Mom-created apparel company Pigtail Pals – Redefine Girly was launched in May 2009 to empower girls to change the way the world thinks about them. We need to “Redefine Girly” and show the world just how smart, brave, and adventurous our daughters can be. These are the things I want for my own young daughter, and the ideals by which my husband and I raise her.  As a mother, I want both of my children, boy and girl, to grow in a healthy childhood free of gender stereotypes and sexualized messages. Pigtail Pals was created to provide parents with images and messages they would be proud to raise their girls with. 

Melissa Wardy and the Original Pigtail Pal, Amelia

 About this Blog: I have a lot to talk about regarding our girls and what I perceive is the garbage being marketed to them. I felt parents needed a place to come together to discuss what a lot of us are noticing about the girls’ marketplace. Since launching Pigtail Pals, I have talked face to face with a few thousand parents regarding the hypersexualized girls’ marketplace. What I notice is this: Parents don’t like trends they are seeing and feel disgusted by a lot of the options, but don’t know what to do about it.  This is a place for all of us, to share stories about ourselves and our daughters, and learn something along the way. 

 After graduating the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities with a degree in Criminology, I moved to Southern California where I had the sublime experience of investigating crime while living in a place where body worship was a hobby. I had also traveled to Europe, Africa, Mexico, and Hawaii. All of those experiences led me to start thinking about this: The focus our culture puts on body perfection and sex appeal, coupled with the desensitization of sexual intimacy and the ambient nature of pornography, is a vehicle for marketers to saturate the marketplace with products that blur the line of taboo and affect our collective social consciousness. 

Now as the mother of two tots, I do not accept the messages and toys the general media is trying to sell to my family. Appartenly my daughter is supposed to be a fashion and appearance-obsessed, boy crazy preschooler. Who turns into a thong-wearing, Britney Spears singing, mid-driff baring gradeschooler. I don’t necessarily agree with this. At. All. So I’m raising her differently. I’m raising her free of binary, stereotyped gender roles and regressive toys that teach her to sit still and be pretty for men. Or worse, pout, strut, and gyrate for them. No, thanks. Not for my child. Preferably, not for yours.

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