Photo of Chinese baby girls, courtesy of Getty Images and the UK Telegraph.
I’m sure many of us remember our youth as a time primarily free of gender, where we ran around bare chested and barefoot in the glorious summer time, regardless of whether our baby bonnet was blue or pink. In fact, much of our early lives are blessedly free of the true pressures inherent in a rigidly gendered society, other than the occasional barbie doll falling into hands that really wanted a slingshot or vice versa.
However, there is some disturbing news on both sides of the planet for young girls this week. NPR reports that a new study conducted by researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital has found some disturbing puberty related trends are taking place among young girls in the United States. The study found that “10-percent of 7-year-old white girls were developing breasts”, and “for young black girls… 25-percent of 7-year-olds” were exhibiting early puberty and maturation.
Meanwhile, in the latest bout of milk powder related …
I watch a lot of videos about gender in society, most of which are quite interesting, but it’s pretty rare that one actually makes me laugh out loud. Hats off to you, Sarah Haskins, for this amazing review of yogurt commercials aimed at women. “Why am I holding all this yogurt? Because I am a woman. And yogurt is the official food of women!” Food – something that should never be gendered.
Check out She-conomy, a site about women and marketing, where I first found …
American culture spends far too much time not wanting to really talk or think about gender, sex and sexuality. This is especially true in the deep South, where both Panda and I are from. After coming from a background where abstinence-only sex education is considered ideal, most sex toys are illegal, and teens can be left out of their high school yearbook just for being gender deviant, it’s quite refreshing to find outlets to talk openly about sexuality. “Don’t Feed the Animals” provides a interesting look into the biology behind human sexuality.
I hope this upcoming St. Valentine’s Day finds you healthy and happy and loving yourself (and others). Gender-Panic would like to ring in the occasion with a quick to reminder to get out there and support your local performances of “The Vagina Monologues”. It’s a great opportunity to take a lovely somebody out for a moving, hilarious, and informative show, while supporting local women’s groups in the process. You can find a show near you by visiting the events section of the V-Day website here. If you’d rather spend the night in, GP highly recommends the Logo special “Beautiful Daughters”, a short documentary piece about an all trans production of “The Vagina Monologues”.
I’d like to close with a short note on the recent wave of controversy following the hyper-masculine, “hen-pecked” men theme made very present in the Super Bowl ads this past weekend. The main ad of concern was the Dodge Charger ad entitled “Man’s Last Stand”. The premise of the ad is that because men put up with their mothers, sisters, girlfriends, and wives, they should be allowed to drive an expensive sports car. Because being a …
