Join our alliance #BraveGirlsWant!
We are a group of allies who believe that together, we can change our girls’ fates. Join us on the Brave Girls Want website, become part of this community and be a part of our first action: Sign our petition and join the campaign to ask LEGO to make all of the wonderful female minifigures that parents, kids, and other LEGO lovers have said that they want! Be a part of the change!
Families are trending towards wanting more empowered and healthy media characters for their daughters. Parents of girls today grew up with Wonder Woman and The Paper Bag Princess. More recently, Merida of Brave is beloved for being a different kind of princess–one who doesn’t promote stereotypical beauty, passivity, and waiting for rescue from a prince. Instead, Merida tells girls: “It’s okay to be strong, adventurous, spirited, and an individual. You can be amazing without the focus on beauty and romance.”
Passive princesses don’t mesh with today’s young girls who are being raised by their families on the girl power ideas their mothers grew up with. The diva fashionista is overdone and boring. Families are looking for multi-layered, diverse, intelligent, and strong media characters to enrich their girls imaginations. If our girls can see it, they can be it.
We are here to ask media creators to expand their version of what it means to be a girl, and recognize our girls as whole, complex people and not as gender stereotypes. Stop profiting from selling girls short.
We believe that girls deserve better, because we know that the consequences to girls’ well-being are serious.
We ask media creators to rethink products in development and ensure they teach girls to be strong, intelligent, and adventurous.
We ask media creators to rethink branding that pigeon-holes girls into the lowest common denominator (glitter, sexuality, hetero-normative femininity).
We ask media creators to elevate the elements that make the characters and narratives unique, instead of homogenizing the images and the merchandise.
We ask media creators to practice corporate social responsibility now– take the sexy out of childhood. Reducing female characters’ value to being about physical appearance and nothing more damages girls.
Signed,
Founding Members of the Brave Girls Alliance
Who Are The Allies?
Podcast Gender and Media Talk
Dr. Jennifer W. Shewmaker » Gender and Media Talk
Gender and media podcast for everyday life, featuring interviews with guests ranging from researchers to practitioners in the field. Hosted by Jennifer Shewmaker.
Gender and Media Talk podcasts focus on hot topics and cutting edge research in the areas of gender and media.
Dr. Jennifer W. Shewmaker 