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TOPIC: The creators of the online game 'Miss Bimbo' have made some changes due to an outpouring of criticism, according to an article by CBC News. The online game encourages its players, which tend to be girls ages 9 to 16, to create a character known as a 'bimbo' to achieve the ultimate goal of obtaining a virtual billionaire boyfriend. Throughout the game, players can shop for lingerie, try to maintain a target weight and can use reward money to pay for breast enhancements. But what has drawn most of the criticism was the portion of the game in which players could purchase diet pills to maintain their weight. The creators decided to remove that option. Psychologists worry the game sends the wrong message to young girls that their value is solely placed on how they look.
EXPERTS: ExpertSource can offer several highly qualified experts to comment on this story:
Addie Swartz is the founder and CEO of B*tween Productions, Inc, home of the Beacon Street Girls award-winning book series and website for preteen girls. Addie created the Beacon Street Girls in 2002 to provide positive media and healthy role models for tween girls, whatever their challenges. Today, there are fourteen Beacon Street Girls books with more 500,000 copies in print. The company has online "super-fans" in 174 countries and the books are available through leading book store chains and the company's COPPA-compliant website. Recent books have addressed issues such as cyber-bullying and Internet safety, gossip, self-acceptance, positive body image, underage drinking, school pressures, childhood obesity, divorce, etc.
A longtime entrepreneur with a commitment to developing quality products for children, Addie founded BrightIdeas (educational software), held senior positions at The Walt Disney Company, Lotus Development, and Reebok. Addie currently lives in the Boston area with her husband and two daughters, ages 13 and 16.
The Beacon Street Girls (BSG) website is an online community for preteen girls based on the contemporary book series. The books and the website are designed to provide positive media and healthy role models for preteen girls, while they have fun! This website is a real option for parents looking for something age-appropriate.
The Beacon Street Girls website allows girls to safely post comments on a wide variety of topics. We have thousands of comments from these girls which are all reviewed prior to being posted.) Here are some examples:
- Are you too old for Halloween?
- What's the right age for makeup?
- What's it like being the new kid in school?
- Friendship problems, social issues, BF/GF troubles (with this age group it is mostly I like him, how do I know if he likes me?)
Addie Swartz created the Beacon Street Girls when her eldest daughter was 9 ½ and starving for access to healthy role models. Knowing her daughter wouldn't read a book designed to "sell her on building self-esteem, Addie created a world where girls can go to have fun and learn about who they are, while modeling real-life experiences. The company works with various world-renowned experts on how to best present the ideas and issues embedded in each of the award-winning books. We also get great info - through the comments and surveys and polls - from the girls themselves.
PR Contact: Bobbie Carlton |
781-863-8228 ext 201 |
bcarlton@btweenproductions.com |
Dr. Lisa Machoian, author of The Disappearing Girl: Learning the Language of Teenage Depression, is a national expert on girls' psychosocial development, mental health, and self-esteem. Dr. Machoian taught at Harvard University, Graduate School of Education and also was the director of the Gender Studies Program. At Harvard, she taught a popular on course on risk and resilience in girls' development.
Dr. Machoian has worked for more than twenty years with girls as a psychotherapist, consultant, workshop facilitator, researcher, and teacher. Additional areas of her expertise are learning disabilities, depression, and trauma. Dr. Machoian speaks, conducts workshops, and consults to families, schools, and programs across the country and locally. She has a private practice, lives in Cambridge, and holds a master degree and a doctorate from Harvard University.
Dr. Machoian is on the advisory board of Parenting Teens Online Magazine and on their "Ask an Expert" panel and answer questions from parents related to teens and tweens.
617-285-8198 |
lisa_machoian@post.harvard.edu |
http://thedisappearinggirl.com/ |
Dr. Carol Razza is the author of PARENT ME, PLEASE ...the first and only book that features teens advice to parents. Dr. Razza would make a qualified and colorfully opinionated expert commentator on ˜Miss Bimbo.' She has counseled untold numbers of young girls and can share case study examples.
PR Contact: Denis Eirikis |
561-798-9633 |
eirikis@clearlightpr.com |
David Herz formed Vive!, formerly Confident Living Inc., after a synthesis of ideas he developed during his 16 years of experience working with children, teens and young adults. Having begun a teaching career in 1989, David found himself increasingly drawn to the emotional and psychological challenges his students struggled with as they faced the transition to adulthood. David developed and implemented several experiential learning programs as a means to better integrate the educational needs of his students with their emotional and psychological growth. David found a common theme among children and young adults who exhibited behavior problems: a lack of confidence to take the healthy risks that would help them grow into high-functioning adults. He saw clearly the need of young people for a guide - someone they could trust to help them navigate the murky, threatening waters of this transitional stage and arrive safely on the shores of adulthood. David pursued his ideas through the study of therapeutic healing and became a psychotherapist in the State of Colorado.
As a therapist in both private practice and in program development and mentoring roles for troubled teens with a residential treatment program in Boulder, CO, David further developed his ideas for relationship-based healing and the powerful impact of conducting therapy within a teens real-world environment. He found that, while the mentor-as-guide approach was largely effective, teens were much more receptive to guidance when they experienced the difficulties of pushing against a system of clear boundaries for their behavior. To be most effective, David determined that it was crucial to create a dual approach, working simultaneously with parents as well as teens, with a parent coach-on-the-side process, that is also reality-based and action-oriented. In synthesizing these ideas building confidence through guidance in the real world, a system of boundaries for teen behavior, and healing through relationships David formed what would become the foundation for the Confident Living program, now referred to as the Herz Dynamic. He saw a real need for a local program in the Rocky Mountain region, and began applying his principles with clients in Boulder in 2000. Unparalleled success rates have fueled the growth of Confident Living since its founding. The company has helped hundreds of teens, young adults and their families find a healthier, happier and more sustainable path.
PR Contact: Susan Holden Walsh |
303-449-2526 |
holdenmcclurepr@aol.com |
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