Like what I'm hearing about the fiasco that was the BET award show. Lil Wayne performing " Every Girl" -- as in "I wish I could f**k every girl in the world"...uh-huh, check the lyrics-- while his preteen daughter and other little girls danced on stage. What?!??! SOOO glad I opted not to watch. BET never ceases to disappoint.
Anyhoo, even after such sad social displays of misogyny and stupidity, I can always count on my fellow bloggers to bring me back to positive girl-child reality. Like when I came across a post on What About Our Daughters about a website for girls called Girls Can't WHAT? The tagline of this amazing website is Have you ever been told you can't because you're a girl? Hell yeah, I have!
Gretchen Cawthon,the incredible creator of Girls Can't WHAT?, explains:
My childhood experiences prompted me to create the Girls Can’t WHAT? website in 2005. It is here I share my personal experiences along with amazing stories and interviews from some truly inspirational women. Together, our purpose is to encourage women to pursue their dreams no matter what roadblocks they may
encounter.
The site is jam packed with real-deal inspiration for girls and women alike. But why listen to me jaw about it, when you can hear about it from the creator herself? Check out my chat with Gretchen below.
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ROTGC: I absolutely LOVE the concept behind Girls Can't WHAT?. It's something that every woman has felt at sometime in her life. What made you decide to translate those feelings into such a positive outlet?
GC: I don't know that there was ever a "defining moment" that pushed me to create the site. It evolved more out of a combination of events in my life. I started seeing a pattern of gender discrimination in many of the fields I was interested in... music, technology, sports and business. The idea of "Girls Can't WHAT?" came when I had quit my previous job after being told repeatedly that "women can't do this" or "women don't do this". It blew my mind that my skills were being ignored because I was female. Ironically, one of the things I was told women can't do was "build a web site".
My husband suggested I take my Internet marketing skills and create my own site so I could work from home and be with our two daughters more. Essentially he said "why don't you go sell t-shirts on the Internet". That was in 2005. I thought it was funny at the time because although I had a lot of computer skills from teaching at professional levels, I didn't know a whole lot about web design or even creating graphics. I spent about a year with my head buried in library books
and blog sites learning php, html, css and other coding languages as well as learning how to use graphics programs to create my characters. Today, all that hard work has paid off in merchandise sales that support the site as well as women's charities and a spawned additional
work for me as a freelance web developer.
ROTGC:The site has lots of insight into girl-relevant issues and tons of great advice. Can you tell the moms here at Reign a bit about what their girls can do on the site? Also, what's an appropriate age for girls to begin visiting?
GC: My readers range from preteens to adults of all ages from all over the globe. I am very cautious about what material I post to the site and if there is anything that is geared to mature individuals, I preface the content with a warning. My 12-year-old daughter reads the site so I don't post anything I wouldn't feel comfortable having her see.
The site started with me highlighting a few celebrities and mixing in a few of my own stories. I then started interviewing women who weren't famous but were doing some really cool things like riding bulls and becoming fire fighters. My readers seemed to relate to those much more so I came up with the "share your story" option so women could post their own experiences and network with others in their fields as well as be encouraging to those who struggle to get past roadblocks due to gender.
A newsletter goes out weekly to subscribers which highlights the top posts and outstanding reader submissions. I also give away Girls Can't WHAT? gear to subscribers by randomly drawing names a couple times per month.
I'm currently working on bringing some social networking features directly to the site that will allow my readers to form groups that revolve around their career or interests. I think that would be a great way to hook up with other ladies who face similar challenges. The more brain power we can put into solving the various issues at hand, the better. Girls Can't WHAT? can also be found on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Youtube, etc.
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Check back in tomorrow for part two of this Q&A session with Gretchen Cawthon. And in the meantime, check Girls Can't WHAT to find out why I'm so excited about this amazing website.
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3 comments:
Thanks for introducing this site to me! As a mother of two girls and a boy - 8, 6 and 3, respectively - I've already seen them demonstrate gender stereotypes so prevalent in our culture today. My 3 y.o. son often tells me, "Girls can't do...only boys," and I have to remind him and my girls that ANYone can do ANYthing.
Isn't is crazy how soon the gender cues begin?
I'm starting to run into this with my son, also. He's six and has picked up all sorts of nonsense in school.. girls are smelly, girls walk like this, girls can't run... I'm always on the lookout for silly stereotypes like that and am quick to point out that he should look at his mom and older sister and decide what he thinks about girls for himself. That always gets his little wheels spinning.
Thanks for posting this. I'm glad you enjoy my site. Your blog is fabulous!
As for the comments from boys at such a young age, we've had the same experience. My girls are quick to put the boys in their place, tho. I once caught my youngest daughter telling her classmate "oh yes we can...my mom will make a t-shirt to prove it." LOL
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