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Cast members came and went during the run of In Living Color. Some earlier cast members continued to appear in later seasons so later casts also include some previous years' cast members.

First season (1990)[link]

• Jim Carrey (as James Carrey)
• Kelly Coffield
• Kim Coles
• Tommy Davidson
• David Alan Grier
• T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh
• Damon Wayans
• Keenen Ivory Wayans
• Kim Wayans
• Shawn Wayans (as DJ SW-1) and the Fly Girls

Second season (1990–1991)[link]

• Jim Carrey
• Kelly Coffield
• Tommy Davidson
• David Alan Grier
• T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh
• Damon Wayans
• Keenen Ivory Wayans
• Kim Wayans
• Shawn Wayans (as DJ SW-1) and the Fly Girls

Third season (1991–1992)[link]

Starring

• Keenen Ivory Wayans
• Jim Carrey
• Kelly Coffield
• Tommy Davidson
• David Alan Grier
• T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh
• Damon Wayans
• Kim Wayans

Featuring

• Jamie Foxx
• Steve Park
• Shawn Wayans
• DJ Twist and the Fly Girls

Fourth season (1992–1993)[link]

Starring

• Keenen Ivory Wayans (episodes 1–13 only)
• Jim Carrey
• Kelly Coffield
• Tommy Davidson
• Jamie Foxx
• David Alan Grier
• T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh
• Kim Wayans

Featuring

• Marlon Wayans (episodes 1–13 only)
• Shawn Wayans
• Alexandra Wentworth
• DJ Twist and the Fly Girls

Fifth season (1993–1994)[link]

• Jim Carrey
• Tommy Davidson
• Jamie Foxx
• David Alan Grier
• Anne-Marie Johnson
• T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh
• Reggie McFadden
• Jay Leggett
• Carol Rosenthal
• Alexandra Wentworth
• Marc Wilmore
• DJ Twist and the Fly Girls

Jim Carrey, Tommy Davidson, David Alan Grier and T'Keyah Crystal Keymáh are the only cast members to stay for all five seasons.

Guest stars[link]

Despite popular belief,^{[by whom?]} Chris Rock was never an official cast member on In Living Color. Rock appeared (as a "special guest star") in a number of skits in the fifth season, and reprised his "Cheap Pete" character from I'm Gonna Git You Sucka. In the early years of In Living Color, Rock was parodied as being the only African American cast member on Saturday Night Live (SNL also had Tim Meadows). In an SNL episode honoring Mother's Day, Rock's mother states that she is disappointed in him for not trying out for In Living Color, to which Rock states he is happy with his job on SNL.

Other recurring guest stars in the fifth season include Nick Bakay (for The Dirty Dozens sketches) and Peter Marshall (ringmaster for several loopy editions of Hollywood Squares). Rapper Biz Markie also appeared in various roles as a guest star in the fifth season, such as being (not too much) in drag as Wanda the Ugly Woman's sister or as "Dirty Dozens" contestant Damian "Foosball" Franklin.

Fly Girls (house dance troupe)[link]

The Fly Girls troupe had many members over In Living Color's five-season run. The original lineup consisted of Cari French, Carrie Ann Inaba, Deidre Lang, Lisa Marie Todd, and Michelle Whitney-Morrison. Rosie Perez was the choreographer for the first four seasons.

Sometimes the Fly Girls could be used as extras in sketches, or be part of an opening gag. In one sketch, they were shown performing open-heart surgery (in the sketch, the girls are dancing in order to pay their way through medical school).

In the fifth season Arthur Rainer became the main choreographer with Lisa Joann Thompson and Deidre Lang as assistant choreographers.

• Cari French - Seasons 1–3 (1990–1992)
• Carrie Ann Inaba - Seasons 1–3 (1990–1992)
• Deidre Lang - Seasons 1–5 (1990–1994)
• Lisa Marie Todd - Seasons 1–3 (1990–1992)
• Michelle Whitney-Morrison - Seasons 1–2 (1990–1991)
• Carla Garrido— part of Season 2 (1991)^[1]
• Jennifer Lopez- Seasons 3–4 (1991–1993)
• Jossie Harris - Seasons 4–5 (1992–1994)
• Keri Lane - Season 3 (1991)
• Lisa Joann Thompson - Seasons 4–5 (1992–1994)
• Laurie Ann Gibson- Season 5 (1993–1994)
• Masako Willis - Season 5 (1993–1994)
• MaDonna Grimes - Season 4 (1993–1994)

References[link]

Fly Temporal range: Middle Triassic - Recent 245–0 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
A poster with sixteen different species of flies
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Superorder:	Panorpida
(unranked):	Antliophora
Order:	Diptera Linnaeus, 1758
Suborders
Nematocera (includes Eudiptera) Brachycera Data related to Diptera at Wikispecies

True flies are insects of the order Diptera (from the Greek di = two, and ptera = wings). They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax. Apart from secondarily flightless insects (including some flies), the only other order of insects with any form of halteres are the Strepsiptera, and theirs are on the mesothorax, with the flight wings on the metathorax.

Order Diptera[link]

The presence of a single pair of patent, metathoracic flight wings distinguishes true flies from other insects with "fly" in their names, such as mayflies, dragonflies, damselflies, stoneflies, whiteflies, fireflies, alderflies, dobsonflies, snakeflies, sawflies, caddisflies, butterflies or scorpionflies. Some true flies have become secondarily wingless, especially in the superfamily Hippoboscoidea, or among those that are inquilines in social insect colonies.

Some authors draw a distinction in writing the common names of insects. True flies are written as two words, such as crane fly, robber fly, bee fly, moth fly, and fruit fly. In contrast, common names of nondipteran insects that have "fly" in their names are written as one word, e.g., butterfly, stonefly, dragonfly, scorpionfly, sawfly, caddisfly, whitefly.^[1] In practice, however, this is a comparatively new convention, and, especially in older books, one commonly might see the likes of "saw fly" and "caddis fly". In any case, non-entomologists cannot in general be expected to tell dipterans, "true flies", from other insects.

The Diptera comprise a large order, containing an estimated 240,000 species of mosquitoes, gnats, midges and others, although under half of these (about 120,000 species) have been described.^[2] It is one of the major insect orders both in terms of ecological and human (medical and economic) importance. The Diptera, in particular the mosquitoes (Culicidae), are of great importance as disease transmitters, acting as vectors for malaria, dengue, West Nile virus, yellow fever, encephalitis and other infectious diseases.

Anatomy and biology[link]

See Morphology of Diptera and Biology of Diptera

Portrait of a flesh fly (Sarcophagidae)

An image of a house fly eye surface by using scanning electron microscope at 450× magnification

Flies are adapted for aerial movement and typically have short and streamlined bodies. The first tagma of the fly, the head, consists of ocelli, antennae, compound eyes, and the mouthparts (the labrum, labium, mandible and maxilla make up the mouthparts). The second tagma, the thorax, bears the wings and contains the flight muscles on the second segment, which is greatly enlarged; the first and third segments have been reduced to collar-like structures. The third segment of the thorax bears the halteres, which help to balance the insect during flight. A further adaptation for flight is the reduction in number of the neural ganglia, and concentration of nerve tissue in the thorax, a feature that is most extreme in the highly derived Muscomorpha infraorder.^[3]

A scan of a house fly taken at 40 magnifications under a scanning electron microscope

Flies have a mobile head with eyes and in most cases have large compound eyes on the sides of the head, with three small ocelli on the top. The antennae take a variety of forms, but are often short, which reduces drag while flying.

Because no species of fly has teeth or any other organ or limb that allows them to eat solid foods, flies consume only liquid food or finely granular foods, such as pollen, and their mouthparts and digestive tracts show various modifications for such diets. Female Tabanidae use knife-like mandibles and maxillae to make a cross-shaped incision in the hosts' skin and then lap up the blood. The gut includes large diverticulae, allowing the insect to store small quantities of liquid after a meal.^[3]

For detailed anatomy explore [1] which uses examples from the 4 major fly groups (Lower Diptera, Lower Brachycera, Acalyptrate, Calyptrate) representing different anatomical expressions.

Reproduction and development[link]

Mating anthomyiid flies

The genitalia of female flies are rotated to a varying degree from the position found in other insects. In some flies, this is a temporary rotation during mating, but in others, it is a permanent torsion of the organs that occurs during the pupal stage. This torsion may lead to the anus being located below the genitals, or, in the case of 360° torsion, to the sperm duct being wrapped around the gut, despite the external organs being in their usual position. When flies mate, the male initially flies on top of the female, facing in the same direction, but then turns round to face in the opposite direction. This forces the male to lie on his back for his genitalia to remain engaged with those of the female, or the torsion of the male genitals allows the male to mate while remaining upright. This leads to flies having more reproduction abilities than most insects, and at a much quicker rate. Flies occur in great populations due to their ability to mate effectively and in a short period of time during the mating season.^[3]

The female lays her eggs as close to the food source as possible, and development is rapid, allowing the larvae to consume as much food as possible in a short period of time before transforming into adults. The eggs hatch immediately after being laid, or the flies are ovoviviparous, with the larvae hatching inside the mother.^[3]

Mosquito larva. A typical Nematoceran. Note the head capsule and clearly defined three segments of the thorax

Syrphid larva. Maggot-like anatomy, typical of a Brachycerid fly, lacking both a conspicuously demarcated thorax and head capsule

Larval flies have no true legs. Some Dipteran larvae, such as species of Simuliidae, Tabanidae, and Vermileonidae, have prolegs adapted to such functions as holding onto a substrate in flowing water, holding onto host tissues, or holding prey.^[4] Roughly speaking, there is some anatomical distinction between the larvae of the Nematocera and the Brachycera (see Classification section, below); especially in the Brachycera, there is little demarcation between the thorax and abdomen, though the demarcation may be very visible in many Nematocera, such as mosquitoes (see image, both here and in the mosquitoes article); in the Brachycera, the head of the larva is not clearly distinguishable from the rest of the body, and there are few, if any, sclerites. Informally, such Brachyceran larvae are called maggots,^[5] but the term is nontechnical and often applied indifferently to fly larvae or insect larvae in general. The eyes and antennae of Brachyceran larvae are reduced or absent, and the abdomen also lacks appendages such as cerci. This lack of features is an adaptation to food such as carrion, decaying detritus, or host tissues surrounding endoparasites.^[3] Nematoceran larvae generally have visible eyes and antennae, though usually small and of limited function.

The pupae take various forms, and in some cases develop inside a silk cocoon. After emerging from the pupa, the adult fly rarely lives more than a few days, and serves mainly to reproduce and to disperse in search of new food sources.

Classification[link]

Cleaning

A fly

The Nematocera are recognized by their elongated bodies and feathery antennae as represented by mosquitoes and crane flies. The Brachycera have a more roundly proportioned body and much shorter antennae. In 1964, B.B. Rohdendorf proposed a classification in which the Nematocera is split into two suborders, the Archidiptera and the Eudiptera.^[6]

1. Suborder Nematocera (77 families, 35 of them extinct) – long antennae, pronotum distinct from mesonotum, in Nematocera, larvae are either eucephalic or hemicephalic and often aquatic.
2. Suborder Brachycera (141 families, 8 of them extinct) – short antennae, the pupa is inside a puparium formed from the last larval skin, they are generally robust flies with larvae having reduced mouthparts.
   1. Infraorders Tabanomorpha and Asilomorpha – these comprise the majority of what was the Orthorrhapha under older classification schemes. The antennae are short, but differ in structure from those of the Muscomorpha.
   2. Infraorder Muscomorpha – (largely the Cyclorrhapha of older schemes). Muscomorpha have three-segmented, aristate (with a bristle) antennae and larvae with three acephalic instars (maggots).

Most of the Muscomorpha are further subdivided into the Acalyptratae and Calyptratae based on whether or not they have a calypter (a wing flap that extends over the halteres).

Beyond that, considerable revision in the taxonomy of the flies has taken place since the introduction of modern cladistic techniques, and much remains uncertain. The secondary ranks between the suborders and the families are out of practical or historical considerations than out of strict respect for phylogenetic classifications (modern cladists spurn the use of Linnaean rank names). All classifications in use now, including this article, contain some paraphyletic groupings; this is emphasized where the numerous alternative systems are most greatly at odds. See list of families of Diptera.

Dipterans belong to the taxon Mecopterida, that also contains Mecoptera, Siphonaptera, Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) and Trichoptera. Inside it, they are classified closely together with Mecoptera and Siphonaptera in the superorder Antliophora.^[7]

Evolution[link]

Diptera derive from Mecoptera or a strictly related group. The first true dipterans known are from the Middle Triassic, and they became widespread during the Middle and Late Triassic .^[8]

The basal clades in the Diptera are the Deuterophlebiidae and Nymphomyiidae.^[9] The Bibionomorpha are a sister clade to Brachycera. The branching order of the remaining clades of the lower Diptera - infraorders Culicomorpha, Psychodomorpha and Tipulomorpha - has yet to be resolved.

Within the Brachycera, several progressively nested groups exist: Eremoneura (three larval instars), Cyclorrhapha (pupation occurs within a puparium), Schizophora (flies that escape from their puparium using the ptilinal sac, an evertable frontal pouch) and Calyptratae (larger flies with wings that have the calypter, an enlarged basal lobe).

The Schizophora include most of the family-level diversity in Diptera (∼85 families) and more than 50,000 species. The Calyptratae form a monophyletic superfamily. Other monophyletic superfamilies include the Ephydroidea, Lauxanioidea, Nerioidea, Sciomyzoidea and Tephritoidea. The relationships between the remaining families have yet to be clarified.

Sister groups to the Drosophilidae consist of two families, Braulidae and Cryptochetidae.

There were three episodes of rapid evolution in the lower Diptera (~220 million years ago), lower Brachycera (180 million years ago) and Schizophora (65 million years ago).^[9]

Maggots[link]

Maggots being used to treat a wound

Maggots found on corpses are useful to forensic scientists; specifically forensic entomology. By their stage of development, these maggots indicate the time elapsed since death, as well as the place of death.

Maggot species can be identified using their DNA. The housefly maggot measures 10–20 mm (⅜–¾ in) in size. At the height of the summer season, a generation of flies (egg to adult) may be produced in 12 to 14 days. Other insect families, such as Histeridae, feed on maggots. Thus the lack of maggots would increase the estimated time of death.

Maggots are bred commercially, as a popular bait in angling, and as a food for carnivorous pets such as reptiles or birds.

Maggots are used in medicine to clean out necrotic wounds and in food production, particularly of cheeses such as casu marzu designed to rot as part of their aging process.

Flies are reared in large numbers in Japan to serve as pollinators of sunflowers in greenhouses, especially the maggots.

Flies in culture[link]

Flies have been depicted in mythology and literature. In the Biblical fourth plague of Egypt, flies represent death and decay. Myiagros was a god in Greek mythology who chased away flies during the sacrifices to Zeus and Athena, and Zeus sent a fly to bite Pegasus, causing Bellerophon to fall back to Earth when he attempted to ride the winged steed to Mount Olympus. In the traditional Navajo religion, Big Fly is an important spirit being.

In the 15th-century trompe l'oeil painting Portrait of a Carthusian (1446) by Petrus Christus, a fly sits on a fake frame.^[10]

Emily Dickinson's 1955 poem "I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died" also makes reference to flies in the context of death. In fact, flies such as the genus Hydrotaea are used in forensic cases to determine time of death for corpses. In William Golding's 1954 novel Lord of the Flies, the fly is a symbol of the children involved.

In the 1958 science fiction film The Fly (and its 1986 remake), a scientist accidentally exchanges parts of his body with those of a fly.

Musical works that mention flies: Yoko Ono's 1971 album Fly, U2's 1991 song "The Fly", Wire's 1978 song "I Am The Fly", Dave Matthews's 2007 song "The Fly" and Béla Bartók's 1920s piano work "From the Diary of a Fly".

Damien Hirst's provocative 1990 artwork, titled A Thousand Years, featured a severed cow's head contained in a box with thousands of flies and a bug zapper, creating an entire life cycle within a glass box. In 2001 Dr. Garnet Hertz implanted a complete web server into a dead fly.^[11]

The ability of flies to cling to surfaces has also inspired the title of "Human Fly" for real and fictional stunt performers whose feats involve climbing buildings.

See also[link]

• Female sperm storage

Notes[link]

References[link]

Biology[link]

• Harold Oldroyd The Natural History of Flies. New York: W. W. Norton. 1965.
• Eugène Séguy Diptera: recueil d'etudes biologiques et systematiques sur les Dipteres du Globe (Collection of biological and systematic studies on Diptera of the World). 11 vols. Text figs. Part of Encyclopedie Entomologique, Serie B II: Diptera. 1924–1953.
• Eugène Seguy. La Biologie des Dipteres 1950. pp. 609. 7 col + 3 b/w plates, 225 text figs.

Classification[link]

• Brown, B.V., Borkent, A., Cumming, J.M., Wood, D.M., Woodley, N.E., and Zumbado, M. (Editors) 2009 Manual of Central American Diptera. Volume 1 NRC Research Press, Ottawa ISBN 978-0-660-19833-0
• Colless, D.H. & McAlpine, D.K.1991 Diptera (flies) , pp. 717–786. In: The Division of Entomology. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Canberra (spons.), The insects of Australia.Melbourne Univ. Press, Melbourne.
• Griffiths, G.C.D. The phylogenetic classification of Diptera Cyclorrhapha, withspecial reference to the structure of the male postabdomen. Ser. Ent. 8, 340 pp. [Dr. W. Junk, N. V., The Hague] (1972).
• Willi Hennig Die Larvenformen der Dipteren. 3. Teil. Akad.-Verlag, Berlin. 185 pp., 3 pls. 1948
• Willi Hennig (1954) Flugelgeader und System der Dipteren unter Berucksichtigung der aus dem Mesozoikum beschriebenen Fossilien. Beitr. Ent. 4: 245-388 (1954).
• F. Christian Thompson. "Sources for the Biosystematic Database of World Diptera (Flies)" (PDF). United States Department of Agriculture, Systematic Entomology Laboratory. http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov/diptera/names/BDWDsour.pdf. 
• Willi Hennig: Diptera (Zweifluger). Handb. Zool. Berl. 4 (2 ) (31):1–337. General introduction with key to World Families. In German.

Evolution[link]

• Blagoderov, V.A., Lukashevich, E.D. & Mostovski, M.B. 2002. Order Diptera. In: Rasnitsyn, A.P. and Quicke, D.L.J. The History of Insects, Kluwer Publ., Dordrecht, Boston, London, pp. 227–240.

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Flies

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Diptera

Wikispecies has information related to: Diptera

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Fly.

General

• The Diptera Site
• The Dipterists Forum - The Society for the study of flies
• The Bishop Museum Catalog of Fossil Diptera
• The Tree of Life Project
• Diptera at the Open Directory Project
• Manual of Afrotropical Diptera

Identification help

• The Diptera.info Portal Expert Diptera site and Diptera information portal.
• BugGuide

Anatomy

• Fly anatomy
• Drawing Wing venation

Describers

• Authors of fly names

v t e Orders of insects Extant Archaeognatha Blattodea (Cockroaches) Coleoptera (Beetles) Dermaptera (Earwigs) Diptera (Flies) Embioptera (Webspinners) Ephemeroptera (Mayflies) Hemiptera Hymenoptera Isoptera (Termites) Lepidoptera Mantodea (Mantises) Mecoptera Megaloptera Neuroptera Notoptera Odonata Orthoptera Phasmatodea (Sticks) Phthiraptera (Lice) Plecoptera Psocoptera Raphidioptera (Snakeflies) Siphonaptera (Fleas) Strepsiptera Thysanoptera (Thrips) Trichoptera (Caddisflies) Zoraptera Zygentoma (Thysanura) Extinct Coxoplectoptera Diaphanopterodea Glosselytrodea Meganisoptera Megasecoptera Palaeodictyoptera Wikispecies

Two girls smiling

A girl is any female human from birth through childhood and adolescence to attainment of adulthood when she becomes a woman. The term may also be used to mean a young woman.^[1]

Etymology[link]

The English word girl first appeared during the Middle Ages between 1250 and 1300 CE and came from the Anglo-Saxon words gerle (also spelled girle or gurle).^[2] The Anglo-Saxon word gerela meaning dress or clothing item also seems to have been used as a metonym in some sense.^[1]

A girl from Mali

Girl has meant any young unmarried woman since about 1530. Its first noted meaning for sweetheart is 1648. The earliest known appearance of girl-friend is in 1892 and girl next door, meant as a teenaged female or young woman with a kind of wholesome appeal, dates only to 1961.^[3]

Usage for adults[link]

The word girl is sometimes used to refer to an adult female. This usage may be considered derogatory or disrespectful in professional or other formal contexts, just as the term boy can be considered disparaging when applied to an adult man. Hence, this usage is often deprecative.^[1] It can also be used deprecatively when used to discriminate against children ("you're just a girl").

In casual context, the word has positive uses, as evidenced by its use in titles of popular music. It has been used playfully for people acting in an energetic fashion (Canadian singer Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous Girl") or as a way of unifying women of all ages on the basis of their once having been girls (American country singer Martina McBride's "This One's for the Girls"). These positive uses mean gender rather than age.

Demographics[link]

An adolescent girl from Mauritania

Slightly more boys are born than girls (in the US this ratio is about 105 boys born for every 100 girls), but girls are slightly less likely to die than boys, during childhood, so that the ratio for under 15 years of age is 104 boys for every 100 girls.^[4][5] Since the 18th century the human sex ratio has been observed as about 1,050 boys for every 1,000 girls born and sex selection on the part of parents further lessens the number of female births.

While patriarchal beliefs have led to female infanticide (the killing of female infants) since ancient times, it is a persistent practice in some regions of the world today. It is a significant problem in India and China in particular. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) State of the World Population Report indicates that these practices, combined with neglect, have resulted in at least 60 million "missing" girls in Asia. Large numbers of adult women are absent from the population in some regions, a consequence of female infanticide during recent decades.

Census information shows the problem is worsening. In India overall, by 2011, there were little more than 9 girls younger than 6 years old for every 10 boys. The 2011 census showed that the ratio of girls to boys under the age of 6 years old has dropped even during the past decade, from 927 girls for every 1000 boys in 2001 to 918 girls for every 1000 boys in 2011. Maharashtra state's ratio is 883 girls, and Satara is even lower at 881. Hospitals in India are banned from giving out the gender of an unborn fetus to prevent sex-selection abortions, although evidence indicates that the information is often revealed.^[6] Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute in Washington, D.C. has said: "Twenty-five million men in China currently can’t find brides because there is a shortage of women [...] young men emigrate overseas to find brides." The gender imbalance in these regions is also blamed for spurring growth in the commercial sex trade; the UN's 2005 report states that up to 800,000 people being trafficked across borders each year, and as many as 80 percent are women and girls.^[7]

Biology[link]

Girls develop female characteristics by inheriting two X chromosomes (XX), one from each parent.^[8]

About one in a thousand girls have a 47,XXX karyotype, and one in 2500 have a 45,X one.

Girls typically have a female reproductive system. Some intersex children with ambigous genitals, and biologically male transgender children, may also be classified or self-identify as girls.^[9]

Gender and environment[link]

A girl plays with paper dolls. Biological sex interacts with environment in ways not fully understood.

Biological sex interacts with environment in ways not fully understood.^[10] Identical twin girls separated at birth and reunited decades later have shown both startling similarities and differences.^[11] In 2005 Kim Wallen of Emory University noted, "I think the 'nature versus nurture' question is not meaningful, because it treats them as independent factors, whereas in fact everything is nature and nurture." Wallen said gender differences emerge very early and come about through an underlying preference males and females have for their chosen activities.

Girls' education[link]

School girls in Afganistan

Girls' equal access to education has been achieved in some countries, but there are significant disparities in the majority. There are gaps in access between different regions and countries and even within countries. Girls account for 60 per cent of children out of school in Arab countries and 66 per cent of non-attendees in South and West Asia; however, more girls than boys attend schools in many countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, North America and Western Europe.^[12] Research has measured the economic cost of this inequality to developing countries: Plan International’s analysis shows that a total of 65 low, middle income and transition countries fail to offer girls the same secondary school opportunities as boys, and in total, these countries are missing out on annual economic growth of an estimated $92 billion.^[12]

Although the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has asserted "primary education shall be compulsory and available free to all" girls are slightly less likely to be enrolled as students in primary and secondary schools (70%:74% and 59%:65%). Worldwide efforts have been made to end this disparity (such as through the Millennium Development Goals) and the gap has closed since 1990.^[13]

Educational environment and expectations[link]

Kurdish girl

According to Kim Wallen, expectations will nonetheless play a role in how girls perform academically. For example, if females skilled in math are told a test is "gender neutral" they achieve high scores, but if they are told males outperformed females in the past, the females will do much worse. "What’s strange is," Wallen observed, "according to the research, all one apparently has to do is tell a woman who has a lifetime of socialization of being poor in math that a math test is gender neutral, and all effects of that socialization go away."^[14] Author Judith Harris has said that aside from their genetic contribution, the nurturing provided by parents likely has less long-term influence over their offspring than other environmental aspects such as the children's peer group.^[15]

In England, studies by the National Literacy Trust have shown girls score consistently higher than boys in all scholastic areas from the ages of 7 through 16, with the most striking differences noted in reading and writing skills.^[16] In the United States, historically, girls lagged on standardized tests. In 1996 the average score of 503 for US girls from all races on the SAT verbal test was 4 points lower than boys. In math, the average for girls was 492, which was 35 points lower than boys. "When girls take the exact same courses," commented Wayne Camara, a research scientist with the College Board, "that 35-point gap dissipates quite a bit." At the time Leslie R. Wolfe, president of the Center for Women Policy Studies said girls scored differently on the math tests because they tend to work the problems out while boys use "test-taking tricks" such as immediately checking the answers already given in multiple-choice questions. Wolfe said girls are steady and thorough while "boys play this test like a pin-ball machine." Wolfe also said although girls had lower SAT scores they consistently get higher grades than boys across all courses their first year in college.^[17] By 2006 girls were outscoring boys on the verbal portion of the United States' nation-wide SAT exam by 11 points.^[18] A 2005 University of Chicago study showed that a majority presence of girls in the classroom tends to enhance the academic performance of boys.^[19]

International initiatives for girls' rights[link]

Indian girls

Girl in Guatemala

An ahwazian Arab girl in traditional Arab dress.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1988) and Millennium Development Goals (2000) promoted better access to education for all girls and boys and to eliminate gender disparities at both primary and secondary level. Worldwide school enrolment and literacy rates for girls have improved continuously. 2005, global primary net enrolment rates were 85 per cent for girls, up from 78 per cent 15 years earlier; at the secondary level, girls’ enrolment increased 10 percentage points to 57 per cent over the same period.^[12]

A number of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have created programs focussing on addressing disparities in girls' access to such necessities as food, healthcare and education. CAMFED is one organization active in providing education to girls in sub-Saharan Africa. PLAN International's "Because I am a Girl" campaign is a high-profile example of such initiatives. PLAN's research has shown that educating girls can have a powerful ripple effect, boosting the economies of their towns and villages; providing girls with access to education has also been demonstrated to improve community understanding of health matters, reducing HIV rates, improving nutritional awareness, reducing birthrates and improving infant health. Research demonstrates that a girl who has received an education will:

• Earn up to 25 percent more and reinvest 90 percent in her family.
• Be three times less likely to become HIV-positive.
• Have fewer, healthier children who are 40 percent more likely to live past the age of five.^[20]

Plan International has also created a campaign to establish an International Day of the Girl. The goals of this initiative are to raise global awareness of the unique challenges facing girls, as well as the key role they have in addressing larger poverty and development challenges. A delegation of girls from Plan Canada introduced the idea to Rona Ambrose, Canada's Minister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of Women, at the 55th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women at United Nations Headquarters in February 2011. In March 2011, Canada's Parliament unanimously adopted a motion requesting that Canada take the lead at the United Nations in the initiative to proclaim September 22 the International Day of the Girl. If adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, an International Day of the Girl could be declared before the end of 2011.^[21]

Its most recent research has led PLAN International to identify a need to coordinate projects that address boys' roles in their communities, as well as finding ways of including boys in activities that reduce gender discrimination. Since political, religious and local community leaders are most often men, men and boys have great influence over any effort to improve girls' lives and achieve gender equality. PLAN International's 2011 Annual Report points out that men have more influence and may be able to convince communities to curb early marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) more effectively than women. Egyptian religious leader Sheikh Saad, who has campaigned against the practice, is quoted in the report: “We have decided that our daughter will not go through this bad, inhumane experience [...] I am part of the change.”^[22]

Art and literature[link]

Peter Paul Rubens - Portrait of a Young Girl

The Time Of The Lilacs, by Sophie Gengembre Anderson.

Historically, art and literature in Western culture has portrayed girls as symbols of innocence, purity, virtue and hope. Egyptian murals included sympathetic portraits of young girls who were daughters of royalty. Sappho's poetry carries love poems addressed to girls.

In Europe, some early paintings featuring girls were Petrus Christus' Portrait of a Young Girl (about 1460), Juan de Flandes' Portrait of a Young Girl (about 1505), Frans Hals' Die Amme mit dem Kind in 1620, Diego Velázquez' Las Meninas in 1656, Jan Steen's The Feast of St. Nicolas (about 1660) and Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring along with Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window. Later paintings of girls include Albert Anker's portrait of a Girl with a Domino Tower and Camille Pissarro's 1883 Portrait of a Felix Daughter.

Mary Cassatt painted many famous Impressionist works that idealize the innocence of girls and the mother-daughter bond, for example her 1884 work Children on the Beach During the same era, Whistler's Harmony in Gray and Green: Miss Cicely Alexander and The White Girl depict girls in the same light.

The European children's literature canon includes many notable works with young female protagonists. Traditional fairy tales have preserved memorable stories about girls. Among these are Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Rapunzel, The Princess and the Pea and the Brothers Grimm's Little Red Riding Hood. Well-known children's books about girls include Alice in Wonderland, Heidi, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Nancy Drew series, Little House on the Prairie, Madeline, Pippi Longstocking, A Wrinkle in Time, Dragonsong, and Little Women.

Beginning in the late Victorian era, more nuanced depictions of girl protagonists became popular. Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl, The Little Mermaid, and other tales featured themes that ventured into tragedy. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll featured a widely noted female protagonist confronting eccentric characters and intellectual puzzles in surreal settings. Moreover, Carroll's controversial photographs of girls are often cited in histories of photographic art. Literature followed different cultural currents, sometimes romanticizing and idealizing girlhood, and at other times developing under the influence of the growing literary realism movement. Many Victorian novels begin with the childhood of their heroine, such as Jane Eyre, an orphan who suffers ill treatment from her guardians and then at a girls' boarding school. The character Natasha in War and Peace, on the other hand, is sentimentalized. By the 20th century, the portrayal of girls in fiction had for the most part abandoned idealized portrayals of girls. Popular literary novels include Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird in which a young girl, Scout, is faced with the awareness of the forces of bigotry in her community. Vladimir Nabokov's controversial book Lolita (1955) is about a doomed relationship between a 12 year old girl and an adult scholar as they travel across the United States. Zazie dans le métro (Zazie in the Metro) (1959) by Raymond Queneau is a popular French novel that humorously celebrates the innocence and precocity of Zazie, who ventures off on her own to explore Paris, escaping from her uncle (a professional female impersonator) and her mother (who is preoccupied by a meeting with her lover). Zazie was also made into a popular movie in 1960 (Zazie dans le métro) by French director Louis Malle.

Books which have both boy and girl protagonists have tended to focus more on the boys, but important girl characters appear in Knight's Castle, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Book of Three and the Harry Potter series.

Recent novels with an adult audience have included reflections on girlhood experiences. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden begins as the female main character and her sister are dropped off in the pleasure district after being separated from their family in 19th century Japan. "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" by Lisa See traces the laotong (old sames) bond of friendship between a pair of childhood friends in modern Beijing, and the parallel friendship of their ancestors in 19th century Hunan, China.

Popular culture[link]

A teenage girl with a modern hairstyle in Harajuku, Tokyo.

There have been many American comic books and comic strips featuring a girl as the main character such as Little Lulu and Little Orphan Annie. In superhero comic books an early girl character was Etta Candy, one of Wonder Woman's sidekicks. In the Peanuts series (by Charles Schulz) girl characters include Peppermint Patty, Lucy van Pelt and Sally Brown.

In Japanese animated cartoons and comic books girls are often protagonists. Most of Hayao Miyazaki's animated films feature a young girl heroine, as in Majo no takkyūbin (Kiki's Delivery Service). There are many other girl protagonists in the Shōjo style of manga, which is targeted to girls as an audience. Among these are The Wallflower, Ceres, Celestial Legend, Tokyo Mew Mew and Full Moon o Sagashite. Meanwhile, some genres of Japanese cartoons may feature sexualized and objectified portrayals of girls.

The term girl is widely heard in the lyrics of popular music (such as with the song "About a Girl"), most often meaning a young adult or teenaged female.

History[link]

Princess Neferure as a girl, sitting on the lap of her tutor Senenmut. Girls and women in Ancient Egypt enjoyed a relatively high social status.

The status of girls throughout world history is closely related to the status of women in any culture. Where women enjoy a more equal status with men, girls benefit from greater attention to their needs.

Girls' education[link]

In Ancient Egypt, the princess Neferure grew up under the reign of her mother, the woman Pharaoh Hatshepsut, who had inherited the throne after the death of her husband Thutmose II. Women in Ancient Egypt had a relatively high status in society, and as the daughter of the pharaoh, Neferura was provided with the best education possible. Her tutors were the most trusted advisors of her mother. She grew up to take on an important role by taking on the duties of a queen while her mother was pharaoh.^[23] Despite the fact that women and men had a great deal of equality in Ancient Egypt, there were still important divisions in gender roles. Men worked as scribes for the government, for example, whereas women would often work at occupations tied to the home, such as farming, baking bread and brewing beer; however, a large number of women, particularly from the upper classes, worked in business and traded at markets, as perfumers, and some women also worked in temples. For this reason, girls' and boys' education differed. Boys could attend formal schools to learn how to read, write, and do math, while girls would be educated at home to learn the occupations of their mothers. Some women did become literate and were scholars, however, such as Hypatia.^[24][25]

The future Elizabeth I of England at age 13 years.

Girls' formal education has traditionally been considered far less important than that of boys. In Europe, exceptions were rare before the printing press and the Reformation made literacy more widespread. One notable exception to the general neglect of girls' literacy is Queen Elizabeth I. In her case, as a child she was in a precarious position as a possible heir to the throne, and her life was in fact endangered by the political scheming of other powerful members of the court. Following the execution of her mother, Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth was considered illegitimate. Her education was for the most part ignored by Henry VIII. Remarkably, Henry VIII's widow, Catherine Parr, took an interest in the high intelligence of Elizabeth, and supported the decision to provide her with an impressive education after Henry's death, starting when Elizabeth was 9.^[26] Elizabeth received an education equal to that of a prominent male aristocrat; she was educated in Latin, Greek, Spanish, French, philosophy, history, mathematics and music. England reaped the reward of her rich education when circumstances resulted in her becoming a capable monarch.

By the 18th century, Europeans recognized the value of literacy, and schools were opened to educate the public in growing numbers. Education in the Age of Enlightenment in France led to up to a third of women becoming literate by the time of the French Revolution, contrasting with roughly half of men by that time.^[27] However, education was still not considered as important for girls as for boys, who were being trained for professions that remained closed to women, and girls were not admitted to secondary level schools in France until the late 19th century. Girls were not entitled to receive a Baccalaureate diploma in France until the reforms of 1924 under education minister Léon Bérard. Schools were segregated in France until the end of World War II. Since then, compulsory education laws have raised the education of girls and young women throughout Europe.

"Coming of age" customs[link]

Many cultures have traditional customs to mark the "coming of age" of a girl or boy, to recognize their transition to adulthood, or to mark other milestones of their journey to maturity as children.

Japan has a coming-of-age ritual called Shichi-Go-San (七五三), which literally means "Seven-Five-Three". This is a traditional rite of passage and festival day in Japan for three- and seven-year-old girls and three- and five-year-old boys, held annually on November 15. It is generally observed on the nearest weekend. On this day, the girl will be dressed in a traditional kimono, and will be taken to a temple by her family for a blessing ceremony. Nowadays, the occasion is also marked with a formal photo portrait.

Some coming-of-age ceremonies are religious rituals to recognize a girl's maturity with respect to her understanding of religious beliefs, and to recognize her changing role in her religious community. Confirmation is a ceremony common to many Christian denominations for both boys and girls, usually taking place when the child is in their teen years. In Roman Catholic communities, Confirmation ceremonies are considered one of seven sacraments that a Catholic may receive during their life. In many countries, it is traditional for Catholics children to undergo another sacrament, First Communion, at the age of 7 years old. The sacrament is usually performed in a church once a year, with children who are of age receive a blessing from a Bishop in a special ceremony. It is traditional in many countries for Catholic girls to wear white dresses and possibly a small veil or wreath of flowers in their hair to their First Communion. The white dress symbolizes spiritual purity.

Many coming-of-age ceremonies are to acknowledge the passing of a girl through puberty, when she experiences menarche, or her first menstruation. The traditional Apache coming-of-age ceremony for girls is called the na'ii'ees (Sunrise Ceremony), and takes place over four days. The girls are painted with clay and pollen, which they must not wash off until the end of the rituals, which involve dancing and rituals that challenge physical strength. Girls are given teaching in aspects of sexuality, confidence, and healing ability. The girls pray in the direction of the east at dawn, and in the four cardinal directions, which represent the four stages of life. This ceremony was banned by the U.S. government for many decades; after being decriminalized by the Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978, it has seen a revival. ^[28]

Preparing girls for marriage[link]

A postwar German girl helps her mother, who is struggling for income, prepare food to sell, 1946.

In many ancient societies, girls' upbringing had much to do with preparing them to be future wives. In many cultures, it was not the norm for women to be economically independent. Thus, where a girl's future well-being depended upon marrying her to a man who was economically self-sufficient, it was crucial to prepare her to meet whatever qualities or skills were popularly expected of wives.

In cultures ranging from Ancient Greece to the 19th century United States, girls have been taught such essential domestic skills as sewing, cooking, gardening, and basic hygiene and medical care such as preparing balms and salves, and in some cases midwife skills. These skills would be taught from generation to generation, with the knowledge passed down orally from mother to daughter. A well-known reference to these important women's skills is in the folk tale Rumpelstiltskin, which dates back to Medieval Germany and was collected in written form by the folklorists the Brothers Grimm. The miller's daughter is valued as a potential wife because of her reputation for being able to spin straw into gold.

In some parts of China, beginning in the Southern Tang kingdom in Nanjing (937-975), the custom of foot binding was associated with upper class women who were worthy of a life of leisure, and husbands who could afford to spare them the necessity of work (which would require the ability to be mobile and spend the day on their feet). Because of this belief, parents hoping to ensure a good marriage for their daughters would begin binding their feet from about the age of seven years old to achieve the ideal appearance. The tinier the feet, the better the social rank of a future husband. This practice did not end until the early years of the 20th century.^[29]

China has had many customs tied to girls and their roles as future wives and mothers. According to one custom, a girl's way of wearing her hair would indicate her marital status. An unmarried girl would wear her hair in two "pigtails", and once married, she would wear her hair in one.^[30]

In some cultures, girls' passing through puberty is viewed with concern for a girl's chastity. In some communities, there is a traditional belief that female genital mutilation is a necessity to prevent a girl from becoming sexually promiscuous. The practice is dangerous, however, and leads to long-term health problems for women who have undergone it. The practice has been a custom in 28 countries of Africa, and persists mainly in rural areas. This coming-of-age custom, sometimes incorrectly described as "female circumcision", is being outlawed by governments, and challenged by human rights groups and other concerned community members, who are working to end the practice.

Girls' games and other pastimes[link]

Girls' pastimes, such as games and other leisure activities, reflect the customs of their communities.

• 

  A girl applying henna art in Morocco.

• 

  A girl enjoying a game of table football in Mauritania.

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Girls

Look up girl in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Boy
• Female infanticide
• Girl group
• Girl Guides
• Girl Power
• Tomboy
• Woman

References[link]

Tara Oram
Performing at the 2010 Cavendish Beach Music Festival in Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Background information
Birth name	Tara Oram
Born	(1984-04-28) April 28, 1984 (age 28)
Origin	Hare Bay, NL
Genres	Country
Occupations	Singer
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	2003 - present
Labels	Open Road
Website	www.taraoram.com

Tara Oram (born 28 April 1984 in Hare Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador) is a Canadian country music recording artist and a top six finalist on the fifth season of Canadian Idol in 2007. In March 2009 Oram received an ECMA for Country Recording of the Year Award.

Early life[link]

Oram was born in Hare Bay, Newfoundland but moved frequently during her early years. Oram first moved to the Malton area of Mississauga, Ontario when she was 10 years old, and later to Brampton, where she attended Bramalea Secondary School.

Career[link]

Aged 16 Oram was signed to indie label Wellcraft Music Group and released her first country music single called, "More Than I Dreamed" which was her first top 50 hit. She later toured with a local agency called Performerz, which allowed her to sing in theatres, malls and festivals throughout Ontario. When 19 Oram joined her first real band, Big Catch. The band played the bar/club circuit and corporate events around Ontario for the better part of four years, performing a mix of country, top 40, rock, R’n B and retro. In 2007, Oram auditioned for the hit show Canadian Idol, earning a 6th place finish on the hit reality show.^[1] The next year, Oram signed her first major record deal with Open Road/Universal Music Canada and also appeared on reality TV series called, "The Tara Diaries" on CMT.^[2] CMT filmed a Christmas special she hosted, "The Night Before Christmas".^[3] In October 2008, Oram's first show as a signed artist was opening for her Idol, Marty Stuart in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

In 2009, CMT and YTV Oram appeared a celebrity judge on the TV series, "Karaoke Star Junior".^[4]

On July 10, 2010, Oram was the opening act for Taylor Swift and performed at the second annual Cavendish Beach Music Festival in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, singing to a crowd of more than 35,000 people.^[5]

Awards/Nominations[link]

Oram received nominations for the 2009 East Coast Music Awards in the categories Female Solo Recording of the Year and Video of the Year, and won in the Country Recording of the Year award.^[6] She also received a CRMA (Canadian Radio Music Award) nomination as Best New Group/Solo Artist. On February 2, 2009 Oram was nominated for a Juno Award in the Country Recording of the Year category. Oram won the 2009 CCMA Rising Star award. She was also nominated for Rising Star, Female Artist of the Year and Video of the Year.^[7]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

Music videos[link]

See also[link]

• Canadian Idol
• Season 5 Recap of Canadian Idol

References[link]

1. ^ "Oram booted from 'Canadian Idol'". Canoe. August 14, 2007. http://jam.canoe.ca/Television/TV_Shows/C/Canadian_Idol/2007/08/14/4418454-sun.html. Retrieved 23 May 2011. 
2. ^ "Shows : The Tara Diaries". CMT. 2011 [last update]. http://www.cmt.ca/Shows/thetaradiaries. Retrieved 23 May 2011. 
3. ^ "Newfoundland Native Tara Oram Holds Benefit For Communities Affected by Hurricane Igor". Open Road Recordings. http://www.openroadrecordings.com/2010/10/newfoundland-native-tara-oram-holds-benefit-for-communities-affected-by/. Retrieved 23 May 2011. 
4. ^ "Tara Oram Loves Canada's Karaoke Kids". cmt.ca. January 31, 2009. http://www.cmt.ca/news/NewsItem.aspx?news_id=7974. Retrieved 23 May 2011. 
5. ^ http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/Living/Commuting/2010-07-07/article-1522252/Fans-line-up-for-world-class-talent-in-Cavendish/1
6. ^ "Hey Rosetta! triumphant at East Coast Music Awards". CBC. March 1, 2009. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2009/03/01/ecma-awards-gala.html. Retrieved 23 May 2011. 
7. ^ "CMT Congratulates The 2009 Canadian Country Music Awards Nomenees". channelcanada.com. July 29, 2009. http://www.channelcanada.com/Article3247.html. Retrieved 23 May 2011. 

External links[link]

• Official website
• Tara Oram on Facebook
• Tara Oram's channel on YouTube
• Tara Oram on Myspace
• Tara Oram's Management Company

Roberta Mancino is an Italian skydiver, BASE jumper, wingsuit flyer and international model. She has participated in more than 7,000 skydives and won several awards and world records. She has gone on four skydives while completely naked, and on five occasions her parachute did not open in mid-jump. In 2010, Mancino was named the World's Sexiest Female Athlete by the magazine Men's Fitness.

Biography[link]

Born in Italy, Mancino was 16 when she did her first modeling work for a magazine.^[1] She started skydiving in October 2001.^[2] Mancino convinced her best friend, a skydiver, to take her on a jump even though he encouraged her not to because it was too dangerous. She began to take it more seriously as a profession when people started asking her to coach them. Eventually, Mancino started participating in international competitions.^[2][3]

She regularly trains at the Skyventure XP Paraclete in North Carolina. Her parachute has malfunctioned five times though she was able to use the reserve. She has also made four jumps while completely naked for magazine photo shoots.^[2][4] In 2008, Mancino appeared on the Italian television program Le Iene with Marco Berry, jumping topless and demonstrating her freeflying and sit flying skills.^[5] Mancino met her boyfriend BASE jumper Jeb Corliss, in 2009 after he learned about her jumps and arranged to meet her.^[1] In 2009, after having made about 5,500 skydives, Mancino started BASE jumping along with Corliss.^[6] She performed in 115 BASE jumps (35 with wingsuit) between August 2009 and September 2011. Also inspired by Corliss, she began wingsuit flying, which involves jumping from an aircraft wearing a jumpsuit with webbed wings similar to a flying squirrel. This led to proximity flying, which is the flying of a wingsuit in close proximity to cliffs and trees during the flight, the jumper then deploys their parachute once they have moved a safe distance away from any hazards (similar to BASE jumping in this respect).

One of her dreams is to BASE jump off the Burj Khalifa, the tallest man-made structure in the world, and circle around it as she goes down. She also aspires to jump out of a plane and reenter the same plane as it dives.^[4][7] She has participated in big way formation skydiving. Regarding freestyle skydiving, Mancino said, "It becomes kind of boring to me because it’s too solitary ... I prefer group activity".^[8] As a model, she has appeared in Men's Fitness, Vanity Fair, Allure, Maxim, Men's Health, Max.^[1] In 2010, Mancino was named the World's Sexiest Female Athlete by the magazine Men's Fitness.^[9][10] As of December 2010, Mancino has gone on more than 7,000 skydives.^[7]

Records and awards[link]

In 2003, Roberta Mancino placed first in the Malevski Cup at the Russia Freestyle and the Space Games Freestyle. In 2004, she won first place in the Tunnel Competition in Orlando, Florida. She received both the Italian Record and Euro Record for skydiving in 2005, and won first place in the Tunnel Competition in Perris Valley, California. In 2007, Mancino broke the European Record for Formation Freefly and the World Record for Formation 69-Way Freefly. Also that year, she placed first in the Italian Nationals of Skydiving. In 2009, she took part to a world record 108-way freefly in Chicago.^[11]

References[link]