The Butterfly Effect

The issue of negative body image has officially crossed over into the mainstream public debate. We now have a proposed National Strategy on Body Image, put together by an advisory group appointed by the federal government.
Kate Ellis, the Minister for Youth, put together the group, which was chaired by Mia Freedman, former editor of Cosmopolitan, [...]

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This week has been filled with powerful conversations around teen girls and my book, The Butterfly Effect.  I thought I would share three of the more interesting  interviews with you.
Sunrise – Raising Teen Girls – 4/9/09: click on the image below to view the segment or go directly to the URL: http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?cl=15377569

Podcast – Breakfast radio with [...]

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With the globalisation of sexual imagery, girls are growing up in the shadow cast by a pornographic vision of sexuality. This important new book has been edited by Melinda Tankard Reist and features contributions by Clive Hamilton, Julie Gale, Noni Hazelhurst, Maggie Hamilton, Steve Biddulph and other leading Australian experts.

Advance reviews for this important new collection of [...]

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This week I took my 7 year old son Kye with me to the local supermarkets. Whilst I was selecting a Birthday card for a friend he proceeded to pick up a magazine displayed at his eye level and asked me “What is Kyle’s wife doing with her friend?”
Ralph magazine’s August cover features “Kyle Sandiland’s Babe!” Tamara posed [...]

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This week in Sydney a 14 year old girl was left violated after being used as part of a 2Day FM radio stunt. What follows is a media statement prepared by Melinda Tankard Reist and Kids Free 2B Kids. I am very happy to add my support to this.
Background Reading -
Kevin Rudd criticises Kyle Sandilands, Jackie O “Rape Stunt”
Kyle Sandilands [...]

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Recently I took my 10-year-old daughter, Teyah, on a trip to a shopping centre. Mother’s Day was coming up, and I needed to buy a gift for my mother and a new outfit for Teyah to wear out for our family lunch.
Rather than enjoying this experience, I found myself increasingly frustrated, and in fact furious, [...]

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Please note: the blogging platform I use, Edublogs, filters out words like p*rn, hence the need to use asterisks. If you wish to comment, please use symbols to avoid your text being automatically deleted.
Warning: the sites hyperlinked in this blog post include sexually explicit personal accounts of sex and p*rn*graphy.
P*rn is nothing new, but [...]

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The clip below is a really interesting opinion piece posted by The New York Times on March 10th. (Click on the image or visit: http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/03/09/opinion/1194838469575/sex-lies-and-photoshop.html.)

This has particular relevance for us in Australia. Here, too, the camera always lies.
Does it matter? Yes. For some years now groups like ours have been advocating for more realistic and diverse portrayals of [...]

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I want to begin the year by sharing a video that I posted on YouTube earlier this month, it is an edited version of some interviews I did with Iris Productions:

 
I have been thinking about how we can all make things better for girls and have come up with a few suggestions I’d like to see you all build [...]

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In the lead up end of year dance concerts, and the annual shopping frenzy that surrounds Christmas, this guest post by Sonia Lyne, Program Director for Victoria, and her newest team member, Amanda Hull, is timely.
Amanda begins:

I recently attended my 5-year old cousin’s dance recital. It was the most unsettling experience. I witnessed a group of 40 or [...]

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