Heard a lot lately about violent girls running amok in American towns and high school?  Yup, us too.  Thank goodness for Mike Males and Meda Chesney-Lind, who have actually done the research and determined that the "increased incidence" of girl aggression is all hype.  Their thoughtful and reasoned analysis in the New York Times explains why this story continues to sell, year after year, despite all evidence to the contrary.

This week, I’m diving into some troubled water around gender stereotypes in the design and marketing of toys.  The interwebs have been all atwitter—or should I say, ablog?—over a recent Toys ’R Us ad featuring, on a page of black and gray toy science gear, microscopes and telescopes in cotton candy pink.

Long before the fictional society debut of Blair Waldorf or Serena Van Der Woodsen, or the ascendancy of Bella Swan, there were Betsy Ray, Tacy Kelly, and Tib Muller, protagonists of the Betsy-Tacy book series by Maud Hart Lovelace.  As a girl, these were my most favoritest books—even more than the iconic Little House on the Prairie series.  As an adult, I have been saddened to see their popularity wane. 

I know almost nothing about soccer.  So when I read about the indefinite suspension of the University of New Mexico’s Elizabeth Lambert, for pulling an opponent down by the ponytail during an intense semifinal game against Brigham Young University, I had no idea how to judge the egregiousness of her rough play.  Nor could I evaluate the assertions that the referee and Lambert’s coach should have seen the widespread aggressive play in the game and intervened earlier by issuing penalties or pulling Lambert from the game.  In fact, it’s been two weeks since this incident took place, and despite the media firestorm, it came to my attention only today, when I saw an interview with Lambert in the New York Times. 

On Sunday, November First, nine Jewish teen girls reminded me why I am committed to sharing power and authority with girls.  The girls in question were Ma’yan’s second cohort of Research Training Interns (RTI) – a program built on the model of “participatory action research,” where members of the group being studied serve on a collaborative research team.  That Sunday was the culmination of their work: a presentation of initial research fi

Over the past decade, discussions about gender and development seem to have devolved into a competition of crises.  Efforts to promote educational equity and preserve girls’ psychological and physical health are pitted against evidence of boys’ dwindling achievement and overmedication for behavioral issues and ADHD.  Who has it worse?, this zero-sum game asks, assuming that boys’ and girls’ challenges are mutually exclusive and that one must fall behind for the other to adv