YOU HAVE A DAUGHTER BECAUSE...
…she has a mother. So
celebrate her mother and/or stepmother this Sunday on Mother’s
Day. And celebrate her every day that you value the wonderful
experience of being a dad. Come to think of it, that’s every
day—including today!
Back to Top
SEE JANE: G MOVIES FAIL BOYS
In G-rated films,
males are half as likely as females to be parents, half as
likely to be married or in a relationship, and much more
likely to be violent. Male characters of color are portrayed
even more negatively.
Those are some key findings from “G Movies Give Boys a D:
Portraying Males as Disconnected, Dominant and Dangerous,”
the new report from Dads & Daughters’
See Jane program, released May 3 at the
National Press Club in Washington, DC.
“This narrow portrayal of males is especially troubling
given society’s struggle with divorce, father absence,
violence, and the shortage of initiatives to adequately
prepare boys and young men for the opportunities and
responsibilities of manhood,” according to DADs President
Joe Kelly.
Academy Award® winner and See
Jane Founder
Geena Davis says, “I believe that this report
will help inspire Hollywood to provide characters and
stories that more reliably reflect the world our children
live in.”
Alvin F. Poussaint, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry at
Harvard
Medical
School and consultant to The Cosby
Show, says, “The early exposure of children to less
stereotyped gender roles will contribute to less sexism and
improved relationships between the sexes, as well as a
balanced approach in rearing male and female children.”
This is the second report stemming from See
Jane-sponsored research, the most
comprehensive content analysis of G-rated movies ever
conducted. Read the entire “G Movies Give Boys a D” report
at
www.SeeJane.org.
Back to Top
COMMUNICATING IS FUN
DADs supporter
Gary Burns has developed one of the best products for fathers
and daughters that we’ve ever seen. “The Communication Game:
Dads & Daughters Edition” includes fun game cards to trigger
hours of fascinating, enjoyable, and open-ended conversation.
Here's how it works:
Dad picks up a card
and reads it—for example, one card says, "I'll never forget the
time you..." Dad then fills in the blank with his answer and
tells why he answered the way he did. Then daughter picks up the
next card, which might read, “My favorite memory is…” and gives
her response, and so forth. The cards act as talking points that
inspire dialogue, especially during those tough teen years.
You can get your own
Communication Game and help support Dads & Daughters at the same
time.
Visit
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000CQXHP2/ref=sr_11_1/104-9108030-9625528?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance
to order your copy today.
Back to Top
TURN BEAUTY INSIDE OUT MAY 17
Celebrate
Turn Beauty Inside Out Day with us on Wednesday, May 17.
TBIO promotes healthy body image and expands
the definition of what makes people beautiful! Find out more
about
TBIO Day and the 2006
TBIO Girls Leadership Retreat in
New York City, June 21-24, 2006 at
www.tbio.org.
Back to Top
BEST SEAT IN THE HOUSE
“It’s
been a long time since I read a book that moved me this much,”
according to DADs co-founder Joe Kelly. He’s talking about USA
Today sports columnist Christine Brennan’s memoir “Best Seat in
the House: A Father, a Daughter, a Journey Through Sports.”
“Anyone who doubts the
profound impact of a dad or stepdad on his daughter, or of her
impact on him, should read this book,” Kelly says. “So should
everyone who values and celebrates the power of father-daughter
relationships.”
You may purchase “Best
Seat in the House” at
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743254368/sr=8-1/qid=1147375598/ref=sr_1_1/104-4486978-6255922?%5Fencoding=UTF8
.
Back to Top
GIRLS, SEX & PREGNANCY
Although teen pregnancy and sexual activity is declining in the
US, one-third of
sexually active teen girls will become pregnant, according to a
new report from the National Campaign to Prevent Pregnancy. NCPP
analyzed 2002 data compiled by the federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
The study found that
52 percent of sexually active teenage Latinas get pregnant,
compared to 40 percent of sexually active black teenage girls
and 23 percent of sexually active white teenage girls.
Read a Chicago
Sun-Times story on the report at
www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-teen03.html.
Back to Top
DADS PULL MORE WEIGHT--WHEN AWAKE
Thirty-eight (38%) percent of fathers say they do just as much
child rearing as their child's mother, according to a new poll
by
InteractiveDad.com, while nearly 14 percent say
they actually do more than mom.
"I think many dads
now know what moms figured out years ago," says
InteractiveDad.com editor Glenn Lawrence. "You get back from
your child much more than you give. And investing in your child
pays dividends big time--in love and a bonding relationship that
for years had exclusively been between children and their
mothers."
However, in most
households, it is Mom, not Dad, who wakes up in the middle of
the night to care for a crying baby, the poll shows. A whopping
60 percent of dads admit that while they sleep, mom rolls out of
bed to comfort children in the wee hours of the night; 38
percent of dads say they get up.
Back to Top
SOUTHWEST FATHERS INSTITUTE
Arizona
Fathers & Families Coalition wants you to "save the date" of June 28, 2006 for their Southwestern
Regional Fatherhood & Families Institute at the
United Way complex in
Tucson. For more information, email info@azffc.org, jrodriguez@azffc.org
, or call at 800-603-9309.
Back to Top
LGBT SUICIDE RESOURCE
State
and national surveys indicate that lesbian and gay teens have a
significantly higher risk of attempting suicide than their
heterosexual peers. But more help is being made available,
geared especially towards the needs of this group. The wonderful
online newsletter Connect for Kids features one of those
efforts, The Trevor Project, at
www.connectforkids.org/node/4120.
Back to Top
VIDEOS DON'T MAKE BABY BRAINY
On May 1, the
Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood (of which DADs is a
member) filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission
against Baby Einstein and Brainy Baby, two of the leading
producers of videos for infants and toddlers, claiming false and
deceptive advertising. The complaint charges that these
companies violate Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act
by marketing their videos as educational for babies. CCFC is
asking the FTC to prohibit Baby Einstein and Brainy Baby from
making claims about the educational and developmental benefits
of their videos and require that advertisements, packaging and
websites for all baby videos prominently display the
American
Academy of Pediatrics' recommendation
of no screen time for children under age two.
The complaint and
supporting documents are available at
http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/babyvideos/ftccomplainthtm.
Back to Top
GIRLS & CELEBRITY WORSHIP
Girls
today are growing up in a world where only two percent of women
describe themselves as beautiful. That’s why former teen model
and teen magazine editor Audrey Brashich wrote the new book “All
Made Up: A Girl’s Guide to Seeing Through Celebrity Hype and
Celebrating Real Beauty.” Law & Order actress Mariska Hargitay
says the book “puts fame, glamour and beauty in perspective
while encouraging girls to feel good about themselves exactly as
they are.
Order a copy at
www.newmooncatalog.com/prodinfo.asp?number=B00-X19
Back to Top
COACHING BOYS INTO MEN
Men teach boys
how to hit a baseball, hit the net, hit the receiver, and much
more. But are we taking time to teach boys that violence against
women and girls is wrong? The Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF),
the Waitt Institute and the Ad Council have a new 30-second
public service advertisement (PSA)
that invites men to do just that, as part of the Coaching
Boys Into Men campaign.
The effort is working.
A study by Millward Brown, Inc. and RMA, Inc. found a
significant increase in the proportion of men who spoke to boys
about violence. Twenty-nine percent said they had done so in
November of 2001, before Coaching Boys Into Men launched,
and 41 percent had done so in February of last year. You can
watch the new English-language PSA
at
www.endabuse.org/cbim/.
Back to Top
Remember: Teach your daughter a joke today!
Dads &
Daughters is the national advocacy nonprofit for fathers and
daughters that works to make the world safe and fair for our
daughters. DADs is a registered Minnesota and IRS 501(c) 3
nonprofit. We’re at 2 W. First St., Suite 101, Duluth, MN 55802
USA. 1-218-722-3942. Update copyright 2005. Please reprint, but
always acknowledge the source & website:
www.dadsanddaughters.org.
Back to To
Forward this Update to family, friends and colleagues!
Or, tell them to sign up at
www.dadsanddaughters.org.
It's FREE! |