete their service without compromising their entry health status. To further these goals, PCOL has obtained a copy of the Peace Corps Screening Guidelines Manual through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and has posted it in the "Peace Corps Library." Applicants and Medical Professionals (especially those who have already served as volunteers) are urged to review the guidelines and leave their comments and suggestions. Then read the story of one RPCV's journey through medical screening and his suggestions for changes to the process.

---

The Peace Corps is "fashionable" again The LA Times says that "the Peace Corps is booming again and "It's hard to know exactly what's behind the resurgence." PCOL Comment: Since the founding of the Peace Corps 45 years ago, Americans have answered Kennedy's call: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Over 182,000 have served. Another 200,000 have applied and been unable to serve because of lack of Congressional funding. The Peace Corps has never gone out of fashion. It's Congress that hasn't been keeping pace.

---

PCOL readership increases 100% Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come.

---

History of the Peace Corps PCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help.

Read the stories and leave your comments.