The Center For The Advancement of Women has launched an amazing campaign to make the voices of women and girls heard over the misinformed commentary of Ann Coulter.
Click here to join the campaign and sign the petition and link to this campaign! - Whitney
This is the coolest website ever! We nominate this site and the women who run it as this weeks "It" Girls!!! Keep up the great work!
the
Real Hot 100
These 100 young women are breaking barriers, fighting stereotypes, and making
a difference in their communities and the nation. These women are smart. They
work for change. They aren't afraid to speak their minds. They are the REAL
hot 100.
Founded in 2005 in an effort to combat the lack of positive, strong images of young women in the media, the REAL hot 100 promotes positive, realistic images of younger women in the name of media justice. It celebrates the amazing work young women are doing and helps them realize their goals.
Check out these women who are just 2 of the 100 women they are celebrating as truly HOT!
Who is she? Kathryn V.
Hobbs, 24, Brooklyn, NY
What makes her REALLY hot? Kate Hobbs is a dedicated educator
and an engaged member of the community. As a bilingual educator who has recently
been asked to teach three (yes three!) grades at the same time, Kate is committed
to her students both in the classroom and outside. She teaches in a weekly
after school program and spends her personal lunch hour correcting
homework and hosting RESPECT parties for students who have shown respect in
her classroom. She lives in the same neighborhood, shops in the same delis and
plays in the same parks as her students and their families. She is out
at work! She is a Teach for America corps member and she regularly attends the
program’s events and gathers with other teachers to talk and strategize; additionally,
she has volunteered to help new teachers and to recruit for TFA at Smith College
(her alma mater) and in New York. While spending 40-60 hours a week teaching
and planning, she is also studying for her Masters in education. Kate gives
her free time and her money to progressive organizations and, as if this schedule
weren’t bruising enough, she plays on the New York Women’s Rugby team. Kate
is definitely REALLY hot.
Who is she? Yas(min) Ahmed, 25, Chicago, IL
What makes her REALLY hot? Yas is the Director of Sisters Empowering Sisters (the girls program of Girl’s Best Friend Foundation). Yas defines her role in Sisters Empowering Sisters (SES) as adult ally to the dozen Sisters (ages 14-18) who’ve joined the program to make feminist social change, as grantmakers and as youth leaders. In the past two years, Yas has supported the Sisters in creating requests for proposals, reviewing and visiting prospective funding projects, and selecting grantees who’ve been awarded $70,000 for girl-led projects. One of the projects she helped create was an investigation of the impact of images of women in popular music videos on young women and young men. Their findings are captured in a video they made last year with Beyondmedia Education. The engaging video, Respect Me, Don’t Media Me (www.beyondmedia.org/catalog) has been shown to enthusiastic crowds in Chicago and at media festivals. In the spring, three Sisters and Yas together wrote a chapter about SES for an anthology about gender and philanthropy that will be published by Palgrave/McMillan in 2006.
Yas has been working with young people since she was sixteen years old, and is pretty sure she'll still be doing it when she's sixty. Always ready to cause a ruckus, this REALLY hot woman considers herself a radical queer girl whose love of writing and politics parallels only that of pizza. Her current projects are learning to carry a spoon on her nose...and undermining the oppressive systems that divide us. Rumor has it she’s also involved in a few national, grassrootsy crews like AMWAJ (Arab movement of women arising for justice) and Incite! Women of Color Against Violence, as well as more locally-based folk like the Chicago Girls’ Coalition and the Chicago Youth Freedom School. Prior to her Chicago adventures, Yas lived several different lives all centering around the health, well-being and power of young people. She fiercely believes that living (and laughing) out loud is the only way to do it. - GFC
Terralynn with her Mom and Bertice Berry at the PBWC Conference
Terralynn has been involved in GFC for three years. Terralynn’s team has completed several social change projects including: a violence prevention campaign, educating themselves and then their community about pregnancy prevention, and creating self-esteem workshops for students on campus. Terralynn has been a leader and visionary through every step of each project. She has gained, practiced, and shared her skills such as project management, fund-raising, networking, and teaching. Terralynn has also overcome outrageous violation and tragedy to achieve what she has in her life. In May of 2006 Terralynn was the recipient of this year’s 2006 Professional Business Women of California's scholarship in the category of female high school senior. Terralynn is a leader and a rising social entrepreneur in the healthcare profession. In her leadership of the Girls For A Change team project on pregnancy prevention, she identified gaps in access to information on pregnancy prevention and found a new way to deliver that information to the youth in her community. Recognizing that there is no community resource center and that most youth in her community lack access to the internet; parental support; or transportation, Terralynn found a new way to disseminate information. She researched and contacted several health care professionals and coordinated presentations for her Girls For A Change team. She then led the team through the process of creating a campaign to teach other students and community members about pregnancy prevention. The goal was to teach students and the community basic prevention methods and where to go for additional support. Terralynn saw a problem, provided a new method to move out and forward from that problem, and spread the knowledge widely to fundamentally change her community.
Terralynn accepts her scholarship in front of 5000 women!
Terralynn is an awe-inspiring young woman in all regards. Her goal is to become a healthcare professional and return to her community to serve those in the direst situations when she graduates from college. Congratulations Terralyn, we are so proud of you! -GFC
Ms. Piggle Wiggle and Nancy Drew got me hooked on books in elementary school. My teacher read them aloud to us. I loved when Ms. Piggle Wiggle put the whammy on the little boy that disobeyed his parents and how one Nancy Drew was brilliant enough to solve mysteries versus the two Hardy Boys (her male counterparts in a separate books series).
But then I got my period. I was 10-years-old at the time, and the stories with the cute little “diddies” where magic powers was a cure-all was not enough anymore. Oh no.
Enter Judy Blume and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. My school issued all 5th-grade girls a copy during the annual “Girl Talk.” I fell in love with Judy Blume. She always kept it real in her books. But one question always loomed – where are the black people? Sadly for me not in books.
One day, my friend had a book on her desk with a picture of a black girl in braids on the cover. “Where’d you get that?” I asked. “From the school library. It’s Alice Childress’ book Rainbow Jordan. It’s good, gurl,” she said. I was 13-years old then. For the first time I was reading a character who talked like me (“Wazzup?”) and who had kinky hair that needed a Motions Relaxer every six weeks like me, and who lived in a neighborhood with other black people…like me. It revolutionized my life. Suddenly there was a glimmer of significance. But the battle was far from over.
Twenty-five years later, there are still little black girls out there reading and enjoying stories with characters that don’t look like them, and they, too, are asking, “Where are the black people?” In 2006, there are more black authors writing young black characters than back in the day. Take for example… moi. Yet I still struggle to find a place at the literary table, often feeling like the new girl standing in front of a table with my lunch tray and the popular girls are telling me, “Sorry, this seat’s taken. And so is that one and that one,” pointing to a round of empty chairs. Do I walk off defeated, accepting their word as the gospel? Or do I sit down anyway?
There is room for me at the table and there is room for my stories. There is room for black characters to rub shoulders with white characters through the dust jackets on bookshelves. We are present and significant in both literature and life. - Alexis
Alexis Rhone is a talented and amazing writer and
a Girls For A Change Coach in Phoenix, Arizona
We wrote RESPECT: A Girl’s Guide to Getting Respect and Dealing When Your Line Is Crossed to support girls in becoming strong and confident forces in their own lives and the world. But our mission doesn’t stop there. That's why were so excited to help 1,000 girls get a free copy of Respect at the Girl Summit November 4!
When we were teens we struggled with lots of issues—negative body image or labels, doubts about our intelligence, seemingly "world-ending" mistakes, unhealthy relationships with guys and family members, and violence.
Once we were both in college, we found more support, guidance and sisterhood. We focused on our passions and accomplished our goals, such as becoming journalists. This helped us become more comfortable with our true selves, and made it easier to make choices that were right for us. And we finally discovered that what was missing in our teen years wasn’t just life experience—it was self-respect. We needed more of it, and the respect we did have, well, we needed to know how to hang on to it.
A few jobs out of college, we met as editors for ChickClick, a progressive media network for girls and women. And it was there that our joint mission began. Thousands of girls were talking on our network about dilemmas, drama, and traumas that they were dealing with every day. From not knowing how to let their true feelings be known to being pressured into stuff, harassed and abused. They were going through the same things we had, but even worse in some cases.
We were tired of girls and women being held back by disrespect, myths, and mixed messages. Like girls are told they can do anything but then they are pressured to package themselves as objects of desire. This is so false!
We wanted to pass on to girls what we had finally learned: That respect is connected to everything. No matter what girls are going through or need, respect is the remedy. So we set out to write a guide to life for girls centered on how to build self-respect, get and give respect in relationships, take action to deal with disrespect, and spread more respect for all people.
So that's how Respect was born! We’re so excited to have raised enough books to offer them to every girl attending the Girl Summit this fall! As coaches and volunteers for GFC, we know that it helps girls learn and live our 7 Respect Basics. GFC is event featured in the book our "Spreading Respect" chapter which gives girls tools to fight for their rights.
To check out excerpts from our book or to find out how to plan a RESPECT DAY for girls you can go to our Web site: www.respectgirls.com. While you’re there, don’t forget to tell us in My Say how you’re building respect in your world. - Courtney & Andrea
*** Interested in being a celebrity blogger on the InHer City blog? Email [email protected]
Well it is over.. come and gone in one quick day. 1200 girls attended! 
The 3rd Annual Girls For A Change Summit. What an amazing day.
We will have more photos up on the website soon.
It was an exhilarating day full of girl power and fun!
Brandi Chastain spoke to all the girls.. as well as a whole bunch of other women and girls! 
We are now recovering and will start planning the next Summit for next year in two cities: San Jose, CA & Phoenix, AZ! Stay tuned for details. - GFC
Cindy Sheehan's son, Casey, was killed in Iraq last year. She has been camped out in Crawford, Texas in an attempt to pressure President Bush to meet with her. Cindy is participating in this peaceful protest and is being joined by other military families and supporters from all around the US who believe in ending the war in Iraq.
