On the surface, itwixie.com looks like an 11-year-old girl's bedroom sneezed onto the computer screen -- lady bugs, castles, friendship bracelets and soccer balls are behind every click.

But underneath it all, a local mother is hoping to create a place that challenges cultural norms and empowers an impressionable age group.

Rebecca Gaynier, a Hampton mother of four, is trying to invent a place where girls between the ages of 8 and 14 can take a breather from the constant images of sex-obsessed men and flawless females plastered, well, everywhere.

"A lot of the content out there both online and in popular media really pushes girls to become teenagers when they're not ready," she said. "As a society we're teaching them to flirt and become sexy, and we don't want to push girls to be older than they are."

The site aims to give tweens a way to interact with each other, express themselves and thrive in their own ways without feeling the need to meet cultural standards.

"They're at this very impressionable time of their lives where they're trying to figure out who they are -- they're trying everything," Mrs. Gaynier said. "If you think about them in terms of their character definition, they aren't defined. They really see the world as theirs -- that whole broad spectrum of possibility."

She was able to create the site with the help of Alpha Lab, a firm created by Innovation Works that provides the essential ingredients to get new business ventures off the ground. It gives six people $25,000 each and six weeks to prove a concept.

To appeal to the target audience, Mrs. Gaynier wanted the site to allow girls to do three main things: challenge themselves, express themselves and receive attention from peers. But she has especially focused on self-expression.

Girls can change the look of the site by choosing a background from six options and after every fact or tidbit, the site asks for the user's opinion in a public comment section.

Even iTwixie's theme song, "Go," created by 16-year-old singer-guitarist Maddie Georgi from Hampton for her debut EP, was chosen by tweens in a qualitative study during the site's creation.

"It's fabulous," Mrs. Gaynier said of the teen empowerment song. "It's absolutely spot on for embracing that wholly optimistic, happy experimental mindset."

Some tweens are putting that experimental mindset to work on the site.

In response to a post called "Cannonball! Summer Is Almost Here," which asks girls a few questions about their summer plans, a user who labeled herself "gogirl" gave some of her own advice:

"Dear iTwixie, I think that maybe you should have some more choices for answers. For example, the summer camp one, I want to go to a summer camp, but I'm not signed up yet. Also, this site is so awesome, maybe there could be an iTwixie summer camp. Thanks for asking my opinion!"

The girls also can create their own profiles, chat with each other (in a room moderated by an adult) and send self-made friendship bracelets to the iTwixie office to receive a bracelet made by another girl in return.

"We want to challenge the way girls think. As a society we tell girls that their bodies need to look a certain way and you're never going to see that on iTwixie." Mrs. Gaynier said. "We want to challenge the way they regard food and activity and encourage them to try new things."

The site currently challenges girls to do 10 pushups in a row.

Random facts about science and other trades give tweens a chance to learn, and are expressed in short, energetic sentences, not long paragraphs.

For example, clicking on a picture of two hippos sleeping leads you to a page that says, "Hippo sweat is like sunscreen! And get this, it also kills germs and keeps insects away! It is so amazing that scientists are trying to copy it for people to use."

As of right now, the most popular topic is an activity called "In Her Shoes," which asks girls to create a short video. In it, they are supposed to show some of their favorite things beginning with their favorite pair of shoes, and then explain why the items are special to them.

Already, girls have commented positively about their peers' videos, saying things like, "I would like to say "good job!" to both of those girls. It was a very good way to give interesting facts to people ... byzee!! byzee!!"

The site has been up only for about three weeks, so Mrs. Gaynier is still working on new concepts, such as forming a tween expert panel to get consistent feedback.

Her aspirations are big -- she recently "tweeted" Oprah on Twitter asking her if she would like to partner. She also is trying to get brand names to sponsor site content -- but only those that support tween empowerment.

The iTwixie team -- which also includes Cynthia Closkey of Butler; Carol Smith of the state of Ohio; and Dana Bongiovanni and Maria Ringeisen, both of Hampton -- will throw a launch party for the site at the end of July to get more locals involved.

"We're planning to utilize social networking sites, and right now we're reaching out to summer camps to offer a way for girls to keep in touch while they're at camp," Mrs. Gaynier said.