Smart Girls at the Party

Amy Poehler's online series, which launched on On Network in November 2009 is changing the way young girls are portrayed in the media. The show is unique in that it praises everyday, ordinary girls "changing the world by being themselves."

Now if this catch phrase is too vomit inducing for you, just remember that girls (at least ones who do not conform to social gender norms) are not frequently encouraged to be themselves. Or, if they are, it is not often considered something worthy of positive attention.

Poehler (assisted by producer Meredith Walker and music coordinator Amy Miles) interviews girls in those troublesome pre-teen years who have a special talent, viewpoint or community interest. Their passions range from writing to gardening to rock music to simply being a good sister. Yet each one is made to feel special, important, and serious. Though the show has a light, silly tone to it, the adult women never mock the girls or laugh at them. There is a strong sense that all the women on set are laughing together and that the girls being interviewed are just as legitimate as the adults.

As Poehler says in a bonus interview clip "when you're that age things are pretty serious. You don't think what you do is a joke. You don't think that the stuff going on in your head is funny. It's real."

The concept of community and acceptance among women is hard to come by these days. Poehler and her crew give their guests and their audience a place where being a girl (whether your definition of girlhood is Barbies or electric guitar) means having a sense of sisterhood and being accepted and praised by your fellow femmes.