Valentine’s Day has become a commercialized annual “holiday” that coerces men and women to shower their beloveds with flowers, chocolates, movie dates, and romantic dinners. Your man doesn’t love you unless he gets a sitter and takes you out. Your woman doesn’t desire you unless she dolls herself up in a hot red negligee. A man cannot possibly appreciate his wife/girlfriend unless he adorns her body with jewels and stuffs her belly with expensive chocolates.

Valentine’s Day is a $16 Billion Industry that has nothing to do with love and more to do with showing off or proving your love — and while we’re busy proving our love and devotion to those who should know it on a daily basis, and not just that one “special” day of the year, all we’re really doing is filling up the pockets of businesses that laugh at our insincerity and vacuousness.

While many of us have spent this past weekend preparing or celebrating this “love,” there is a world outside our subdued and complacent lives that uses Valentine’s Day as a symbol for change and activism — sending their love to those who really need it — and don’t get much of it in the first place.

In 2009, three activist groups came together to end political strife in Burma, according to Moe Thway, to “show that all people want peace and dialogue that is heading towards love.”

Today, Green America is an activist group that is using Valentine’s Day to create awareness of chocolate business like Hershey Co., who exploit children in Western Africa by forcing them into slave labor for chocolate production.

At present, Southern India, the Bharita Janata Party (Indian People’s Party) will spend the day burning Valentine’s Day cards because the event is “synonymous with vice activities” (2011, Ira Mellman).

In light of these activist groups, can you think of some other ways that we can use Valentine’s Day — in honor of the saint — and not consumerism?

Doverville is a small town in Maine with an anti-dog policy; dogs have been banned altogether from the growing town. Emma did not receive a warm welcome when she arrived at Dolores’s home. A self-employed woman who manages her own hair salon, her supposed “Aunt Dolores” threatened to toss her out. At the last minute, Dolores relented and permitted Emma to stay if she paid rent. During her own search for a job, Emma rescued a stray puppy from the evil dogcatcher in a town that has banned dogs altogether.

As Emma learns about Doverville, she befriended Cathy Stevens who runs a dog orphanage right outside the Doverville city limits. The main conflict ensues when the town council agreed to expand the limit and include her orphanage. This meant her orphanage must abide by the ban against dogs. Cathy Stevens was then given a deadline for the removal of her dogs – December 25th. Desperate to save the dogs, Emma O’Conner found herself at war with the Dogcatcher and Doverville’s anti-dog policy. In the meantime, the school’s football coach was put in charge of directing the school Christmas pageant. After fumbling constantly, he discovered that he is a much better coach than director. He then hired Cathy Stevens to help him with the Christmas pageant in exchange for helping to feed the dogs.

Throughout the entire movie, Emma and the Dogcatcher strive to out-wit each other. The Dogcatcher seemed to have the upper hand until the very end when Emma realized that the best way to defeat him is to change Doverville’s anti-dog policy and to make Doverville a dog-friendly place. She decided to use the school pageant to reach out to the townspeople. However, right at the end, the Dogcatcher interfered and appeared to have ruined her plan. Fortunately, Emma’s quick-thinking and clever last-minute improvisation defeated the Dogcatcher and convinced the Doverville town council to accept dogs and become a dog-friendly community.

This is a great Christmas movie based partially after the carol “the 12 days of Christmas.” It is both a unique Christmas and dog movie in that it is set in the 1930s and features a girl as the main protagonist who must save the dogs. I have never seen these two genres placed together before, let alone in this time period or with a female protagonist. Two minor female characters whose names I forget are a lady with a Chihuahua who convinces Aunt Dolores to let Emma stay and a classmate whose great math skills help the coach figure out how much food the dogs need and also gives Emma the inspiration needed to change the town council’s policy. I recommend this movie for everyone to watch. It will be a great Christmas gift!

Don’t forget gifts that support The New Agenda!

It’s time to start shopping!
We have been sharing pro-women gift ideas and we would like to share them with you! Also, we will be adding gift ideas for the young feminists in your lives! Please don’t forget, if you would like to purchase gifts that support The New Agenda, you can purchase a membership for yourself or as a gift. You can also give (or get) a TNA shirt, bib, or doggie-T, or you can purchase Mary Kay products for both women and men from this link at Mary Kay, and if you put TNA in the comment section, 50% of the purchase price will be donated to The New Agenda!

My daughter received Tom Tierney’s Famous American Women Paper Dolls for her birthday. Tom Tierney is a famous paper doll artist. His paper doll books are very well done showing authentic dress of the period with outfits worn at famous speeches or events by each of the historic figures.

My daughter enjoyed the whole process of cutting out the dolls and outfits. She puts the dolls out on sofas and chairs and plays with them just as she would any other doll. I enjoy listening to her serving cake and ice cream to the likes of Clara Barton, Harriet Tubman and Edith Wharton at her birthday parties, which she has daily. It is also amusing for me to attend her school along side my fellow students Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt! She has gotten so much from this gift that she is getting Tom Tierney’s Famous African-American Women Paper Dolls for Christmas. I’m looking forward to attending school with Sojourner Truth, Shirley Chisholm, Maya Angelou and many others!

Coloring books are another big hit in our family.
I can personally recommend Famous American Women and Heroines of the American Revolution. I really like these Dover coloring books because they provide a short bio at the bottom of each page. This book covers 44 famous American women from Susan B. Anthony to Zora Neal Hurston to Barbara Walters to Helena Rubinstein. It was a true pleasure to discuss these famous women and the importance of their contribution to American history and culture all the while coloring with my daughters. It was actually a learning experience for all of us!

We have the finished book on our coffee table and our guests also enjoy looking at the colored pictures and reading about these interesting women. If fact, this coloring book, colored by your children, would make a wonderful gift from your children to their grandparents or others in the family.

I encourage you to browse your local book store or favorite online source for coloring books and paper dolls. I’ve discovered there are actually tons of options for little girls to have fun learning about women’s history.

Don’t forget gifts that support The New Agenda!

It’s time to start shopping!
We have been sharing pro-women gift ideas and we would like to share them with you! Also, we will be adding gift ideas for the young feminists in your lives! Please don’t forget, if you would like to purchase gifts that support The New Agenda, you can purchase a membership for yourself or as a gift. You can also give (or get) a TNA shirt, bib, or doggie-T, or you can purchase Mary Kay products for both women and men from this link at Mary Kay, and if you put TNA in the comment section, 50% of the purchase price will be donated to The New Agenda!

No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting
by Anne Macdonald

• Review

For Her Own Good: Two Centuries of Advice for Women
by Barbara Ehrenreich

From Outrage to Courage: Women Taking Action for Health and Justice
by Anne Firth Murray

When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present
by Gail Collins

• Review

33 Things Every Girl Should Know About Women’s History: From Suffragettes to Skirt Lengths to the E.R.A.
by Tonya Bolden

1001 Things Everyone Should Know About Women’s History
by Constance Jones

Who Cooked the Last Supper: The Women’s History of the World
by Rosalind Miles

Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
by Nicholas D. Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn

• Review

America’s Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines
by Gail Collins

Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated: Why Women’s Lives Aren’t Getting Any Easier–And How We Can Make Real Progress For Ourselves and Our Daughters
by U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney

Feel free to offer your own suggestions in comments!

The author is a mother of a 6 year old boy and a 3 year old girl. Through entertaining prose, she takes you on her journey of discovering the need for a “gender stereotyping intervention”.

Until now, my two have been young enough to do their own thing – Will has enjoyed baking cakes, Vera has pretended to be Luke Skywalker. But the older they get, the harder it is to resist the pink-and-blue divide.

I wanted to find something feminist, subversive. The Female Eunuch for five-year-olds.

She sets out to answer the question:

But can a three-year-old girl who wants to marry her daddy, and a six-year-old boy who hates pink, really be radicalised in just five easy reads?

The author’s review of these 5 “feminist books” complete with her children’s summary is thoughtful, informative and entertaining.

I highly recommend reading the entire one page article, but for those who don’t have time, here’s her finding:

Verdict: You can’t teach gender studies to small children in a day, but you can make a start. They have already demanded Pippi Longstocking and Pirate Girl again – and again. Lessons that they have learned? The existence of the term “Ms”, which prompted a heated discussion. The idea that marriage is not everyone’s idea of a fairytale ending. And that women wielding cutlasses are just as menacing as men – possibly more so. Overall, I think, Professor Greer would be proud.

And you might even get some gift ideas out of it!

Enjoy!

Brava!

Playmobil does offers the standard princess and mom-at-home-doing-housework toy sets. But they also feature female figurines in some exciting new roles that are too often reserved for boys.

Check out this cool set featuring a female jewel thief! Also cool is a Playmobil figurine of a female cop making an arrest. If the little girl in your life is interested in pirates, how cool is it that girls in one Playmobil set play a leading pirate role versus being confined to the stereotypical damsel in distress. Playmobil also offers sets with female firefighters, doctors, veterinarians, farmers and much more.

They also offer break out roles for the guys and I was very pleased to see this Playmobil doll featuring a dad pushing a stroller!  Don’t forget gifts that support The New Agenda!

It’s time to start shopping!
We have been sharing pro-women gift ideas and we would like to share them with you! Also, we will be adding gift ideas for the young feminists in your lives! Please don’t forget, if you would like to purchase gifts that support The New Agenda, you can purchase a membership for yourself or as a gift. You can also give (or get) a TNA shirt, bib, or doggie-T, or you can purchase Mary Kay products for both women and men from this link at Mary Kay, and if you put TNA in the comment section, 50% of the purchase price will be donated to The New Agenda!

             It’s time to start shopping! 
We have been sharing pro-women gift ideas and we would like to share them with you!  Also, we will be adding gift ideas for the young feminists in your lives!  Please don’t forget, if you would like to purchase gifts that support The New Agenda, you can purchase a membership for yourself or as a gift.  You can also give (or get) a TNA shirt, bib, or doggie-T, or you can purchase Mary Kay products for both women and men from this link at Mary Kay, and if you put TNA in the comment section, 50% of the purchase price will be donated to The New Agenda!  

Check out this great gift idea!

Blueberry Girl

Harper Collins book description:

This is a prayer for a blueberry girl . . .

A much-loved baby grows into a young woman:
brave, adventurous, and lucky. Exploring, traveling, bathed in sunshine, surrounded by the wonders of the world. What every new parent or parent-to-be dreams of for her child, what every girl dreams of for herself.

Let me go places that we’ve never been, trust and delight in her youth.

Nationally bestselling author Neil Gaiman wrote Blueberry Girl for a friend who was about to become the mother of a little girl. Here, he and beloved illustrator Charles Vess turn this deeply personal wish for a new daughter into a book that celebrates the glory of growing up: a perfect gift for girls embarking on all the journeys of life, for their parents, and for everyone who loves them.

Give her all these and a little bit more, gifts for a blueberry girl.