Re-Defining Gender
Expectations Through Girls’
Coalition Groups
National Conference on Girls’ Education
April 11, 2012
Emily Brostek, MPH, CHES
Training Institute Manager
About Hardy Girls Healthy Women
Envisioning a world where girls
experience independence,
safety and equality in their
everyday lives
• Programs for girls
• Training and resources
for adults who work with
girls
www.hghw.org
Overview
• Challenges facing girls today
• Cultural landscape of girls
• The solution: Girls’ Coalition Groups
www.hghw.org
What Challenges Do Girls Face
Today?
www.hghw.org
Challenges of Adolescence
• Psychological struggles
– Drop in self confidence & self-esteem
– Struggles with body image & disordered eating
– Increase in depression, suicidal thoughts, selfcutting behavior
• Behavioral issues
– Fighting
– Drugs
– Early sexual activities
www.hghw.org
Why Is This Happening?
Girls aren’t the problem – they’re the solution!
www.hghw.org
Media Use and Kids
• 8-18 year olds spend 7.5 hours/day using
entertainment media
– Can pack 10 hours and 45 min of content into
those 7.5 hours with ‘media multitasking’
• 11-14 year olds get close to 12 hours/day of
entertainment media
Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds. Kaiser Family Foundation. 2009.
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What Messages Are They
Hearing?
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The Cultural Landscape of Girls
Girl as Consumer Citizen
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Marketer’s Schemes
“If you don’t target the consumer in her
formative years, you’re not going to be relevant
through the rest of her life.” –Proctor & Gamble
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The New Girl Power
The power to…
– Make yourself over
– Shop
– Be hot
– Fight
– Choose among different TYPES of girls to be
www.hghw.org
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The Power To Shop
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The Power of Makeovers
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And the Makeovers Start Early…
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The New Dora
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One Way to Grow Up
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The Power To Fight
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Girl Fighting (not girl helping)
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Girlfighting Can Sell Anything
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The Real Impact of Girlfighting in
the Media
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The Power to Party
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The Power To Be Sexy
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Eroding the Boundaries
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American Psychological Association
Report on the Sexualization of Girls
What is sexualization?
• A persons’ value comes only from
his or her sexual appeal
• Physical attractiveness=sexiness
• A person is sexually objectified
• Sexuality is inappropriately imposed
on someone (ie, children)
www.hghw.org
Consequences of Sexualization
• Ability to concentrate and focus
• Mental health problems (eating disorders,
low self-esteem, depression)
• Unhealthy sexuality
• Negative impact on own sexuality
• Negative impact on others and society
www.hghw.org
What Can We Do?
www.hghw.org
Changing Our Perspective
• From individuals to relationships and
community
• From deficits to strengths
• From surviving to thriving
www.hghw.org
Cultivating Hardiness Zones
Hardiness is…
• A way of talking about strength and resilience
• Moves beyond an individual girl’s problems, her
“odds-defying” behavior, or her need for “one
caring adult”
• Focuses on the social context
– What kind of relationships and communities does she
need to grow and thrive?
www.hghw.org
Starting with Girls’ Strengths
• Desire to be heard and taken seriously
• Courage “to speak one’s mind with all one’s
heart”
• Capacity to name and get angry at injustice
and hurt
• Desire for real connections
• Potential to work and have fun together
www.hghw.org
The Solution: Girls Coalition
Groups
www.hghw.org
Creating Coalitions
• Coalition – a group of people who share a
value system and a purpose
– Allies (not necessarily friends)
www.hghw.org
Being a Muse
• Source of inspiration
• Recognize and draw out girls’ genius
• Focus on inner resources
• Relational model –both possess vulnerabilities
and strengths; both contribute to the
relationship.
Amy Sullivan, 1996.
www.hghw.org
From Adversaries to Allies
A curriculum to help you…
– Create an active coalition of
girls
– Provide activities and
facilitation for group
discussion
– Give girls a foundation for
social change
www.hghw.org
What Girls Are Saying
“I learned a lot…that being beautiful isn’t
something out of a magazine. It isn’t a model or
people on TV because those people aren’t real.
They do all that stuff with the computer and
brush up things. Beauty isn’t something that’s all
looks either it’s something inside and it’s who you
are and what you do.” -7th grader
www.hghw.org
What Girls Are Saying
“I trust everybody in the group and I tell
everybody everything now. Like if I have a
problem against them I’ll tell them and they
tell me and we always fix it and everything.
It’s helped a lot.” - 8th grader
www.hghw.org
Getting Started
• How many?
– 6-12 girls in a group
• How often?
– Meet for 45-60 minutes per week through school
year
www.hghw.org
From Adversaries to Allies:
Overview
•
•
•
•
•
Unit 1: We’re In This Together
Unit 2: Researching Girl Culture
Unit 3: Media Madness
Unit 4: Girlfighting
Unit 5: Family
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From Adversaries to Allies:
Overview
• Unit 6: Moving Beyond Cliques and Clubs
• Unit 7: Sexual Harassment
• Unit 8: From Object to Subject – Healthy
Dating Relationships
• Unit 9: From Adversaries to Allies
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Activity Example: Becoming an
Ally
“An ally is a member of
a group or team who
believes she can make a
positive difference for
other girls!”
www.hghw.org
Activity Example: Real Life Barbie
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Expect Challenges!
• Balance between sticking to school’s rules
AND standing with girls no matter what
• Stay professional
• Create a safe space for girls’ voices
• Come prepared for meaningful conversation
www.hghw.org
Questions?
www.hghw.org
Annual Summer Institute
Navigating Girlhood: A Summer Institute
When: June 13-15, 2012
Where: Waterville, Maine
Details: Up to 18 hours of continuing
education credits
www.hghw.org
Upcoming Webinars
Challenging the BMI: Body Mass Index or Body Myth
Insanity?
With Margo Maine, PhD
When: February 29, 1-2:30 pm EST
Cost: $29.95
Sparking Girls’ Activism and Social Change
With Lyn Mikel Brown, EdD
When: April 10, 3-4:30 pm EST
Cost: $29.95
www.hghw.org
Upcoming (Free) Webinars
Powered By Girl: How To Build a High School Media Activism
Group
When: February 20, 4-5 pm EST
March 13, 4-5 pm EST
April 24, 4-5 pm EST
Cost: Free
Girls’ Schools as Hardiness Zones: Empowering Girls at
School
When: April 25, 4:30-5:30 pm EST
Cost: Free
www.hghw.org
Thank you for your participation!
www.hghw.org/traininginstitute
Questions? Comments?
Contact Emily Brostek, Training Institute Manager
emily.brostek@hghw.org