Today is Turn Beauty Inside Out Day, an annual event hosted by Mind on the Media to celebrate healthy media images that promote critical analysis of sexism in media. It was created in 2000 by a group of girls ages 8-16, the Girls Editorial Board of the fabulous New Moon Magazine.

In honor of TBIO, people everywhere are invited to celebrate Inner Beauty–the beauty of conviction, caring and action. Says, Mind on the Media, “Girls and boys (not to speak of women and men) need a definition of beauty that focuses on who we are and what we do, not on how we look.”

Why is it so important to take the time shift our focus on the external to the beauty within? Here are just a few reasons:

• Eighty percent of 10-year-old American girls say they have been on a diet
• The number one magic wish for young girls age 11-17 is to be thinner
• Females cite the media as the most important source of pressure to be thin
• Studies show that reading “teen magazines” and having exposure to thin models creates lower self esteem, body dissatisfaction, decreased confidence and potential eating disorder symptoms
• By age 13, approximately 53% of American girls are “unhappy with their bodies”

So how exactly does one go about celebrating our inner beauty? Here are a few of my ideas:

• Make a list of at least 10 of your personal values. (Values are those things that determine how you conduct yourself in the world, how you act towards those around you, and how you treat yourself). These might include things like honesty, trust, optimism, reliability, humor, cooperation, knowledge, adventure…and so on.) Know that when you live by these values you will be your best, most authentic self.
• Describe a cause, social justice issue, or volunteer organization you care about and why.
• Keep a journal for a day of all the things your physical body enables you to do (walk to school, play a sport, house your brain, protect you, and so on) and thank it for all it does!
• Make a list of the different, wonderful qualities you bring to your friendships. If you want to take it a step further, spread the the love and write a note to a friend thanking her for being there for you.
• Take a media vacation for the day (or the week!) to tune out negative media images. To fill the void? Indulge in your hobby, spend time with friends that make you feel good, or work towards a personal goal you’ve been putting on hold.
• Remember that you have worth and value simply by being you!

What ideas do you have to add to this list?

I just heard about a soon-to-be released documentary called The Bully Project thanks to iheartdaily.The film follows five kids and families over the course of a school year, including two families who have lost children to suicide and a mother awaiting the fate of her 14-year-old daughter who has been incarcerated after bringing a gun on her school bus. With an intimate glimpse into homes, classrooms, cafeterias and principals’ offices, the film offers insight into the often cruel world of the lives of bullied children. Through the power of their stories, the film aims to be a catalyst for change in the way we deal with bullying as parents, teachers, children and society as a whole.

The people behind the film are also working to build an alliance of students, parents, school staff, policy makers and engaged citizens to create a positive environment in schools where everyone feels safe and respected, and are planning new projects from city- wide screenings of the The Bully Project in the first weeks of school to a national bullying helpline, and cool ways to connect to social media to spread the movement of inclusiveness.

I can’t wait to see the film and I’ll post updates on screenings as they become available!

Have you ever watched American Idol and noticed that the judges are always sipping soda from ginormous Coca Cola cups? Or maybe you’ve seen an episode of The Biggest Loser and noticed that the trainers go from talking about cooking healthy to suddenly pitching the virtues of a brand of ziploc bag that allows you to steam your veggies to perfection. In the hit comedy 30 Rock, the characters are over-the-top in their endorsement of Verizon, and in an episode of 90210, Dixon once turned to Annie and said, “Maybe if you stopped drinking so much Dr. Pepper!” to which Annie replies (while holding up a can of Dr. Pepper), “We’re on a road trip! Drinking Dr. Pepper is practically a requirement.”

What I’ve just described is called product placement. It’s the “new” way of advertising since companies are having a harder time getting audiences to notice their products in traditional commercials thanks to TIVO, HULU, On Demand, and the like. And it’s this type of advertising that is explored in the just-released documentary, POM Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.

The film was directed by Morgan Spurlock (the guy behind the film Supersize Me – another must see), who takes us deep into the marketing machine for film and television to show the viewers just how much “selling” goes on behind the scenes of everything we see on screen. The movie makes the case that pretty much everything is for sale when it comes to finding ways to advertise a product.

By the end of the film, Morgan has secured sponsorship from more than a dozen brands, including those you can see tattooed on his body in the movie poster here. In exchange for financially backing the film ($25,000 for a small mention to $1 million for the name sponsor, in this case, POM Wonderful, a pomegranate juice), Morgan promises to promote the products throughout the film. For example, he only wears clothes from sponsor Old Navy, drives the official movie car, a Mini Cooper, and exclusively drinks POM Wonderful.

The result is a funny, eye-opening film which sheds light on how advertisers and marketers try to get at us, the buyer, in any way possible. It’s a great reminder that as viewers, it’s our responsibility to realize that we are constantly being marketed to, courted, and manipulated in advertisers’ attempts to get us to buy their products.

So definitely see this film if it comes to your town…it’s worth the watch and I guarantee, you’ll never look at a movie or TV the same way again! (And that’s a good thing!)

PS… don’t believe me that everything is for sale? The small town of Altoona, PA has sold its naming rights to the film. For the next 60 days, Altoona, PA is now officially “POM Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, PA”!

PPS…Here’s the trailer for the movie in case you’re interested in learning more (and no, I was not paid to endorse this movie!):

POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold Trailer from POM Wonderful on Vimeo.

I don’t know about you, but whenever I’m dealing with a challenge or situation where I feel I need more support, my first step is always to turn to a book. I believe in the power of stories to help readers better understand difficult issues, get insight into how to face them, and most of all, realize that they’re not alone. It’s that belief that led me to create the Louder Than Words series of teen-authored memoirs dealing with serious issues.

In this same vein, The Inspire USA Foundation, which created the youth mental health site ReachOut.com, has just released a list of recommended YA fiction dealing with the serious issues that many teens today face. Their goal? To promote positive mental health and build awareness of ReachOut.com as a resource for teen and young adult readers of popular YA fiction.

And for teens wanting to virtually connect with others struggling with the same challenges, Inspire USA is hosting a series of live author chats on Ustream through May (Mental Health Awareness Month), hosted by the fabulous YA author and Readergirlz Diva Melissa Walker.

And without further ado…here is the list of recommended reads, organized by topic!

• Bullying: Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2010)
• Depression: It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini (Hyperion, 2006)
• Eating Disorders: Skin by Adrienne Maria Vrettos (Simon & Schuster, 2006)
• Helping A Friend: Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher (HarperTeen, 2003)
• Manic Depression/Bipolar Disorder: Nobel Genes by Rune Michaels (Atheneum, 2010)
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Ball Don’t Lie by Matt de la Pena (Delacorte, 2005)
• Schizophrenia: A Blue So Dark by Holly Schindler (Flux, 2010)
• Self Harm: Cut by Patricia McCormick (Front Street, 2000)
• Suicide: Hold Still by Nina LaCour (Dutton, 2009)
• Abuse: The Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin (Penguin Group USA/Dial, 2006)

Love reading teen literature? Today is for you! It’s Support Teen Lit Day, an annual celebration aimed at raising awareness among the general public that young adult literature is a vibrant, growing genre with much to offer today’s teens.

And this year, Readergirlz is joining forces with Figment to ROCK THE DROP in honor of the big day. As part of the Drop, teens and YA authors everywhere are being asked to leave a book in a teen gathering spot in their community where the book will be found, taken, read, and enjoyed.

Want to get involved? Here’s what you can do right now:

• Snag the banner above, created by the uber-talented David Ostow (who blogs hilarious cartoons here), and add it to your website, linking back to this post to share the love, and proclaiming that you will indeed ROCK THE DROP!
• Print a copy of the bookplate below and insert it into a book (or 10!) that you’ll drop today. Drop a book in a public spot (park bench, bus seat, restaurant counter?) and you’re done. Lucky finders will see that the book is part of ROCK THE DROP!
• Snap a photo of your drop and email with the pic — we’ll be posting lots of pictures of drops happening all over the world at the readergirlz blog, and our friends at Figment will also be featuring the event!

I’ll be Rocking the Drop today by dropping some books off at a bench outside my local Boys & Girls Club. How about you?

I Rock The Drop from crissachappell on Vimeo.

What do YOU see when you look in your personal “Inner Beauty Mirror?” That’s what New Moon Girls wants to know. The magazine’s Inner Beauty Mirror Uncontest is aimed at challenging girls to stop focusing on what they notice about their outward appearance when they look in a regular mirror, and instead celebrate what makes them beautiful on the inside.

To participate, visit the New Moon Girl uncontest page online and write down seven statements about your inner beauty strengths, pride, and talents. Oh, and like any good “uncontest,” it isn’t actually a competition because no on is going to be judged. New Moon is most interested in hearing all kinds of different Inner Beauty statements from all kinds of girls!

Here are all the official deets straight from New Moon:

What do you see in your Inner Beauty Mirror?

When we look in a regular mirror we just see our outward appearance –it isn’t anywhere near all of who we are as people. In the Inner Beauty Mirror Uncontest we challenge you to create a different mirror, the Inner Beauty Mirror. This mirror reminds you who you are and shows all the things you care about, all the things you are proud of, and all the things you do.  Isabel Rasmussen invented the Beauty Mirror for Girls iPhone app.  And then she asked NMG to work with her on this Uncontest!

It’s an uncontest because no one is going to be judged and there will be no votes to determine a winner.  We are all uniquely beautiful and we each win when we are able to see our own beauty and enjoy it without comparing ourselves to someone else.   All complete entries will be  will be entered into a prize drawing, names will be randomly chosen, and prizes given.

Follow these 5 steps to enter the uncontest (also watch Phoebe’s video about how to enter here) :

Step 1:  Write 7 Short Inner Beauty Mirror statements about You: The statements are about all your inner strengths that make you uniquely beautiful.  What are you proud of about yourself? Sometimes it’s hard to think of nice things to say about ourselves.  If you’re stumped, think about a friend’s inner beauty. Then see which statements are true about you.and  A way to start can be to write things about your friends like “Eva is a good listener and is a good friend because she always includes me.”  Is that statement true about you too?  Could you change Eva’s name to yours?

Step 2: Make a video of you saying your 7 statements. Or make a poster with your statements on it and take a photo of you and your poster.

Step 3: Read aloud and/or watch the video of your Inner Beauty Mirror every day for 10 days in a row

Step 4: Write a short story about your Inner Beauty Mirror and your feelings about it. Minimum is 250 words and maximum is 500 words.

Step 5: Enter the Uncontest: Go here and complete the form there before midnight central time April 30, 2011.  That’s all you need to do.  All complete entries will be entered in a random drawing on May 19, Turn Beauty Inside Out Day.

Did we mention you can win an iPod Touch with the Beauty Mirror For Girls App, a 1 year membership to New Moon Girls, and other cool prizes?

And Remember, You Are Beautiful!!!!

* * * * *

Smart Girls Know is an affiliate of New Moon Magazine and is offering a $10 discount off the price of a year subscription, which includes 12-month unlimited access to New Moon’s informative site. To take advantage of this special offer, click here.

What will it take for Abercrombie & Fitch to stop its obnoxious and offensive practice of oversexualizing young girls and women and generally encouraging low self-esteem and body image everywhere? First we had the t-shirts that said things like “Do I Make You Look Fat?” and for men, “Female Students Wanted for Sexual Research.” There are the Abercrombie & Fitch Quarterly catalogs that were full of so many nude bodies one would be hard-pressed to actually identify any clothes they might want to purchase. Remember the catalog cover in 2002 that had the words “Group Sex” splashed across the cover? Classy! (Not!). Or how about the time they decided it was a good idea to produce thongs for young girls. Oh, and then there was the employee who was banished to the stock room where she wouldn’t interact with customers, as it seems her prosthetic arm didn’t fit the “look” of the store’s brand.

So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised with Abercrombie’s latest, and perhaps most offensive, turn. Padded push-up bikini tops for tweens. That’s right. Now second graders can wear bikini tops that will make them look “sexier.” SERIOUSLY?

There are so many things wrong with this that it’s hard to know where to start. But here are just a few obvious problems. ONE: Girls, no matter how old they are, should not be treated like sex objects. TWO: Sexualizing young girls encourages boys and men to see these young girls as sexual objects. THREE: Padding bikini tops for young girls sends the message that they should grow up faster. FOUR: Padding bikini tops for girls sends the message that their bodies aren’t perfect and beautiful just the way they are.

Here’s what child psychologist Dr. Michael Bradley had to say on ABC News when asked about the impact of Abercrombie’s latest fail:

“We’re actually teaching them that this is their primary value in this culture, that’s what they’re all about. We’re shaping their behavior. We find that kids that get into this stuff do get into high risk early-onset sexual behavior. We whack their body image. We tell them “You’re not okay as you are. You have to use this kinda stuff”. Finally, we’re taking their childhoods away from them. At age eight we throw them into this pressurized, high anxiety world they’re not ready to handle and we think it’s part of why we see so much depression and anxiety in kids.”

So, I ask again…what will it take for Abercrombie & Fitch to stop this harmful practice of pushing the envelope at the expense of young girls and women? Hard to say, especially when the company’s profits jumped 95% in the fourth quarter of 2010.

We can boycott the store, for starters. And then we can tell everyone we know to boycott the store. And then we can sign petitions like this one over at Change.org that tells Abercrombie to stop selling padded bikini tops now.

What do you think? Do these padded bikini tops send the wrong message? What do you think is the most effective way to get Abercrombie to change their tune?

MTV and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have recently partnered with Get Schooled, an organization aimed at raising awareness for the need to decrease dropout rates, improve standards for post-secondary readiness, and increase the number of qualified graduates entering the work force each year, to create the Get Schooled: College Affordability Challenge. This challenge is calling on current and aspiring college students to imagine innovative digital tools to reimagine and simplify the financial aid process.

Three finalists were recently selected from hundreds of submissions from students in 48 states, and you can vote on who you want to win on MTV later this month. Here are the finalists:

Larissa Simpson, The Avatar Project – Larissa is proposing an interactive gaming experience that helps students navigate the process of securing grants, scholarships, and loans to finance their education. Users can personalize their gaming experience using an avatar that guides them through each stage of the process. Positive reinforcement and guided connection with peers through existing social networks will encourage students to meet deadlines and fulfill their college financing goals.

Devin Valencia, The Connect Fund – Devin’s proposing an interactive Facebook application offering a step-by-step guide on how to fill out the FAFSA and apply for grants, scholarships, and loans. The app will prioritize financial aid opportunities based on the user’s demographic info, as well as enable them to get other users’ feedback on their financial aid questions and concerns.

Dekunle Somade, First Aid – Dekunle envisions a single-source online and SMS platform designed to serve as a college financing tool for low-income students. First Aid will organize a wide array of financial aid and admissions info, and make it easier for institutions’ financial aid offices to communicate with students in need. The platform will also track users’ progress towards securing funding for school, and alert them to relevant scholarship and grant opportunities.

The winner will receive $10,000 and see their idea funded by MTV and The College Board Advocacy & Policy Center with a development budget of $100,000, to become a part of the national Get Schooled campaign.

I wrote yesterday’s post about this being National Eating Disorders Awareness week a few hours before taking my six-year-old son to see the new animated kids’ movie, Gnomeo and Juliet. This rated G spoof of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, though occasionally violent and sometimes off-color, was fully aimed at kids.

So you can imagine my horror (and yes, it truly was horror) when during a scene in which Juliet, the heroine of the movie, was standing on her best friend’s back (a frog) to catch a better glimpse of her love interest (Gnomeo), the best friend spoke these words:

“You know he’s going to ditch you when he finds out how much you weigh!”

Wait a sec…had I heard that correctly? I did a double take and looked around the theatre. Happy little faces, mostly of girls between the ages of four and ten, stared gleefully at the screen. I guess the more important question was, had they heard that?

“You know he’s going to ditch you when he finds out how much you weigh!”

And that’s how it starts. A little line from a movie, a thoughtless commercial, a mother’s look of disapproval at her own reflection in the mirror, magazine ads, billboards, snide comments…they all add up. The seeds are planted and bit by bit, word by word, message by message, girls slowly internalize the notion that thin is good, thinner is better. That thin will bring you happiness, love, approval, and worth.

And it’s messages like the one in this movie that contribute to these very scary statistics:

• 42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner
• 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat
• 46% of 9-11 year-olds are “sometimes” or “very often” on diets

So my question to the writers of Gnomeo and Juliet is this … REALLY? The best you can do to try and elicit laughter from an audience full of children is to deliver a fat joke? The best you can do in your attempt to be funny is remind girls that their weight matters when it comes to getting what they want in life?

Next time, how about trying smart humor? You know, the kind that isn’t offensive and makes the audience actually feel good about themselves making their ribs ache with laughter?

And the next time? Remember that every word counts.