Predators on MySpace, drive-by porn on YouTube, pervasive sexting, pop-idol vacuous value systems, self-esteem crushing reinforcement of preferred body-type hegemonies, and general lack of female role models. What’s the parent of a tween girl to do?
If you’re Hilary DeCesare, or one of her cofounder moms, you take matters into your own hands and set up GirlAmbition.com, a website for tween girls a concerned parent can be comfortable with.
“How come there aren’t any rules to the Internet?” asks DeCesare. “What are the schools doing? Who’s in charge here? Nobody.” She notes that in her home state of California, Web safety isn’t taught until the 5th grade. “That’s way too late.”
GirlAmbition’s target age-group is 7 to 13 and just came out of beta testing this week. Currently funded primarily by friends and family, DeCesare says investors are welcome. Testing involved extensive feedback from a crew of 250 young girls, who guided development of what they thought a good girl-centered website should offer.
And that means not everything has to be pink and frilly. Some girls like to paint their profiles black. But it also means not giving them too much reading material. “Adding video was the biggest struggle,” said DeCesare. “I didn’t realize how important the video section would be. We’re working on that, on speed and allowing users to comment on videos. They don’t want to read. They want to see videos, especially how-to videos: how to blog, how to do a cork board, how to change a tire, how to do anything!”
Through the site, users can participate in online and offline activities, games, instant messaging, video sharing. It includes self-esteem building and web safety tips. They can upload their own shows (with approval). There’s a list of rules, of what they can and can’t do: no school logos, no last names. 
The primary focuses of the site emphasizes building up of the self and possibilities for the future. Because not everyone learns the same way, GirlAmbition features a virtual mascot named Gabbi, and a real live host—an 11-year-old blogger named Dani, whose show is called “Dani Girl.”
In addition to monthly lessons on self-esteem, the Dani Girl show highlights careers girls can realistically attain. But the highlighted careers aren’t all roses. The show goes into the cons of a career as well the pros. A zookeeper in charge of elephants, for example, details the perils of dealing in elephant poop.
Users have the chance to be featured on Gabbi’s World by sending in stories and letters. They can create and take quizzes. When creating avatars for their profiles, they can choose from three different body types.
“We want to show you can be an amazing person and not look like a Barbie doll.”
There’s also a portion of Girl Ambition devoted to parents. Parents can check up on their daughters by being granted access to their avatars, favorites pages and wish lists. Parents also approve their child’s buddy list.
Parents looking for conversation beyond “How was your day?” and the usual “fine” can access tips for talking to their tween, as the site encourages members to talk about what DeCesare calls “the rose, the thorn, and the bud” of their daily lives. A rose for the best part of the day, a thorn for the worst, and a bud for what they look forward to.
And for dads, a section labeled “Daddy’s Girl” provides information about tween girls and what they struggle with.
DeCesare says GirlAmbition plans to incorporate an ad model for revenue, but only on the parents portion of the site, and that more social-networking functions are on the horizon.
