‘Mommy Wars’ Incited by Irresponsible
Media, Says NOW President Kim Gandy

National Organization for Women President Kim Gandy in March protested to ABC Television executives about programming she regards as distinctly unhelpful.

“In their ongoing search for controversy that sells, the media are again promoting a false conflict—the so-called “Mommy Wars," Gandy said in a statement. “NOW knows that our opponents are committed to a strategy of pitting women against women. The most recent clash between stay-at-home moms and employed moms is a media-manufactured "battle" that obscures the very real issues all moms and caregivers face. One of the worst recent offenders was a feature on ABC's Good Morning America with longtime journalist Diane Sawyer.”

In a letter, Gandy wrote, “From start to finish, this feature offered much heat but little light. The "Mommy Wars" title was the first clue that the story would pit one group of hard-working women against another. Having promised a "red hot" debate, ABC proceeded to create a provocative piece that had little substance and even fewer solutions.

“One large segment of the "mommy" world completely ignored by ABC and Sawyer are the mothers who live at or near poverty, forced into a 40-hour work week by a "reformed" welfare system that fails to address their basic needs,” Gandy said. “What are moms who must work to put food on the table supposed to think about a debate that manages both to exclude and scold them?”

Study: Teen Exposure to Sexual Media
Leads to Earlier Sexual Experimentation

This study confirms what we’ve long suspected: Sexually charged music, magazines, TV programs and movies accelerate youngsters’ first experience with intercourse, perhaps by acting as a kind of “virtual peer” that tells them everybody is sexually active.

"This is the first time we've shown that the more kids are exposed to sex in media the earlier they have sex," said MRTW Supporting Subscriber Jane Brown of the University of North Carolina, chief author of the report.

Earlier research had been limited to television, said the study, which involved 1,017 adolescents when they were aged 12 to 14 and a re-check two years later. They were monitored for their exposure during the two years to 264 items -- movies, TV shows, music and magazines -- which were analyzed for their sexual content.

The study was done at several schools in North Carolina. The authors said that they did not measure the impact of exposure to sexual material on the Internet because when the research began in 2001 relatively few of the early adolescents in the sample had Internet access.

In general, Brown and her team found that the highest exposure levels led to more sexual activity, with white teens in the group 2.2 times more likely to have had intercourse at ages 14 to 16 than similar youngsters who had the least exposure.

The study was published in the April issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. A portion of the data was previously published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Visibility of Female Politicians
Increases Girls’ Interest in Politics

A study published in the May issue of The Journal of Politics asks if the presence of female politicians inspires political interest and activism in young women. The authors David Campbell and Christina Wolbrecht, political science faculty members at the University of Notre Dame, find that it does. The more that women politicians are made visible in the media by national news coverage, the more likely young women are to indicate an intention to be politically active.

The authors also find that the adolescents’ interest is also heightened by viable female candidates campaigning for high-profile offices. It is not a matter of the number of women holding or running for office, but their visibility. “A highly visible woman politician in the future— perhaps even as the top of a major party presidential ticket— has the potential to generate significant interest in political activity,” the authors state.

Video Gaming Increasing Its
Appeal to Women, Adweek Says

“The popular perception of gamers persists – that they are either pimply-faced teenage boys or 30-something males living in their parents’ basements,” writes Adweek’s Mike Shields (May 8, 2006). But no more. While still underrepresented compared with other audience segments, women seem to be playing games online more than ever.

Women aren’t drawn to the violent video games that award points for murdering opponents and roughing up prostitute characters. According to a study released last month by the Consumer Electronics Association, 65 percent of women ages 25 to 34 report playing video games, compared to just 35 percent of men. The report cites casual gaming – poker, dominoes, cards, racing and sports games – as explaining why the numbers for women are so high.

Whether advertisers will follow women to these casual gaming sites remains a question, but female gamers could be a lucrative market for advertisers if younger gamers maintain their love for the game into adulthood. “Among kids, game play is becoming more an activity done by both boys and girls, which will surely have an impact on marketing in the future,” Shields writes.

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Commentary: Couric Hits the Top, Coverage Scrapes the Bottom

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