Tales abound of queues of impatient suitors forming outside the houses of popular girls, of overweight boys becoming stuck in window frames, and of mothers being accidently approached in the confusion of darkness.
Although global Barbie sales fell by 9% in 2008, battering profits at Mattel, her maker, Barbie topped the 2008 survey by America's National Retail Federation of the most popular girls' toys, relegating even the Nintendo Wii to fifth place.
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In 2006, a Portuguese television show popular with teen girls depicted characters experience symptoms of a strange life-threatening illness.
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Basketball is now the most popular sport for girls in the nation.
Virgin America added the popular HBO show "Girls" to its in-flight entertainment because of customer requests on surveys.
Among the most popular names for baby girls, four names appear in the top 10 in both 2001 and 2011 - Olivia, Jessica, Emily and Sophie.
Equally unsuccessful was The Golden Palace, an ill-considered spin-off from The Golden Girls, the popular sitcom about four women growing old gracelessly.
The most popular baby boys' name there in 2011 was Jack, and for the seventh year, Sophie was the most popular name for new baby girls.
For girls it was the 19th most popular.
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Among baby girls, Lily was the most popular name in five regions including the North East, South West and Wales, Olivia in two regions - North West and Yorkshire and The Humber - Amelia in East and West Midlands, and Isabella proving the most popular in London.
The taboo topic of gender-based violence is also being acknowledged and recognized in a popular program targeting one of Guatemala's most vulnerable groups, indigenous Mayan girls.
Since the character first appeared in 2005, there have been at least 46 "Fancy Nancy" books from publisher HarperCollins, with over 20 million in print, spawning a number of popular dolls and toys, and becoming a must-have birthday party theme for all the fanciest little girls.
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