One major girl influence I would define as anti-girl is Gossip Girl. An Ad Age article declares Alison Tarrant one of the 2008 Women to Watch.

It is the #1 show for girls 12-17. (Hello, Parents have you WATCHED this show? Make friends with the blocking system on your DVR already.)

The senior VP-integrated sales and marketing at the CW network has been one of the key people behind the scenes implementing innovative new commercials, including minutes-long "content wraps" and a prized integration in the buzzy rich-kids drama "Gossip Girl."

Some people might think Ms. Tarrant is playing with fire as she and the CW experiment with new ad formats. But a client that negotiates a "content wrap," which often consists of a series of longer ads or content pieces across an entire night of programming, probably stands out more in a consumer's mind than others who run normal ads in the same night. Likewise, when Verizon Wireless won a season-long integration in "Gossip Girl," it was poised to make more of an impression than its rivals, at least for the hour the program was on.

I can see what kind of marketing brilliance Ad Age sees in Ms. Tarrant, as I was a non-consenting hostage to one of her trashy porno Gossip Girl e-commercials one day when I innocently tried to open my mail. It is brilliant to essentially force all yahoo users to watch your ad by blocking the check mail buttons. And it is brilliant to encourage girls to post your ad on their websites, my space pages, blogs and email signatures.

Brilliant, but wrong.

I just have one little request: Ms. Tarrant - please use your marketing powers for good and not evil.

Here's a hypothetical question:

If The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty hired her away from The CW would this trash up the Dove Campaign or would it clean up Gossip Girl's marketing?

Read more:

Gossip Girl & R-A-P-E

Teen Sex Opera Pop Up

Image Source: Adage article.

Empowering Girls: So Sioux Me is on Women.Alltop.com.

I read onConfessions of an IT Girl that Alltop was THE place for cool kids to be. So, I rushed to join. And she's right. I saw all the cool kids there.

The Olympics have served all of us in our lives as a source for some pretty good heros and role models.

Who doesn't remember Mary Lou Retton?

Watch with your kids and talk to them about what kind of discipline, practice and dedication becoming the best at something takes.

We watched the trials for a little while and actually saw 4 or 5 world records set. Even speaking to kids about their "personal best" which announcers mention a lot is invaluable.

Head on over to Weary Parent and get the lowdown on all the accomplished teenagers.

Then bop over to Char's Sports Girls Play to find a good athletic challenge for your daughter.

Stop what you're doing right now and dance a little gig.

This is a big moment in girl evolution, a big moment in feminism, a big moment for education and a big moment for the future of the United States of America.

Girls and boys are officially equal in their math scores, at all grades, according to a Science article published in July.

Parents and teachers persist in thinking boys are simply better at math, said Janet Hyde in an MSNBC article, Girls' math skills now measure up to boys', the University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher who led the study. And girls who grow up believing it wind up avoiding harder math classes.

So, really. Stand up and do a gig for all your hard work. All the hard work of math teachers and educators, all the hard work of feminists, and female mathematicians who did math anyway.

Read more on the study at Women in Science.

If you want a lot of different commentary on the study and its meaning, look at the Knight Science Journalism Tracker which has rounded up links (thanks to Women in Science for this link).

Next time your daughter tells you she's not good at math or doesn't want to take calculus, tell her you have statistical evidence that she can and will do just as well as her brother, and there's no reason to let her husband handle the money when she grows up.

I have wonderful news. We had such a wonderful response to the You're Amazing! Giveaway , that Claire Mysko, the author, has made a special offer.

If you wish to purchase Girls Inc. Presents: You're Amazing!: A No-Pressure Guide to Being Your Best Self as a result of our Empowering Girls: So Sioux Me and Girls Inc. contest, Claire Mysko the author wants to send you a free bookplate to put in the book.

A bookplate is a signed sticker to put in the inside jacket of the book.

Essentially you would have an autographed copy of the book to give to the Amazing Girl in your life.

Please order the book through the Amazon link, Girls Inc. Presents: You're Amazing!: A No-Pressure Guide to Being Your Best Self here to support this website. Send an email to Claire at c@clairemysko.com with "Empowering Girls" in the subject line and include specific information about who you would like it autographed to and she'll expedite bookplate requests.

Julia of Norfolk, Va, who has this adorable photo on her blogger profile, has won a copy of You're Amazing. (Drawing was done by Random.org.)

Julia, please, email me at traceesioux@yahoo.com with your address over the next few days. If Julia hasn't claimed her prize by Friday, I will go to Random.org for another winner.

Editors note: Can anyone who uses blogger tell me how to retrieve Julia's email address from the comments so I can email her directly?

Yvonne from Joy Unexpected read this as the Community Keynote at BlogHer.

I don't ever want my daughter to feel the way that I have felt most of my adult life about my body.

Bravo Y.

If you can't watch her read it, you should read her Life Change Words.