Tobacco, a Powerful Deadly Force

What if our corporations weren't so powerful, and did not exert so much influence towards our laws and our society? Would that mean we would have an easy way to save more lives?

While we spend so much money on many programs to save lives, what about the most obvious one? How about standing up to the tobacco lobby and stop their ability to kill?

Tobacco use is killing more people in the US today that substance abuse, firearms, and traffic accidents. Is it time yet to hold the tobacco industry accountable, or will they remain part of our corporate structure whose actions towards people are fine as long as the profits are up.

http://www.citywatchla.com/wellness-leads-hidden/454-wellness-leads/8454-shocking-new-study-smoking-damage-worse-than-expected

Women Professional Athletes Way Behind Men in Pay

Even though we have Title IX for decades, where we don't see progress is in the professional realm of sports in the United States, as most women need to moonlight in order to make ends meet.

If a male athlete is at the top of his field, just his signing bonus is more than almost every family in the United States will ever see financially their entire lives. A male professional basketball player would laugh at making $107,000 a year which is the top salary of a WNBA player.

Somehow the people of this country have become convinced that for-profit male teams are part of their fiber, allowing themselves to be taxed to provide places with public funds just so these male athletes and owners can make more money. Not that we would wish that model on women, but until we rethink our capitalistic male sports culture (and college football) then there is no room left for athletes who are shut out of the male-dominated money-making realm.

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/basketball/nba/for-most-women-pro-sports-dont-pay-in-us/2216671

Selfridges Goes Gender Neutral

Selfridges Department Store in the United Kingdom has decided to go gender neutral after noticing that so many women were buying men's clothes. Now, they say, anyone can buy what most matches her or his self expression, with three floors of unisex clothing. The store will also say farewell to its current mannequins and revamp its beauty products and accessories. For many, this could be a very welcome change.

I remember the ridiculous situation of having to send the girls I coached to the boys section in order to buy soccer shorts and shirts. It sent a clear message that soccer is for boys and not girls. For anyone who does not adhere to gender stereotypes, many stores still let a person know there is something amiss.

Historically, females have had an easier time of dressing the way males have traditionally dressed, but males have bullied other males who have dressed in any way perceived to be female. This is a hierarchy issue, as it is fine for lower groups to be like the "superior" top, but prohibited for top groups to act like "inferior" lower groups.

Selfridges says they want everyone to be liberated.  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/27/selfridges-gender-neutral-clothing_n_6549922.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000050

Beware Men Who Harass Women!!

To men who think it is so innocent and funny to harass women, beware. You might just find yourself in the same situation as these men in Peru!!

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/01/24/moms-in-disguise/

The NRA, No Surprise, Is Wrong

The top of the hierarchy lives in fear of lower groups. According to an article in Slate, here is a quote from Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association:

"We know, in the world that surrounds us, there are terrorists and home invaders and drug cartels and car-jackers and knock-out gamers and rapers, haters, campus killers, airport killers, shopping-mall killers, road-rage killers, and killers who scheme to destroy our country with massive storms of violence against our power grids, or vicious waves of chemicals or disease that could collapse the society that sustains us all."

But all of us are losing, and dying, because of the fear that keeps the top of the hierarchy from informing itself with facts. The evidence overwhelmingly shows that guns leave everybody less safe, especially harrowing for women and children, who die from gun violence in America at far higher rates than in other countries. There is a significant positive relationship between gun ownership and overall homicide levels.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2015/01/good_guy_with_a_gun_myth_guns_increase_the_risk_of_homicide_accidents_suicide.html?google_editors_picks=true

"Barbie Doesn't Resonate with Girls Anymore"

Music to our ears. Looks like Barbie may be on her way out.

Eating disorders and females not liking their bodies, are they on their way out too? We have grown up with Barbie, and also watched women try and succeed in becoming way too thin, while nothing like that has happened to men.

We have watched the explosion of artificial blond hair and make-up, while men are thought to look great as their natural selves.

Financial analysts say that Barbie just doesn’t resonate with girls anymore. She is being replaced, at least temporarily, by Elsa of the movie "Frozen." Well at least Elsa has a goal in her life, is brave, and can be a leader. Not just possess a body that is impossible to achieve in real life like Barbie.

Was it just that for so long there was no one else strong enough to replace her?

 http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mattels-problems-wont-end-at-change-of-guard-2015-01-26?link=MW_latest_news

Teaching Our Children about Civil Rights

Today is the 60th birthday of Ruby Bridges, the brave six-year-old girl who was the first to the first African American child to desegregate an all-white elementary school in the southeastern United States. She attended school alone in the classroom the first year because no white parents would send their children to learn in the same classroom. The next year more African American children came.

This Facebook posting contains many web and print resources for children about desegregation for people their age, and are written for children their age. The posting also contains a more complete story of Ruby Bridges, a true troubadour for equality.

To look at hundreds of resources that depict girls as the truely strong people they are, see

http://www.amightygirl.com/books

https://www.facebook.com/amightygirl/photos/a.360833590619627.72897.316489315054055/733247560044893/?type=1&theater