Welcome to our blog!! We are so excited to have you joining us!!
We, Erin, Whitney, and Nathalie, are undergraduate Women's Studies students at the University of Victoria, in Victoria, BC, Canada. We met in an upper level wostud's course called Rethinking Girlhoods, designed by our brilliant and inspiring professor Dr. Jo-Anne Lee. The class introduced us to feminist Girl's and Girlhood Studies from an intersectional, anti-racist, decolonizing, transnational perspective. We learned about the geneology of Girlhood Studies, which is a relatively new field of study (circa 1990s), about the importance of taking a critical perspective on the knowledge produced about girls in the earlier days ( which tended to universalize experiences of white, able-bodied, heterosexual, middle class girls as representative of all girls), about the ways neoliberlism and consumerism present a post-feminist notion of "girl power", about girls and media, about how girls bodies are regulated and medicalized, about how issues around girls represent larger moral /political concerns in our society, about girls and interenational development (very frightening stuff), and so much more. For our group project part of the class, we were given creative freedom to synthesize our new knowledge and also engaged girls in producing new knowledge.
We initially had a project that involved meeting with a group of young moms and doing some culture jamming stuff in response to the negative representations of teen moms in popular culture , but unfortunately, the adults in control of the group decided we should not talk to them. Although we were disappointed, we were not surprised because we had been learning about how girls voices are often silenced by adults who think they are protecting them, doing the "right thing". We started analyzing the situation. It struck us that if girls have access to technologies that allow them to produce their own self-representations and the skills to use such technologies, they don't need to be given permission by adults to have their voices heard. They can become cultural agents and produce their own knowledge, unfiltered and unapologetic. We remembered back to a section of our class where we learned about girls and media production, how cultural messages that promote technology as a "boy thing" often prevent girls from learning the skills to share their voices publicly through the use of technology, and how empowering it is for girls to produce their own media. We learned that "as girls begin to create their own images and generate narrative that truly reflect their lives and concerns, they have the opportunity to take hold of the stereotypes of girlhood learn, disrupt or deliberately deconstruct them, and offer something else instead" (Lipkin, 2004 p.147).
We recognized how important this is, and were all really keen to produce knowledge and disrupt the 'girl' stereotypes that we had learned about. We wanted to create our own narratives , our own stories, but how? We needed the very technological skills that we lacked in order to produce media and alternative messages. Bingo!! This would be our project -- learning the technological skills required to communicate publicly from a self-identified 'girl' identity and then doing it!! We started talking within our group. Nathalie had recently learned how to make films, Erin had recently learned how to blog, and Whitney wanted to learn both. Given the time limits, we agreed it made the most sense to work collaboratively on making a blog about girls, technology, and culture. Our goal is to subvert popular stereotypes that tell us girls and technology don't mix by learning new technological skills ourselves and supporting other girls to do the same. Only couple weeks ago some of us believed we didn't have the ability to create and maintain a blog, and now here we are doing it and loving it!!
However, we recognize that we are very lucky in our access to computers, internet, and cameras available through UVic. We are able to learn these skills because we are surrounded with costly equipment that we can use freely as part of our university program, and this is something not all girls are able to do. However, even without all this equipment, blogging is something you can do at an internet cafe, or on school computers, and in our increasingly technological world, it is imperative that girls are encouraged to seek out technological skills so they too can speak publicly. We need to hear girls voices. We don't need adults regulating them. We as girls need the technological skills the produce and disseminate our own knowledge freely. We also need to encourage each other that we are capable, that technology is not some "dorky" "boyish" thing, but that it is a political tool that we can use to get our voices heard.
Our blog is a space to track our learning and research, share information and skills, and engage with girls from all around the world about our relationships with technology. We hope you enjoy your time here and share your comments with us!!
We're sick of postfeminist notions of 'Girl Power' that are all about shopping and sex appeal. So we present Girl Power 3.0 ... we're pushing buttons, we're speaking out, and we're not asking for permission.
We, Erin, Whitney, and Nathalie, are undergraduate Women's Studies students at the University of Victoria, in Victoria, BC, Canada. We met in an upper level wostud's course called Rethinking Girlhoods, designed by our brilliant and inspiring professor Dr. Jo-Anne Lee. The class introduced us to feminist Girl's and Girlhood Studies from an intersectional, anti-racist, decolonizing, transnational perspective. We learned about the geneology of Girlhood Studies, which is a relatively new field of study (circa 1990s), about the importance of taking a critical perspective on the knowledge produced about girls in the earlier days ( which tended to universalize experiences of white, able-bodied, heterosexual, middle class girls as representative of all girls), about the ways neoliberlism and consumerism present a post-feminist notion of "girl power", about girls and media, about how girls bodies are regulated and medicalized, about how issues around girls represent larger moral /political concerns in our society, about girls and interenational development (very frightening stuff), and so much more. For our group project part of the class, we were given creative freedom to synthesize our new knowledge and also engaged girls in producing new knowledge.
We initially had a project that involved meeting with a group of young moms and doing some culture jamming stuff in response to the negative representations of teen moms in popular culture , but unfortunately, the adults in control of the group decided we should not talk to them. Although we were disappointed, we were not surprised because we had been learning about how girls voices are often silenced by adults who think they are protecting them, doing the "right thing". We started analyzing the situation. It struck us that if girls have access to technologies that allow them to produce their own self-representations and the skills to use such technologies, they don't need to be given permission by adults to have their voices heard. They can become cultural agents and produce their own knowledge, unfiltered and unapologetic. We remembered back to a section of our class where we learned about girls and media production, how cultural messages that promote technology as a "boy thing" often prevent girls from learning the skills to share their voices publicly through the use of technology, and how empowering it is for girls to produce their own media. We learned that "as girls begin to create their own images and generate narrative that truly reflect their lives and concerns, they have the opportunity to take hold of the stereotypes of girlhood learn, disrupt or deliberately deconstruct them, and offer something else instead" (Lipkin, 2004 p.147).
We recognized how important this is, and were all really keen to produce knowledge and disrupt the 'girl' stereotypes that we had learned about. We wanted to create our own narratives , our own stories, but how? We needed the very technological skills that we lacked in order to produce media and alternative messages. Bingo!! This would be our project -- learning the technological skills required to communicate publicly from a self-identified 'girl' identity and then doing it!! We started talking within our group. Nathalie had recently learned how to make films, Erin had recently learned how to blog, and Whitney wanted to learn both. Given the time limits, we agreed it made the most sense to work collaboratively on making a blog about girls, technology, and culture. Our goal is to subvert popular stereotypes that tell us girls and technology don't mix by learning new technological skills ourselves and supporting other girls to do the same. Only couple weeks ago some of us believed we didn't have the ability to create and maintain a blog, and now here we are doing it and loving it!!
However, we recognize that we are very lucky in our access to computers, internet, and cameras available through UVic. We are able to learn these skills because we are surrounded with costly equipment that we can use freely as part of our university program, and this is something not all girls are able to do. However, even without all this equipment, blogging is something you can do at an internet cafe, or on school computers, and in our increasingly technological world, it is imperative that girls are encouraged to seek out technological skills so they too can speak publicly. We need to hear girls voices. We don't need adults regulating them. We as girls need the technological skills the produce and disseminate our own knowledge freely. We also need to encourage each other that we are capable, that technology is not some "dorky" "boyish" thing, but that it is a political tool that we can use to get our voices heard.
Our blog is a space to track our learning and research, share information and skills, and engage with girls from all around the world about our relationships with technology. We hope you enjoy your time here and share your comments with us!!
We're sick of postfeminist notions of 'Girl Power' that are all about shopping and sex appeal. So we present Girl Power 3.0 ... we're pushing buttons, we're speaking out, and we're not asking for permission.
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