A few days ago I met Girl With A Satchel Erica Bartle. We caught up in a cafe at a music festival in Queensland, where I introduced her to the wonders of reggae/soul/rock band San Salvador (their version of ‘Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone’ is to die for) and rifled her brain for blogging success tips. Blogging for three years and only 29, Erica’s made it an art form.
While I don’t envy the hours she spends reading and dissecting glossy womens’ magazines – she just wrote that reading the latest issue of Grazia left her with “body battle wounds” – this girl knows how to put words together. And while her site is stuffed full of pretty things and mine…well….isn’t, we found we had some common interests. We also half joked about about how I could help her become more hardcore and she could help me be nicer (good luck honey).
Here’s her take on the lad’s mag debate, sexualisation and my book Getting Real: Challenging the sexualisation of girls. I love how she’s called Collective Shout an “agitator group”. An extract:
…All the research would suggest that premature sexualisation leads to complications in later life. Tankard Reist’s most recent book, Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls, presents 15 compelling essays to awaken our consciousness, challenge our thinking and take action in this regard. She has also set up Collective Shout, an agitator group designed to expose advertisers, marketers and media that objectify women and sexualise children to sell products and services… >more
April 8th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
I love GWAS’ blog! it’s wonderful seeing another high profile woman consistently sticking to her values – Erica Bartle is a wizard for words and i’m so glad to see her supporting Collective Shout and all the great work that it does.
An “agitator group” it certainly is! keep it up ladies!
April 8th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Love it!
I follow both of your blogs – I love her prettiness and I love your rawness. 🙂
April 9th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
Indeed it is great to see other articulate women thinking through the reality and impact of our hyper-sexualised culture in an intelligent & well researched way!
I look forward to following GWAS!
April 9th, 2010 at 6:08 pm
Wordsmiths!
Adore them.
Both ladies highlighted above are brilliant in their own right.