Tolerance--Part II.

Dear Readers, I am passing this e-mail on. After all, I may not have any young girls to shop for, but that does not mean that no one has any young girls to shop for. I hope that by passing this e-mail on, I can play a small part in making some one's Christmas a bit brighter and a bit saner. In addition, I also remember the bad old days, when toy were very sexist--Girls were expected to play with dolls and dolls only. I hope we as a Society do not go back to those bad old days, but continue to advance in the recognition that each and every child (boy and girl) is an individual with individual likes and dislikes:

Ever shopped for your niece, daughter, granddaughter, or another young girl for the holidays? If you have, you know it can seem like the only options out there are super stereotypical little girl--all pink, princess-themed, and sparkly.

There are great toys, books and movies out there-- gifts that show powerful, healthy images of girls and women. But it can be really hard to find them sometimes, and with the holiday season coming up quickly, we figured we could all use some help making it a little easier.

They are not kidding. After all, even the movie--Silent Hill 2, reverted from the Heroine of the game to Damsel in distress of the movie.

That's why we're asking you--UltraViolet members--to help us put together the first ever UltraViolet Holiday Gift Guide: A 21st Century Guide to Non-sexist Holiday Shopping. It's a way for the entire UltraViolet community to share their ideas for the best powerful gifts, which will make all of our holiday shopping a little easier.

Do you know of a great toy, game, DVD, or book to recommend for the guide? Submit it here.

Nominate a gift to UltraViolet's Holiday Gift Guide.

The UltraViolet Holiday Gift Guide will be generated entirely by our members, which means we need you to nominate your favorite gift ideas for this to work. It's easy--just tell us about a book, movie, toy, or other gift that you think makes a great non-sexist gift for a girl or boy.

After all the nominations are in, UltraViolet members will vote on which gifts make it into the final guide. The Ultraviolet Holiday Gift Guide will be available our website, on Facebook, and as a printable list in early December--just in time for holiday shopping.

There are already a few great holiday gift guides with a cause that come out every year: U.S. PIRG has a guide to help parents avoid toxic and dangerous toys, and Environmental Working Group puts out a guide to help shoppers avoid unsafe chemicals at the makeup counter. But we haven't found any gift guides that are specifically aimed at helping consumers find great, nonsexist toys for girls (and boys). So we thought--who better than the UltraViolet community to create one?

But for this to work, we need to start with your best ideas for empowering gifts. Will you add toy, game, book, DVD, or other type of gift?

Nominate a gift to the Holiday Gift Guide.

Thanks for helping out!

--Nita, Shaunna, Kat and Karin, the UltraViolet team.

After all, Sexism along with Racism and All Other Forms of Hate were so 19th Century. Let Us Hope and Pray that the 21st Century can yet be the First Hate Free Century and do everything in our power to make it so.