A groundbreaking movement is a foot! SPARK Summit or, Sexualization, Protest: Action, Resistance, Knowledge, gathered in NYC over the weekend to discuss the oversexualization of teens in the media. You've heard about this a lot from me lately, and, in my view, it's great our youth finally have a voice to counterbalance the improper, sexualy-charged overexposure teenage girls are subjected to in our current media-frenzied society.
Madonna and 13 year-old daughter, Lourdes.
Dedicated women like Gloria Steinem, keynote speaker and actress, Gina Davis, and even some of my favorite bloggers, Amy Jussel of ShapingYouth.com and PigTailpals.com joined the discussions at this first-ever summit about the many ways the media negatively infiltrates teens' everyday lives; susceptible teens looking for role models to emulate — whether it's their clothing, make-up, hair or behaviors — it is the reality our girls are surrounded by.
Marketers have been taking advantage of this demographic to plague networks with low quality shows, merchandise and subliminal ads which have only done a disservice to this generation raised on Reality TV. (I wrote about these shows in a recent article at TheWrap.com and called them “Junk Reality“. It's was this piece that attracted producers at the Dr. Phil Show to contact me and invite me to discuss this issue on national television.)
SPARK is a new movement that intends to both raise awareness and educate teenagers, parents, and the media about the negative effects the current trend to use school-age girls as marketing tools and sex symbols. MTV, VH1, E!, Glee, and the most controversial teen celeberity, Miley Cyrus, seem to rely on images of sexy teenagers to lure and sell.
Every time you tune into any of the coarse shows like Jersey Shore, Teen Mom, etc. advertisers are standing by to buy up commercial air time which is the way these shows are financed.
It's time concerned parents spoke up, and you can do this starting October 28th, during Sweeps time. It's a simple way of using your remote to start letting the head honchos know that we'll boycott all the crap they put on TV, and hit them where they'll feel it, right in the ratings. Sweeps time is the time to clean up the junk TV is putting in our homes!
I've been writing about these and similar topics here and at TheWarp.com, and soon, I will also be talking about them for the first time later this month. If you live in the San Diego area, you can hear more about how the media and the entertainment industry influence our teens and values at the “Parenting in a Celebrity-Driven Society” presentation I'll be hosting at the annual Head To Toe Women's Expo at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in Del Mar, Ca. November 14 at 1:30pm.
I'll have more on this in later posts, and you can also check out www.HeadToToeWomensExpo.com, for more information.
As the mother of 2 girls, thanks for tackling this subject. I'm a bit out of the loop with the 'trash reality', since we got rid of our cable about 4 years ago.
Smart not having cable! It's looking more and more like cutting Cable TV is one of the solutions to avoid the horrible programming kids have access to these days.
Glad you stopped by!!