Society & Culture

Girls gone wild

According to NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics data, the number of juvenile female offenders soared by 36 per cent in the decade to June 2009, compared to an 8 per cent increase for juvenile males. There's anecdotal evidence, too. In September 2011, YouTube clips of pre-arranged brawls between girls as young as 14 in Sydney's [...]

Roxy’s message: sex appeal trumps sporting ability

It’s dreamy and slow; The Virgin Suicides if it were set against Sydney’s beaches. Unfortunately, this isn’t a promo shoot about wistful ingenues overcome by the suburban ennui of their own lives - if that’s what Roxy were going for, they’ve completely missed the mark. In the promo, a faceless woman (rumoured to be five [...]

Why Are Girls Starting Puberty Younger

Puberty announces itself to girls with growing breasts and their first period. This process, fuelled by significant hormonal changes, is hard on girls no matter how mentally mature they may appear. In 1901, the median age for girls going through puberty was approximately 14 years and there was little difference among ethnicities. But things have changed. As [...]

The verdict on tiger-parenting? Studies point to poor mental health

Long before Amy Chua’s provocative 2011 memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, raised the bar for tough-love parenting, psychologists at UC Berkeley were studying the effects of three kinds of child-rearing: authoritarian (too hard), permissive (too soft) and authoritative (combo). Now, with the recent release of UC Berkeley alumna Kim Wong Keltner’s memoir, Tiger Babies Strike Back, along [...]

Wine-tasting: it’s junk science

In 2001 Frédérick Brochet of the University of Bordeaux asked 54 wine experts to test two glasses of wine – one red, one white. Using the typical language of tasters, the panel described the red as "jammy' and commented on its crushed red fruit. The critics failed to spot that both wines were from the [...]

Seminar Turns Spotlight On To Selling To Our Kids

Jesuit missionaries knew something about human nature when they said, in the 16th century: "Give me a child until he is 7 and I will give you the man." Five hundred years later, author Maggie Hamilton argues, our society is less interested in saving a child's soul and more interested in capturing his or her [...]

Bulletproof backpacks for American children

Dubbed “the Armani of bulletproof clothing,” the Bogota-based company that bears his name sells trench coats, sweaters, leather jackets and blazers, along with more standard fare, bulletproof vests. But now Caballero, ever on the lookout for new customers, is zeroing in on an untapped market: American schoolchildren. With his new line, MC Kids, Caballero offers [...]

Children sexting charges rise in Queensland

Police charged 240 Queensland children, aged between 10 and 17, for producing and distributing child pornography in first five months of 2013, official figures reveal. The data, obtained by Fairfax Media, shows the number of youths charged so far this year accounts for nearly 40 per cent of all youths charged since 2009, indicating steep [...]

Steve Biddulph – Ten to Fourteen Year Olds

We hear it everywhere - girls are growing up too fast. When I mention this to audiences of parents, their heads nod like they are going to fall off. Taxidrivers know it. Teachers know it. Doctors in emergency rooms almost weep when they say it, after dealing with twelve-year-olds who have drunk so much they [...]

What Is Snapchat and Why Do Kids Love It and Parents Fear It?

You may have heard about Snapchat, the mobile app that allows users to capture videos and pictures that self destruct after a few seconds.  When a user sends a message they get to decide whether it will live for between 1 and 10 seconds. After that it’s history, probably. via What Is Snapchat and Why [...]

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