Girls Conflicted About Body Image, Role of Fashion Industry

New research from the Girl Scout Research Institute (GSRI) supports what many parents, educators and youth advocates have believed for years:

The increased scrutiny of the fashion industry and its use of ultrathin models isn’t without validation, as nearly 9 in 10 American teenage girls say that the fashion industry is at least partially responsible for "girls' obsession with being skinny," according to a national survey released today by the Girl Scouts of the USA.

The research also indicates that girls would prefer to see more natural beauty in the media. In fact, 81% of girls would rather see natural photos of models as opposed to the adjusted and airbrushed versions and 75% say they are more likely to purchase clothes shown on real-size models as opposed to stick thin models.

Yet despite these findings, it's clear that girls have a love-hate relationship with fashion and body image. Contradicting the aforementioned findings, 48% of girls wish they were as thin as the models in fashion magazines and 41% prefer to see the latest fashions modeled on thin women than fuller-figured women.

Other findings from GSRI's research include

• 47% say fashion magazines give them a body image to strive for yet,
• 65% say the body image represented by the fashion industry is too skinny and 28% say the fashion industry body image looks sick.
• 31% of girls admit to starving themselves or refusing to eat as a weight loss strategy and
• 20% of girls consider plastic surgery and/or weight-loss surgery acceptable.
• However 79% of Hispanic girls, 76% of African-American girls and 72% of Caucasian report being satisfied with their bodies.

The tangled web of girl body image can be seen in nearly every one of these findings.

Body image, the fashion industry's role and these survey results, will be addressed at New York City's Fashion Week by Girl Scouts of the USA. The conversation can be viewed live via online streaming video at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/beauty-redefined on Wednesday, February 10, 5 p.m. CST.

What's Happening Locally

Girl Scouts of Central Texas (GSCTX) recognizes that adolescence is an especially challenging time for girls and their self-esteem. With programs, volunteer trainings and merchandise, GSCTX continually strives to help girls develop into confident young women. Through its "grow strong" initiative, Girl Scouts of Central Texas hopes to help girls untangle their body image and develop a strong, healthy sense of self. Programs such as the Girls' Respect Conference encourage open, healthy conversations about relevant issues like body image and self-esteem, and ultimately assist in the development of confident young women.

Additionally, GSCTX offers merchandise through the shops that girls can feel confident and stylish in no matter what their size or shape. With 75% of girls citing fashion as very important; stylish, affordable and age-appopriate merchandise is essential to meeting the needs and interests of all girls.

For More Information

• For more survey results visit http://girlscouts.org/news/news_releases/2010/nationwide_study_feelings_about_fashion.asp  
• For more about Girl Scout programs visit http://www.gsctx.org/?nd=gsctx_calendar_list 
• For more about Girl Scout merchandise visit http://www.gsctx.org/?nd=shop
• To contact GSCTX visit http://www.gsctx.org/?nd=contact_us

-Cheryl Black

Girls View Leadership as Taking a Stand

In meeting with Rusine Sinclair, CEO of the North Carolina Girl Scouts Council, she shared with me that she believes young women are concerned about making a difference in the world. They are interested in something that would improve a situation. They are defining those things that are important to them and using the leadership from within to improve things in their world.

This stuck with me and motivated me to learn how many girls actually want to be leaders. According to a nationwide survey, conducted by the Girl Scout Research Institute (GSRI), they found that thirty-nine percent of girls want to be leaders, and that the desire for leadership is higher among African-American (fifty-three percent), Hispanic (fifty percent) and Asian-American (fifty-nine percent) girls compared to Caucasian girls (thirty-four percent).

Victor Inzunza, author of the press release titled, “Nationwide Study Finds That Girls Aspire to a Different Kind of Leadership,” reported that the data from the survey indicates girls aspire to a different type of leadership, which focuses on personal principles, ethical behavior, and the ability to affect social change. The young women I met from McNeil High School during my research on “Young Women and Leadership” also echoed that they believe leadership for them means taking a stand and making a difference. All of the young women agreed that a leader is a person who is not afraid to step up, blaze a new path for change, and teach individuals.

How inspiring!

 -CJ Harris

Carlena "CJ" Harris joined IBM in June 1997 and has held various roles within the IBM Software Group division. She has eight years of experience leading and managing virtual teams. Currently, she is a Global IT Program Manager. She holds degrees from University of Houston (Information Systems Technology, BS) and St. Edward's University (Organizational Leadership & Ethics, MS). CJ volunteers as a motivational speaker and life/career coach. She is also a wife, mother of two, coach, mentor and an aspiring writer.

Girls Care About Leadership

Girls care about leadership and girls’ definition of leadership changes as they age. By knowing how girls define leadership, we can help guide them in more successful development.

The Girl Scout Research Institute (GSRI) focus groups revealed that as girls grow and develop new skills and ideas about the world, leading moves from a more singular approach with elementary school age girls (girls lead with action—what I can do) to influencing others at the middle school level (girls lead with voice—how I can impact others). As girls enter high school their ideas about leadership become inner-directed again with an emphasis on confidence (girls lead with vision—who I am as a leader) as they seek to validate their own ideas and become comfortable acting on them (GSRI, 2006, p.19). The GSRI included in their report that there are two major approaches to leadership development in girls’ programming:

• The individual (i.e., “being in charge”) and
• The collective (collaborative activity)

The GSRI report also included research by the Ms. Foundation for Women in regards to the two approaches. The Ms. Foundation for Women (2000) research with girls in community-based organizations (part of the Collaborative Fund for Healthy Girls/Healthy Women Initiative) acknowledges the need for both approaches in working with girls. One approach does not exclude the other and each can emphasize a different aspect of a girl’s experience. The Ms. Foundation (2000) research identified three strategies that reflect aspects of the individual and collective approaches:

• Leadership through Voice and Culture - Building girls’ ability to use their voices in celebrating their culture
• Leadership through Social Action/Change - Community change that affects the environments girls participate in
• Leadership through Traditional Achievement - Building girls’ competencies, skills and qualities so that they can advance in the world

These strategies suggest that programs that encourage girls to be engaged in the community by acting as agents of change may also enable girls to internalize individual qualities and assets that they can use for their own benefit in the future (GSRI, 2006, p.21). By exercising their voices on issues they care about and taking action in the community, girls are exercising their personal power and amassing skill sets that enrich their individual competencies (Ms. Foundation for Women, 2000). These explanations are among the many reasons why the Girl Scout Journeys and Discover, Connect, Take Action model are utilized to grow girl leaders.

Resource: Girl Scout Research Institute (2006). Unpublished Pilot Survey Results on Girls and Leadership. NewYork: Girl Scouts of the USA.

 -CJ Harris

Carlena "CJ" Harris joined IBM in June 1997 and has held various roles within the IBM Software Group division. She has eight years of experience leading and managing virtual teams. Currently, she is a Global IT Program Manager. She holds degrees from University of Houston (Information Systems Technology, BS) and St. Edward's University (Organizational Leadership & Ethics, MS). CJ volunteers as a motivational speaker and life/career coach. She is also a wife, mother of two, coach, mentor and an aspiring writer.

How Girls Learn Differently

Did you know that boys and girls see differently? Carol Kaufmann, author of “How Boys and Girls Learn Differently” interviewed David Chadwell, the first and only state coordinator of single gender education. Male and female eyes are not organized in the same way, Chadwell explains. The composition of the male eye makes it attuned to motion and direction. The female eye, on the other hand, is drawn to textures and colors. It’s also oriented toward warmer colors—reds, yellow, oranges—and visuals with more details, like faces. To engage girls, instruct them to form a circle facing each other, use descriptive phrases and incorporate lots of color.

If girls work well in circles and are oriented toward visuals with more details, adults should consider the following when assisting in developing young female leaders:

• Provide a mentor/protégé program. Girls need positive role models that they can access and learn from. Women leaders can listen and share their experiences with future young women leaders.
• Create a buddy system. Girls thrive in positive relationships and are open to learn from one another. Maybe it’s a student in the 7th grade teamed up with a student in the 6th grade. It would allow the new student the ability to learn from a student who has completed a year at the school. In return, the 7th grader gets to mentor the 6th grader.(See the Program Aide opportunities at GSCTX.)
  
• No Command and Control. Teach leadership skills that differ from the command and control style. Girls aspire to a different kind of leadership that serves a bigger purpose. They are not interested in power for the sake of power. (Read the BusinessWeek article based on research from GSRI.)
  
• Encourage extracurricular activities. Girls Scouts, sports, critical thinking classes are great examples. Social skills, competition, and self-confidence are skills which are taught successfully in these programs.
• Support their interests. When girls are passionate about something they tend to volunteer to lead. Rusine Sinclair, CEO of the North Carolina Girl Scouts Council, stated, “Young women are concerned about making a difference in the world to see positive outcomes. They are interested in something that would improve a situation. Again, I believe they are defining those things that are important to them and using the leadership from within to improve things in their world.”

In summary, Cunningham and Roberts’ (2006) research indicates men understand the world by constructing systems. Women understand the world by putting themselves in the shoes of others, feeling what they're feeling and seeing what they're seeing (Our Six Themes: Masculine is Hard-Wired to Systemize; Feminine is Hard-Wired to Empathize section, 2006, ¶ 2).

Now that we know that there is a difference. Let’s get busy implementing strategies to support our future women leaders.

-CJ Harris

Carlena "CJ" Harris joined IBM in June 1997 and has held various roles within the IBM Software Group division. She has eight years of experience leading and managing virtual teams. Currently, she is a Global IT Program Manager. She holds degrees from University of Houston (Information Systems Technology, BS) and St. Edward's University (Organizational Leadership & Ethics, MS). CJ volunteers as a motivational speaker and life/career coach. She is also a wife, mother of two, coach, mentor and an aspiring writer.

Teenagers Ready to Do the Right Things—With Our Help

Are young people today more moral and ethical than they were a generation ago?

If you’re prone to watching television shows like “Gossip Girl,” your answer is likely to be no. The truth, however, is that the popular media’s depiction of young people as morally adrift, materialistic and disaffected is wrong. The great untold story about young people today in Central Texas and across the country is that they are much more apt to make responsible choices and refrain from risky behavior than in the recent past.

Research is increasingly bearing this out. There has been a substantial drop, for example, in teenage crime over the past decade. The dropout rate has also decreased and college attendance among young people reached an all-time high in 2008. And recently, the Girl Scout Research Institute published a nationwide survey of young people in middle and high school. The study, almost identical to one done in 1989, paints a fascinating picture of the beliefs and ethical values of young people and how they have changed in just two decades.

It turns out that nearly two out of three young people say they would not cheat on a test compared to about half in 1989. Fifty-eight percent say they would refuse an alcoholic drink if offered one at a party. That’s compared to fewer than half (46 percent) in 1989. And only 18 percent say they believe that smoking is alright if a person finds it enjoyable. In 1989, more than a quarter of those surveyed thought smoking was acceptable.

And our young people value diversity and civic involvement in a big way. Nearly six in 10 say that being around people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds is important to them. This appears to be particularly important to girls (63 percent versus 55 percent of boys). And some 79 percent say they are ready, willing and able to volunteer in their communities, and 71 percent of them say their religious beliefs are important to them.

This is not to say that all is perfect. Although many young people have good intentions about making responsible choices, they need help connecting these desires to action and decision making. That’s where we as adults come in. We should be doing all we can to value their voices and create venues for them to get involved. Our young people are as comfortable—if not more so—speaking their minds as previous generations, so let’s give them ample opportunity to do so by engaging them on issues that matter to them and getting them to take action by serving in our community.

This is not an issue solely for our schools; this involves all of us as a community. We at Girl Scouts of of Central Texas offer many opportunities for girls to come together, develop skills and take the lead in projects that serve our community.

The Forever Green project we are piloting allows girls to take lead on environmental projects and initiate a sustainable change in our communities. The girl advocacy network helps girls learn how to impact laws at the local, state and national level. And last but not least, the Girl Scout Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards provide project road maps for girls to make the world a better place through a cause of their choice.

We’re certainly not alone in offering young people opportunities to express themselves and build leadership skills, but all of us must redouble our efforts. That's why we want to hear it from you: How do you empower girls to make the world a better place? How do you offer guidance? What activities have been the most successful? What tips can you offer other adults committed to helping girls grow?

If we as a community help our young people, they can fully develop the moral and ethical values that will serve them—and all of us—well for generations to come.

-Etta Moore