Dr. Rebecca Hains
Author, professor and speaker | Children's media culture, media literacy, and media criticism
Monthly Archives: April 2012
Turn off your television! Screen-Free Week starts Monday.
Have you heard of “screen time”? It’s a term describing the time we spend in front of screens, large and small, consuming media on a daily basis. Television. Computers. Video games. iPhones. iPads. Many screens compete for our attention, and…
Read MoreThis week’s round-up: CSMonitor.com, princess seeds, and princess week
A few quick things to share: I’ve joined the Christian Science Monitor’s Modern Parenthood blogging team! Check out the blog here; my contributor’s bio is here. Yesterday, Peggy Orenstein blogged about my post on the Disney Princess seed packets–and she…
Read MoreDisney Princess flowers: coming soon to a garden near you.
Imagine this scenario: Four-year-old Madison is obsessed with princesses. She wants to eat, sleep, breathe nothing but Disney Princess products, and it’s becoming a point of contention in her household. Her parents are tired of all the little battles over…
Read MorePrincess Extravagance, from Preschool to Prom
What do little girls in princess dresses and teenagers at proms have in common? More than you might think! Last week, a new survey found that nationwide, U.S. teens and their families will spend an average of $1,000 on this…
Read MoreAre the “Princess Wars” the new “Mommy Wars”?
A couple of weeks ago, Stephanie Hanes of the Christian Science Monitor called me. She had seen my post asking studios like Disney and Dreamworks to let princesses dare to dream of more, and she wanted to hear more of…
Read MoreKatniss Everdeen: The First Post-Girl Power Hero
When I saw The Hunger Games on its opening weekend, I was really struck by something: Although the sexualization of girls and women is rampant in the media, Katniss Everdeen is not sexualized. Not at all. Take a look at these…
Read MoreAt Stride Rite, girls are pretty and boys are active.
A few days ago, one mom wrote about a conversation she overheard, in which her 6-year-old daughter’s classmate insisted that sparkly shoes are not for playing–they’re for looking pretty: “Your shoes are ugly,” said the kindergarten classmate. “No they are not,”…
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Dr. Rebecca Hains 
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