Synopses & Reviews
Winner of the Books for a Better Life Award Every parent who cares about empowering her daughter should own a copy."
- Rachel Simmons, author of Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls ...a must-read for parents and teachers who want to steer girls away from marketing schemes that distort female power and authority and toward true self-acceptance and authentic empowerment.”
-- Polly Young Eisendrath, author of Women and Desire and The Resilient Spirit The image of girls and girlhood that is being packaged and sold to your daughter isnt pretty in pink. It is stereotypical, demeaning, limiting, and alarming. Girls are besieged by images in the media that encourage accessorizing over academics; sex appeal over sports; fashion over friendship.
Packaging Girlhood exposes these stereotypes and gives you guidance on how to talk with your daughters about these negative images and provides you with tools and information on how to help your girls make more positive choices. A tour de force of excellent scholarship put in a very readable context and chockfull of practical suggestions for parents for change!”
-- William S. Pollack, Ph.D., author of Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood
Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown have that rare gift of translating cutting-edge research and analysis into strategies and information that every parent (and every girl) can use in daily life.”
-- Joe Kelly, president of Dads and Daughters (DADs)
With compassion, insight, and humor [Lamb and Brown] unravel and demystify the messages girls confront throughout their development, and they offer adults useful tools to help girls resist their powerful pull.”
-- Lynn M. Phillips, Ph.D., Department of Communications, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown's sharp analysis and patiently pragmatic advice is just what we need to sustain our daughter's quests for healthy identities.”
-Michael Kimmel, author Manhood in America, Professor, SUNY Stony Brook Sharon Lamb, author of The Secret Lives of Girls, is professor of Psychology at Saint Michaels College in Vermont. Her research on girls and teens development is widely cited. Additionally, she listens to their struggles and strengths in her private practice.
Lyn Mikel Brown, professor of Education at Colby College in Maine, is the author of three books on girls development, including Meeting at the Crossroads: Women's Psychology and Girls' Development (with Carol Gilligan). She creates programs for girls at her nonprofit Hardy Girls Healthy Women (www.hghw.org).
Sharon Lamb is professor of psychology at Saint Michael's College in Vermont and the author of four books, including The Secret Lives of Girls. Her research on girls' development, teenagers and sex, and abuse and victimization is widely cited. As a clinical psychologist, she often works with girls, listening to their struggles and hearing their strengths, in her private practice in Shelburne, Vermont. Lyn Mikel Brown, professor of education and human development at Colby College in Maine, is the author of three books on girls' development, including Meeting at the Crossroads: Women's Psychology and Girls' Development (with Carol Gilligan). She creates programs for girls at her nonprofit organization, Hardy Girls Healthy Women (www.hardygirlshealthywomen.org). Winner of the National Multiple Sclerosis Societys Books for a Better Life Award The image of girls and girlhood that is being packaged and sold to your daughter isn't pretty in pink. It is stereotypical, demeaning, limiting, and alarming. Girl Power has been co-opted by marketers of music, fashion, books, and television to mean the power to shop and attract boys. Girls are besieged by images in the media that encourage them to pursue accessories over academics; sex appeal over sports; fashion over friendship. These stereotypes are everywhere, from Disney movies to hip-hop lyrics, Nickelodeon cartoons to Seventeen magazine. Little girls are portrayed as "perfect little angels," sometimes with a sassy twist; elementary school-age girls are boy-crazy "tweens," ready to buy into a version of mini-teendom that eclipses the wonderful years of childhood that truly belong to them; middle-school girls are cast as full-fledged teenagers, or at least teenage wannabes, eager to conform to that CosmoGIRL! lifestyle. And high school girls? They are sold an image of the sexually free model-diva-rock-star that the younger girls are supposed to look up to. Packaging Girlhood exposes these stereotypes and the very limited choices presented to girls of who or what they can be. Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown give guidance on how to talk with young girls about these negative images and provides with the tools and information needed to help girls make more positive choices about the way they define themselves in the real world. "Packaging Girlhood is a must-read for anyone who cares about the health and well-being of girls. It exposes the marketing industry's assault on preteens and is filled with helpful suggestions for beleaguered parents."Susan Linn, associate director of the Media Center at Judge Baker Children's Center and instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School "Parents constantly complain that they have only a small shovel to hold back the avalanche of products and messages that erode children's resilience and sap their self-esteem. Now they have this book. Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown's sharp analysis and patiently pragmatic advice is just what we need to sustain our daughters' quests for healthy identities."Michael Kimmel, author of Manhood in America and professor at SUNY-Stony Brook "Be prepared to be shocked and saddened as you come to see the world of sex, shopping, media, body fat, and self-esteem through the wide eyes of today's American girls. Be prepared, also, to find invaluable guidance and insight from authors Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown, who know our daughters from the inside out. This is a must-read for parents and teachers who want to steer girls away from marketing schemes that distort female power and authority and toward true self-acceptance and authentic empowerment."Polly Young-Eisendrath, author of Women and Desire and The Resilient Spirit "Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown have that rare gift of translating cutting-edge research and analysis into strategies and information that every parent (and every girl) can use in daily life. In Packaging Girlhood, they provide solid ways for families to help girls stay rooted in reality while buffeted by the powerful winds of commercialism. In the process, we parents learn more than a little about staying rooted in reality ourselves. This is the kind of guidance that families need, especially if they think they are immune from marketers' schemes."Joe Kelly, president of Dads and Daughters (DADs) "With compassion, insight, and humor [Lamb and Brown] unravel and demystify the messages girls confront throughout their development, and they offer adults useful tools to help girls resist their powerful pull. Packaging Girlhood is filled with useful information and practical suggestions for adults wishing to help girls critique and rewrite consumer culture's narrow and toxic portrayals of girls. Never judgmental and always illuminating, Packaging Girlhood reflects Lamb and Brown's deep respect for girls and their firsthand understanding of the dilemmas of parenting."Lynn M. Phillips, Ph.D., Department of Communications, University of Massachusetts, Amherst "A tour de force of excellent scholarship put in a very readable context and chockful of practical suggestions for parents for change! In Packaging Girlhood, Lamb and Brown expose the manner in which our daughters, whom we believed had been newly reinforced with 'girl power,' actually remain enslaved in the gender straitjacket of narrow and distorted messages about what being a 'real girl' or young adult female is all about. A must-read for anyone who teaches, works with, or wishes to support girls (from tots to teens) in our society and for every parent of a daughter who wants to give her child a legacy of meaningful possibilities instead of a prepackaged world of inhibiting stereotypes."William S. Pollack, Ph.D., author of Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood "That girls are overwhelmed by images of princesses, demure femininity and pink, pink, pink is no surprise. What is shocking, as Lamb and Brown so astutely demonstrate, is the downright bombardment girls receive, coming from all forms of media. Lamb and Brown, both psychologists, came to harsh conclusions after they surveyed girls; sat through hours of Rugrats and Kim Possible television programming; scoured stores such as Hot Topic and Claire's; watched Hilary Duff movies; listened to Eminem and Beyoncé; visited MySpace.com; and read Caldecott books. The idea of 'girl power was snapped up by the media,' and 'what it sells is an image of being empowered,' argue the authors. Girls are offered two choices by the marketers: they are 'either for the boys or one of the boys.' Even rebellion is being packaged, 'the resistance, that edginess and irreverence that once gave girls a pathway out of the magic kingdom.' The book is incredibly readable and rises above others in the genre by giving parents concrete tools to help battle stereotypes. Lamb and Brown include lists of books and movies with positive role models and talking points to help your daughter recognize how she is being manipulated. The authors aren't trying to deny anyone princesses or pink; they just want girls to be knowledgeable enough to choose what will truly interest them."Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Synopsis
The stereotype-laden message, delivered through clothes, music, books, and TV, is essentially a continuous plea for girls to put their energies into beauty products, shopping, fashion, and boys. This constant marketing, cheapening of relationships, absence of good women role models, and stereotyping and sexualization of girls is something that parents need to first understand before they can take action.
Lamb and Brown teach parents how to understand these influences, give them guidance on how to talk to their daughters about these negative images, and provide the tools to help girls make positive choices about the way they are in the world.
In the tradition of books like Reviving Ophelia, Odd Girl Out, Queen Bees and Wannabees that examine the world of girls, this book promises to not only spark debate but help parents to help their daughters.
Synopsis
Winner of the Books for a Better Life Award
Every parent who cares about empowering her daughter should own a copy.
- Rachel Simmons, author of Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls
...a must-read for parents and teachers who want to steer girls away from marketing schemes that distort female power and authority and toward true self-acceptance and authentic empowerment.
-- Polly Young Eisendrath, author of Women and Desire and The Resilient Spirit
The image of girls and girlhood that is being packaged and sold to your daughter isn't pretty in pink. It is stereotypical, demeaning, limiting, and alarming. Girls are besieged by images in the media that encourage accessorizing over academics; sex appeal over sports; fashion over friendship.
Packaging Girlhood exposes these stereotypes and gives you guidance on how to talk with your daughters about these negative images and provides you with tools and information on how to help your girls make more positive choices.
A tour de force of excellent scholarship put in a very readable context and chockfull of practical suggestions for parents for change
-- William S. Pollack, Ph.D., author of Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood
Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown have that rare gift of translating cutting-edge research and analysis into strategies and information that every parent (and every girl) can use in daily life.
-- Joe Kelly, president of Dads and Daughters (DADs)
With compassion, insight, and humor Lamb and Brown] unravel and demystify the messages girls confront throughout their development, and they offer adults useful tools to help girls resist their powerful pull.
-- Lynn M. Phillips, Ph.D., Department of Communications, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown's sharp analysis and patiently pragmatic advice is just what we need to sustain our daughter's quests for healthy identities.
-Michael Kimmel, author Manhood in America, Professor, SUNY Stony Brook
Sharon Lamb, author of The Secret Lives of Girls, is professor of Psychology at Saint Michael's College in Vermont. Her research on girls' and teens' development is widely cited. Additionally, she listens to their struggles and strengths in her private practice.
Lyn Mikel Brown, professor of Education at Colby College in Maine, is the author of three books on girls' development, including Meeting at the Crossroads: Women's Psychology and Girls' Development (with Carol Gilligan). She creates programs for girls at her nonprofit Hardy Girls Healthy Women (www.hghw.org).
Synopsis
Advance praise for "Packaging Girlhood"
"Be prepared to be shocked and saddened as you come to see the world of sex, shopping, media, body-fat, and self-esteem through the wide eyes of today's American girls. Be prepared, also, to find invaluable guidance and insight from authors Sharon Lamb and Lyn Brown who know our daughters from inside out. This is a must-read for parents and teachers who want to steer girls away from marketing schemes that distort female power and authority, and towards true self-acceptance and authentic empowerment."
-Polly Young-Eisendrath, author of "Women and Desire" and "The Resilient Spirit"
"Lyn Mikel Brown and Sharon Lamb have that rare gift of translating cutting edge research and analysis into strategies and information that every parent (and every girl) can use in daily life. In "Packaging Girlhood," they provide solid ways for families to help girls stay rooted in reality while buffeted by the powerful winds of commercialism. In the process, we parents learn more than a little about staying rooted in reality ourselves. This is the kind of guidance that families need, especially if they think they are immune from marketers' schemes."
-Joe Kelly, President, Dads and Daughters
"With compassion, insight, and humor, ÝLamb and Brown¨ unravel and demystify the messages girls confront throughout their development, and they offer adults useful tools to help girls resist their powerful pull. "Packaging Girlhood" is filled with useful information and practical suggestions for adults wishing to help girls critique and rewrite consumer culture's narrow and toxic portrayals of girls. Never judgmental and always illuminating, "PackagingGirlhood" reflects Lamb and Brown's deep respect for girls and their first-hand understanding of the dilemmas of parenting."
-Lynn M. Phillips, Ph.D., Department of Communications, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
"A tour de force of excellent scholarship put in a very readable context and chock full of practical suggestions to parents for change! In "Packaging Girlhood, "Lamb and Brown expose the manner in which our daughters whom we believed had been newly reinforced with "girl power" actually remain enslaved in the gender straitjacket of a narrow and distorted set of messages about what being a "real girl "or young adult female is all about.
A must read for anyone who teaches, works with or wishes to support girls (from tots to teens) in our society and for every parent of a daughter who wants to give her child a legacy of meaningful possibilities instead of a prepackaged world of inhibiting stereotypes."
-William S. Pollack, Ph.D., author of "Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood"
Synopsis
Winner of the Books for a Better Life Award Every parent who cares about empowering her daughter should own a copy."
- Rachel Simmons, author of Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls "...a must-read for parents and teachers who want to steer girls away from marketing schemes that distort female power and authority and toward true self-acceptance and authentic empowerment."
-- Polly Young Eisendrath, author of Women and Desire and The Resilient Spirit The image of girls and girlhood that is being packaged and sold to your daughter isn't pretty in pink. It is stereotypical, demeaning, limiting, and alarming. Girls are besieged by images in the media that encourage accessorizing over academics; sex appeal over sports; fashion over friendship.
Packaging Girlhood exposes these stereotypes and gives you guidance on how to talk with your daughters about these negative images and provides you with tools and information on how to help your girls make more positive choices. "A tour de force of excellent scholarship put in a very readable context and chockfull of practical suggestions for parents for change!"
-- William S. Pollack, Ph.D., author of Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood
"Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown have that rare gift of translating cutting-edge research and analysis into strategies and information that every parent (and every girl) can use in daily life."
-- Joe Kelly, president of Dads and Daughters (DADs)
"With compassion, insight, and humor [Lamb and Brown] unravel and demystify the messages girls confront throughout their development, and they offer adults useful tools to help girls resist their powerful pull."
-- Lynn M. Phillips, Ph.D., Department of Communications, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
"Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown's sharp analysis and patiently pragmatic advice is just what we need to sustain our daughter's quests for healthy identities."
-Michael Kimmel, author Manhood in America, Professor, SUNY Stony Brook Sharon Lamb, author of The Secret Lives of Girls, is professor of Psychology at Saint Michael's College in Vermont. Her research on girls' and teens' development is widely cited. Additionally, she listens to their struggles and strengths in her private practice.
Lyn Mikel Brown, professor of Education at Colby College in Maine, is the author of three books on girls' development, including Meeting at the Crossroads: Women's Psychology and Girls' Development (with Carol Gilligan). She creates programs for girls at her nonprofit Hardy Girls Healthy Women (www.hghw.org).
About the Author
Sharon Lamb is professor of psychology at Saint Michael's College in Vermont and the author of four books, including The Secret Lives of Girls. Her research on girls' development, teenagers and sex, and abuse and victimization is widely cited. As a clinical psychologist, she often works with girls, listening to their struggles and hearing their strengths, in her private practice in Shelburne, Vermont. Lyn Mikel Brown, professor of education and human development at Colby College in Maine, is the author of three books on girls' development, including Meeting at the Crossroads: Women's Psychology and Girls' Development (with Carol Gilligan). She creates programs for girls at her nonprofit organization, Hardy Girls Healthy Women (www.hardygirlshealthywomen.org).
Reading Group Guide
1. Packaging Girlhood begins with a simple message: Girl Power no longer means what it used to mean. Why were marketers and media able to steal that phrase and use it for their own purposes? What impact do you think this has had on girls and young women?
2. “Princesses” are everywhere in girl culture, from the most popular Halloween costumes and toys to the subject of their favorite movies. What is this image all about and why is it so desired by girls? How does the princess story impact girls? Discuss alternative images.
3. Once signifying little-girl innocence, pink is now used to sell
everything from lingerie to cigarettes to caffeine-filled energy drinks. What else does pink sell today? Why is this marketing
strategy so effective? How might parents respond?
4. Todays pop stars receive unprecedented media coverage. Many girls consider them role models. What do you think they teach girls about becoming a teen? Discuss how they, too, are packaged and sold.
5. Sexualized dolls with party plans sipping drinks in hot tubs with boys or shopping for “hot to trot” accessories have become commonplace in toy stores. Are they really so different from Barbie or is there something more damaging today about their portrayal of the teen lifestyle to little girls?
6. Two “types” of girls surfaced across different forms of media: girls can either be “for the boys” or “one of the boys.” Where do you see these types in girl culture? What are the rewards and the drawbacks of being a “girly girl” vs. “one of the guys” in middle or high school? How do these choices impact girls relationships?
7. TV shows, movies, magazines, and books are more likely to show
girls fighting and betraying one another than they are to show girls in loyal, lasting friendships. Why do you think this is? How do you
think this representation of girls affects their relationships with
one another?
8. Boys overpopulate G rated films, cereal box characters, board game cover winners, and TV show leads. Why? What impact does this have on girls?
9. Art, music, drama, sports. How are these activities good for girls and in what ways are they manipulated or changed to be “girl” activities?
10. Marketers use a range of strategies to sell to children, such as product placement, viral marketing, and immersive advertising. What strategies do you see working and why do you think they are successful with girls? Since parents cant turn off the world, what do you think are the best ways to address or respond to these techniques?
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