girls across the nation write to congress + Packaging Girlhood

I received this email yesterday from one Catherine Conover, associate editor at New Moon magazine. They’re spearheading a campaign to get young women across america writing letters to congress about the things that they feel are important politically. Here’s what Catherine had to say:

Dear Thinking Girl:

I thought you might be interested in the efforts of a group of girls ages 8-14 are undertaking to bring girls’ voices to Congress. The Girls Editorial Board of New Moon Magazine is urging girls everywhere to write to Congress before March 1, 2007. For more info, please see the press release below and our “Letter to Congress” website, www.newmoon.org/congress. Also, please check out one girl’s response to President Bush’s Jan. 10th address.

Any help you can provide in getting the word out would be greatly appreciated!

Best,

Catherine Conover
Associate Editor & Communications Coordinator

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Girls Across the Nation Write to Congress
New Moon Leads Campaign

DULUTH, Minn. (January 2007) - Instead of asking for submissions to the magazine, the Girls Editorial Board of New Moon: The Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams is asking girls to send them letters to Congress. The Girls Editorial Board plans to bring girls’ voices to Congress this spring.

“This is an exciting movement,” said former Girls Editorial Board member Clare Dougan, 15. “Girls across the country have a chance to be one united voice.”

The 14 girls on the New Moon’s Board already published their own letter to Congress-the January/February 2007 issue of New Moon Magazine. Themed “Letter to Congress,” the issue features contributions from 67 girls from around the nation. The girls write about the political issues that
affect their lives, addressing everything from animal rights to the war in Iraq.

The Girls Editorial Board hopes their “Letter to Congress” will inspire thousands of girls to write their OWN letters to Congress. Girls can go to www.newmoon.org/congress to find out who represents them in Congress,get letter-writing tips, and download special postcards. New Moon will collect girls’ letters to Congress through March 1, 2007.

The Girls Editorial Board hopes to hand-deliver the letters they collect-along with copies of the magazine-to every member of Congress later this spring. They’ll ask Congress members to read the issue and respond to girls’ concerns.

“It’s exciting that Congress is (hopefully!) going to hear what we have
to say!” said Girls Editorial Board member Selene Emad-Syring, age 12.

Celebrating 14 years of publication, New Moon is a six-time winner of a
prestigious Parents’ Choice Foundation Gold Award for “Best Children’s
Magazine” and 2006 winner of the Golden Lamp Award from the Associationof Educational Publishers. New Moon’s Girls Editorial Board-a revolvinggroup of girls ages 8-14-chooses the theme, articles, artwork and coverdesign for each issue. Girls from around the world contribute 80 percentof the magazine’s content.

How great is that? I for one LOVE IT. I’ll keep my eye on this to see what issues young girls are concerned about. Getting girls thinking about political issues, and getting involved in the political process, is a wonderful thing. Girls need a voice in a society where they are growing up amongst all sorts of increasing pressures that detract from their girlhood and train them to be certain ways.

On that note, I want to refer readers to Packaging Girlhood, a wonderful blog that discusses the patriarchal-capitalist manipulation of young girls, based around the book of the same name. It’s super - great deconstructive analysis of marketing campaigns and products aimed at young girls.