A recent article in the NY Times says that many of Miley Cyrus’ core followers - fans of the Disney Channel show Hannah Montana who tend to be between 8 and 12 years old - think Miley has gone too far with her new, sexy image. In fact, in 2010, only 24% of teens 13-17 said they liked Miley, compared with 45% in 2008.

Miley’s gotten a lot of attention for her new image, which she premiered recently to correspond with her new album, “Can’t Be Tamed.” And at 17 years old, she is definitely pushing the envelope when it comes to what she’s wearing, how she performs, and what she’s singing about. From her pole-dancing move at last year’s Teen Choice Awards to her provocative performance featuring a girl-on-girl kiss on “Britain’s Got Talent,” Miley seems to be stirring up controversy wherever she goes.

That she’s shaking things up and trying to age-up her image as she tries to make the shift from tween sensation to young woman actress, singer, and performer is totally expected. It’s the backlash from her own fans that I find so surprising.

From the NY Times article:

Perry Hamm has adored Hannah Montana since the age of 8. At 9 she bought a ticket to “Hannah Montana: The Movie,” along with one of the 3 million soundtracks sold after the film’s debut. Last September, she scored one of the most coveted tickets among teenagers in 2009: Hannah Montana in concert.

But now, at 11, Perry’s enthusiasm for Ms. Cyrus has fizzled. She wishes Ms. Cyrus would ditch the tight T-shirts and Uggs for the sassy skirts her television persona wears. So last month, when Miley released her post-adolescent anthem, “Can’t Be Tamed,” her once-adoring fan was unimpressed, unmoved by, among other things, the singer’s sexy music video.

“It was weird,” Perry said of Ms. Cyrus’s bird wings and black ribbon corset. “I feel like she acts 25. She looks so old. She is too old for herself.”

While I’m glad for the insight and perspective of girls like Perry who question the young star’s wardrobe and behavior choices in recent months, I hate to think of all the girls who idolize Miley and want to emulate her every step of the way. Miley’s transformation then becomes just one more message in an overflowing pool of wrong messages…messages that tell girls that they should look or dress or be “sexy” to have value and worth.

No, I don’t think Miley, at 17, has a responsibility to all the young girls of the world, and I cannot imagine growing up in the spotlight and having every aspect of my behavior up for debate. But I do have to wonder what Miley’s hoping her sexy image will give her…approval? Acceptance? Love? Respect? If so, she’ll never find what she’s looking for. There’s only one way to achieve that goal, and it’s all about accepting ourselves for who we are, inside and out.

What are your thoughts on Miley’s sexual image?

Ah…If only I was sixteen again. Then I could apply to be an intern for one of my favorite magazines, New Moon Girls. Alas…I’ll have to be satisfied with sharing the opportunity with you!

New Moon Girls is currently accepting applications for talented interns ages 16 and up for Fall 2010 and Winter/Spring 2011. Their interns work with girl and adult editors to foster creative self-expression in girls ages 8+ worldwide. Though the magazine is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, you can work from the comfort of your own home and still gain real-world experience in many aspects of New Moon’s online community and magazine for girls and their website for parents of girls.

Interns will need to be able to work well independently, communicate well by email and Skype, be Internet-proficient, and have a computer with Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and broadband Internet access. Applications are due by August 1 for Fall and November 1 for Winter/Spring.

Interested? Apply online here!

And if you’re under the age of 16, but still want to get involved, you can sign up to be a New Moon Girls Volunteer, where you’ll have a chance to do things like spread the word online, create New Moon activities for teachers, host online chats, write guest blog posts, and much more.

I’m wearing jeans today. How about you? If you’re wearing a skirt or perhaps a sun dress, you might want to think about changing. Why? Because New Moon Girls has declared today “Wear the Pants Day” to draw attention to the fact that millions of girls and women around the world are still forbidden or discouraged from wearing pants.

According to New Moon, girls and women are beaten, arrested, and worse for wearing pants. In fact, last fall schoolgirls in the Sudan were flogged for wearing pants and 20 women in Uganda were stripped of their pants and forced to walk home in underwear.

But the issue of women / girls and pants hits closer to home. Only 2 years ago, the Wall Street Journal reported on a “persistent bias against pants-wearing women in careers such as law and finance.” Female college grads are warned to wear skirts if they have hopes of hitting the top posts in their professions. And women in the senate and congress only started wearing pants in the 1990s!

Why today, you ask? Here’s what New Moon has to say:

“New Moon Girls picked this day because on June 11, 1964, the Equal Pay Act was enacted in the U.S., mandating that women receive equal pay for equal work. Now, some 46 years later, pants barriers have largely toppled in the US; however, American women still earn just 77 cents to a man’s dollar. Wearing pants today helps keep us focused on the work that remains ahead to ensure that our daughters enter a workplace that’s finally fair.”

So, wear your pants (or shorts if it’s really hot where you live) today and stand up for women everywhere!

I don’t typically write these kinds of posts, but an important voice for young girls - New Moon Magazine - is in jeopardy, and Smart Girls Know wants to help keep it alive. Aimed at girls ages 8-13, New Moon fills a void in the marketplace of media for girls by offering something unique and positive, something that empowers its readers in an authentic way.

There is so much I LOVE about the magazine. Here are just a few of my favorite things about New Moon:

• It is truly created by girls for girls - the magazine and site has an all-girl editorial board made up of girls ages 8-12 that drives the great content you’ll find inside and edits the magazine
• New Moon is 100% advertising free, so that means there’s no need to deal with the kinds of media images you’ll find in traditional girl and teen magazines that research shows makes girls feel insecure and less confident about themselves
• New Moon offers opportunities for interested girls to get published in each issue

All of these things are great, but what would a magazine be without fantastic content? New Moon has that in spades, too. New Moon is all about helping girls discover and honor their true selves, engage in meaningful pursuits and dialogue, and express their voices in ways that matter.

Because this magazine is ad-free, it counts on the support of funders and subscribers to keep it afloat. Right now New Moon is in a particularly difficult financial crunch, and its future is at stake.

To do our part, Smart Girls Know has become an affiliate of New Moon. As an affiliate, Smart Girls Know is offering a $10 discount off the price of a year subscription, which includes 12-month unlimited online access to New Moon’s informative site. Typically affiliates earn a commission on sales, but Smart Girls Know is forgoing its commission to support the future of the magazine. To take advantage of this special offer, click here.

If you feel so moved, please help Smart Girls Know make sure this distinct voice and outlet for girls doesn’t go away!

XOXO Debbie

When I was a teen, there wasn’t much, if any, alcohol in the house. The drinking of alcohol was reserved for Christmas or Thanksgiving, when my mom would break out a bottle of syrupy sweet blush wine. Occasionally, my parents would let my sister and I have a sip, but that was about it. My parents were fairly strict, and would never have knowingly allowed my friends and I to partake in any alcohol at the house.

Though I suspect they knew I drank every now and then, I also knew it was completely against their rules. As a result, most of my teen drinking occurred at the house of friends, where we’d either dip into a parent’s liquor cabinet, or a friend with an older friend would get us a couple of six-packs. Drinking was something that happened on some weekends in high school, usually at bigger parties, and only occasionally to excess.

So I was interested to hear a story on the radio the other day about teens drinking habits being impacted by their parents’ attitudes towards drinking. According to the story on NPR:

Alcohol researcher Caitlin Abar from Pennsylvania State University found that parents’ efforts do play a role in shaping their teens’ behavior. She studied how parents deal with their high school teenagers regarding alcohol use while still at home, and she then checked after the teens’ first semester of college. Her study of 300 teenagers and their parents was published recently in the journal Addictive Behaviors.

“Parents who disapproved completely of underage alcohol use tended to have students who engaged in less drinking, less binge drinking, once in college,” Abar says.

And conversely, a parent’s permissiveness about teenage drinking is a significant risk factor for later binge drinking.

“The parents who are more accepting of teen drinking in high school were more likely to have children who engaged in risky drinking behaviors in college, compared to those children who had parents that were less accepting,” Abar says. The researchers also asked the teens about their parents’ drinking patterns and found that parents’ own drinking behavior influenced a teen’s later alcohol use.

This more permissive attitude some parents embrace today in which they allow their teens and possibly their teens’ friends drink as long as it’s at home and they’re being “safe” is referred to as the European model, since many countries in Europe are more lax about drinking age limits and families often allow their children to socially drink with the idea that they’ll learn to drink responsibly.

But new research shows this isn’t actually the case. “The more teenagers drink at home, the more they will drink at other places, and the higher the risk for problematic alcohol use three years later,” says researcher Haske van der Vorst.

What do you think of the findings of this research? To be honest, when I went to Penn State as a freshman, I definitely took partying to the extreme on more than one occasion. And in some ways, I think that my strict upbringing regarding drinking made the easy access to alcohol in college to tempting to say no to.

What is the attitude towards alcohol in your family? Is it completely forbidden? Do you think that by making it accessible to teens, it becomes less of a big deal?

I was thrilled to hear the news last week that for the first time in the history of West Point, the top two honors in the graduating class went to women! Elizabeth Betterbed and Alexandra Rosenberg were named the overall cadet and class valedictorian of the prestigious U.S. Military Academy, respectively.

President Obama was on-hand to congratulate the women as he gave the graduation address last Saturday:

“This underscores a fact that I’ve seen in the faces of our troops from Baghdad to Bagram - in the 21st century, our women in uniform play an indispensable role in our national defense. And time and again, they have proven themselves to be role models for our daughters and our sons - as students and as soldiers and as leaders in the United States armed forces.”

Though the Academy was first open to students in 1802, women were only admitted for the first time in 1976, when 119 females started as freshman. Today, women make up about 15% of cadets starting the four-year program.

Congratulations to Elizabeth and Alexandra on their incredible achievement!

* * * * *

Are you interested in learning more about a career in the military? Check out my interview with Coast Guard Lt. Leanne Lusk in my book In Their Shoes. Leanne talks about what she loves about the job, describes her personal career journey, and walks readers through a “typical” day in her world (there’s actually nothing typical about it).

When I interviewed Leanne for the book, I asked her what it was like being a woman in the military since so many perceive it as a male-dominated career path. Here’s what she had to say:

“Out of all the armed services, the Coast Guard has the highest percentage of women. And I love busting stereotypes about what women can and can’t do. I’m not someone that people would look at and think I’m a federal law enforcement officer…I really like breaking out of that mold. I know that I can get dropped in a country anywhere in the world and survive…I know how to take care of myself.”

Smart Girls Know would like to join Girls Inc. in celebrating Girls’ Rights Week! From May 3 – May 7, Girls Inc. is focused on girls promoting positive spaces for physical activity as part of their and their communities’ greater health and wellbeing.

As part of the week, the Girls Inc. National Scholars traveled to Washington, D.C. where they met with Susan Sher, First Lady Michelle Obama’s Chief of Staff, and Jocelyn Frye, Director of Policy and Projects in the Office of the First Lady, to present finding of Girls Inc. Healthy Girls, Healthy Communities, a project in which girls across the country examined the resources available in their communities to encourage physical activity and barriers that prevent girls from using these resources.

This week is also meant to bring awareness to Girls Bill of Rights - six statements that help girls envision a healthy, successful future and an equitable society. So without further ado, here they are:

• Girls have the right to be themselves and to resist gender stereotypes
• Girls have the right to express themselves with originality and enthusiasm
• Girls have the right to take risks, to strive freely, and to take pride in success
• Girls have the right to accept and appreciate their bodies
• Girls have the right to have confidence in themselves and be safe in the world
• Girls have the right to prepare for interesting work and economic independence

For more info on Girls’ Rights Week, visit the Girls Inc. website here!

I’m constantly surprised by the fact that there are still things out there that women “can’t” or aren’t allowed to do. Like this year in the Winter Olympics - did you know that women were prohibited from competing in the ski jump? While the reasons for this event ban are unclear, one member of the International Olympic Committee said he didn’t think women should ski jump because the sport “seems not to be appropriate for ladies from a medical point of view.” Huh?

So this morning when fellow YA author Tanya Lee Stone brought to my attention that the Navy had lifted its ban on women working on submarines, I was surprised, mostly because I didn’t realize there had been a ban in the first place.

According to an article in the Huffington Post, the Navy deemed that women’s “service on submarines would cost too much,” and that “close quarters aboard subs would make coed service difficult to manage.”

The Navy plans to start by assigning three female officers to different crews of guided-missile attack submarines and ballistic missile submarines. These are larger subs, and won’t require modification, allowing the Navy to move faster to include women. Because of additional training required though, it will still be more than a year until women will begin serving on board.

How much do you text? If you’re like many teens, you send out an average of 50 texts per day, about anything from where to meet and who said what, from important updates to mundane responses.

A new study by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project found the number of teens who text-message daily has shot up to 54% from 38% in just the past 18 months. With this steady increase, as well as the growing number of teens who carry phones (now nearly 75%), many schools are perplexed about how to handle cell phones. Should they be banned? And if so, in school altogether or in class only? Should texting be allowed, but not calls?

Depends on who you ask. Many are concerned that the increase in texting will result in a deficit among teens for important social skills like problem solving, working things out face-to-face, and verbally communicating. According to a story on NPR, Nini Halkett, a teacher at Harvard-Westlake High School in Los Angeles, has noticed bad spelling and writing worsening as texting becomes more widespread. As her students are increasingly immersed in texting, Halkett also finds them increasingly shy and awkward in person.

What concerns me the most about this growing texting trend? I worry that texting and doing all other things cell-phone related are undertaken to fill up empty space and time. Standing in line at a store? Why not text someone? Sitting on the bus? Text someone! In a new situation where you don’t know anyone? Flip on your phone and start texting!

You might be saying to yourself, yeah, so, what’s the problem with that? Well, the way I see it it, when you’re texting and immersed in your cell phone, you’re not fully engaged in the present. And when you’re not in the present, the way you experience life is going to be affected, and not for the better. When you’re standing in line at a store, instead of texting you could try noticing what’s going on around you, people watch, consciously think about what you’re doing. Sitting on the bus? Use the time to reflect on your day, zone out with some music, daydream, or catch up on some reading. In a new situation with people you don’t know? Push yourself outside your comfort zone and be approachable and open to meeting new people.

I know for me, it’s really hard to resist the temptation to fill every empty space and free moment with cell phone stuff: texting, checking email, checking FB, checking Tweets. And sometimes I do it because I really am crunching and need to get back to someone or connect immediately with a text. But often, I’m making the choice out of boredom, convenience, and because I’m in a new situation feeling uncomfortable.

So,here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to give myself a texting / cell phone challenge for the week. No, I’m not going to ban all cell phone texting and nonverbal communication, but I am going to limit such use of my phone to times when I truly need to check in on something or someone as opposed to just trying to fill up empty space and time. I’ll see how it goes and report here in the comments next week. Are you with me?

What are your thoughts? Can too much texting be a bad thing?

On this 40th anniversary of Earth Day, I wanted to share with you the new website, Inconvenient Youth, which stems from The Climate Project, Al Gore’s climate change leadership program.

This new venture is aimed at teens with a goal of creating a “a community of teenagers taking action to address the climate crisis.” On the website, you can create your own profile, and then join in the discussion sharing your ideas for addressing global warming, as well as post specific actions you’ve already taken to do your part.

Also - be sure to visit the official Earth Day website, where you can share what you plan to do in the coming year to lighten your carbon footprint on the earth. Thousands of people have already posted their pledges to do things like:

• shop at a local farmer’s market and buy local / organic food
• use reusable bags and bins when grocery shopping
• start composting
• unplug chargers when not using them
• take the stairs instead of the elevator
• shut down computer when not using them
• use environmentally-friendly cleaning products

For me, I’m going to try to walk even more than I already do, shut down my computer every night, and plan more opportunities for our family, including my 5-year-old son, to take part in environmental clean-up volunteerism.

What are YOU going to do differently?