Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Just turned 8, just turned teen.

Well to me it's not just the parents of young girls that need to be aware it's the girls themselves. Sure dd is only 7 turning 8, but trust me she is well aware of marketing and the bombardment of sexual images in the media. Why? because we discuss it. When she was so young I remember her once saying to me...you know I notice how there are so many images of women in their underwear in magazines. They are always showing off their bodies." That just came totally out of the blue. So we had a long discussion about that.

Just as I never discriminated against her age about exposing her to academics, I didn't discriminated when talking about older topics with her either. For her, her maturity came hand in hand with her academic development.

She is young, but subject accelerated and in MS. She's taking geometry in honors 8th grade and maturity wise she's right there with the other 13/14 year olds and wants to debate the things they are talking about. She's on FB too laughing about their ridiculous posts sometimes. But FB is fun too and she makes lots of friends.

I don't underestimate her because of her age. I'm not thinking..oh you want to wear that because it's due to peer pressure. I'll give her a little bit more credit than that. When she says she likes something..I ask her why. I play devil's advocate. I ask her how come she knows she's not being influenced by movies, music..marketing.
And she usually has a good reason. Once I asked her if she likes Justin Bieber. She thought about it and said "No, he's too young and sings like a baby." This was in 2nd grade when all the girls loved him.
She saw the feathers in Miley C's hair once and said hey those are cool. She doesn't like Miley and thinks she dresses too provocatively. DD is quite a goody goody went in comes to some things. BUT feather extensions...yeah.. COOL. So what if they were marketed in Miley's hair? They are cool and something different and she liked it. I'm all for it. Dying your hair blue or pink or green? I'd do it. Why not? It's only hair.

Trying different things is fun. Being different it fun. I think that's where her self confidence comes from.

She likes to be different and is comfortable in her own skin. The other day she decides she's going to wear a fedora to school. She gets a ride to school sometimes with my neighbor's 13 year old. The older girl was shocked and said "I'm not sure hats are allowed because no one wears one. DD says "Well I like it and we'll see if they allow it." she walked right into math class with it and teacher didn't say a word and then the other kids were like..I LOVE the hat!"

It's not about brands or what things cost. It's just about being you.

I even said to her ..one day I dare you to wear the worst mismatch outfit ever and see what happens..she said.."It won't matter..clothes aren't everything."
Now that's profound.

I agree with this, esp. the parts I bolded. I absolutely think it is wonderful for a child to be confident and secure enough to find her own style. That is my concern. I think parents of girls particularly must be aware of the massive amount of marketing what is "cool" to "tween" girls. I think it is probably difficult for a girl trying to find her identity when surrounded by the consumerist culture and all of the images aimed at making her think that appearance/brands/etc. are the most important thing. I think it is important that we make our daughters aware of what marketing is and the messages being sent.

Books like So Sexy, So Soon, Packaging Girlhood, No Logo, this article titled Stealing Childhood Stealing Childhood all address these issues.

From Media Awareness network http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/marketing/issues_teens_marketing.cfm

"Corporations capitalize on the age-old insecurities and self-doubts of teens by making them believe that to be truly cool, you need their product.
As they make the transition from childhood to the teenage years, tweens (ages 8-12) are continually bombarded with limiting media stereotypes on what it is to be a girl or a boy in today�s world. This �packaged childhood� is sold to them through ads and products; and across all media, from television, music, movies and magazines to video games and the Internet.

Young girls in particular are targeted by marketers, and the focus of these ads � beauty, sexuality, relationships, and consumerism � is worrisome for parents. According to Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown, authors of Packaging Girlhood, images of girls as �sexy, diva, boy-crazy shoppers� can be quite harmful to their self development. At an age when girls �could be developing skills, talents, and interests that will serve them well their whole life, they are being enticed into a dream of specialness through pop stardom and sexual objectivity.�