“Love your sisters and love yourself” Film Review: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

I decided to do the The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005) because I had seen most of the films on the list and this movie seemed like it could fit in with our material. I know the film was based on the book under the same title, which was read by many young women. This film opens on a group of four girls who are preparing to spend their first summer/time apart, while out they find a pair of pants that magically fit all of them. This leads them to make a manifesto in order for them to stay together for the summer.

Their manifesto has 10 rules, probably the most important ones are each girl keeps the pants for one week, when trading the pants you must write a letter detailing the most exciting thing that happened when wearing the pants and the last rule is “love your sisters and love yourself”. As for the girls there is; Bridgette the wild and unstoppable one, Lena shy and beautiful, Tibby the rebel and Carmen the writer. Each young women has something they work through in the film, however I want to focus on Carmen, who is planning on spending the summer with her father in North Carolina. Carmen’s parents are not together, the film does not say if they were ever married but we do find out that the two of them have never spent more than four days together. She is more than excited to have time to get close to her father; however she soon finds out that he is engaged to a woman with two other children. The issue is not that this was a surprise rather this new family is completely different from her memories of when her father and mother were together.

The reason why I focus on Carmen is because her story of an estranged father is so much like my own life. She is put in a new situation and has to learn to deal with it on her own, she is forced like many of the girls we read about in Red to face adult situations at an age where they are expected to have nothing to worry about. Among one of the differences of this new family is that the family is all white and lives in the suburbs, they play tennis, soccer, and are all “fit”. Carmen is Puerto Rican; she is curvy, speaks Spanish and lives with a single mother. Watching the film her story reminded me of Zulay Regalado’s essay in Red, Zulay had to learn to be proud of her family in a white, she states “they made me feel different, something I thought I could never overcome.” (63). The interesting thing about Carmen’s story is that she has to learn to accept this other family that her father is apart of. Carmen has to overcome jealousy, rage, and feelings of abandonment to come out on top, to be a better person.

The other girls in the film overcome many things and they used the pants as a way to face their problems with strength and courage. Since the beginning of the film the pants held a magically aura about them, making the girls feel invincible, connected, strong, independent, and smart. However at the end of the movie the magic of the pants is questioned, was it the pants that helped them stand up to fathers, adults, fears of abandonment, love, death? Or did each girl grow a little over the summer because they had to and because they were strong enough? Was it the pants or was it the sisterhood and their love for each other that helped them? This film gives girls great examples of what to be, none of the girls use profane language, they are supportive of each other, they never talk about each other or “back stab”. During class we often talk about media representations of young girls and this film has great characters that young girls can look up to and aspire to be.

Film Review - Heathers

I've known about this movie for quite a while but I had never actually seen it. I'm glad I finally did though! For those who have not seen it, Heathers is a dark comedy about Veronica Sawyer, a popular girl whose clique is called "The Heathers" (three out of four girls in the group are named Heather). The clique basically runs the school through intimidation, contempt, and sex appeal. Veronica realizes that she doesn't really like her friends and fantasizes in her diary about killing them. She thinks that if only the Heather Chandler (the leader of The Heathers) were dead, her high school would be a much more tolerable place. Veronica then meets and falls in love with J.D., a rebellious new boy at school who tricks her into feeding Heather Chandler drain cleaner, which kills her, and then forging a suicide note. J.D. gave Veronica what she was hoping for, the death of the head Heather. But as soon as one Heather dies another assumes the role. J.D tricks Veronica into killing two more popular kids at school and again leaving suicide notes. With the popular kids dropping like flies, teen suicide becomes all the rage at Westerberg High. Instead of making the popular kids look weak and lame for killing themselves, their "suicides" made them martyrs. One of the unpopular girls tried to commit suicide by walking in front of traffic and when she failed she was mocked for trying to "act popular". Veronica finally realizes that the killings haven't changed anything, but J.D. doesn't feel the same. He decides to blow up the school during a pep rally and forges a mass suicide note by getting everyone to sign a petition for a band to play at prom. In the end, Veronica stops J.D. from blowing up the school but she is unable to stop him from blowing himself up. The first real suicide of the movie.

While this movie is pretty outrageous, I think it really shed light on some of the things that real girls go through in high school. In particular, Veronicas relationship with the head Heather, Heather Chandler. I think this line sums it up extremely well:

Veronica: "I just killed my best friend"

J.D.: "And your worst enemy"

Veronica: "Same difference"

I think that in cliques, your best friends can really be your worst enemies, but sometimes girls crave that popularity so much that they will hang out with people they don't like and do things that they wouldn't normally do. Veronica stopped hanging out with her real friends and did mean things to other girls simply because The Heathers told her too. This is not true friendship, but for some girls in high school its hard to break free from it. Another thing that this movie dealt with that I think real girls go through is peer pressure. I'm reminded of the old saying "If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?" Sadly for some girls, yes. In this movie, if the popular kids did it then it was cool, even killing themselves!! I realize that this is an exaggeration of what most high schools are like but it really does make you think. I'm sure that most if not all of us have done something that we didn't want to do or something knew we shouldn't just because our friends were doing it. Peer pressure is an incredibly hard thing to deal with sometimes. Overall, I think that while this is obviously a satire about high school drama, and while it is definitely an exaggeration, I think that Heathers really makes a point about how hard it can be to deal with high school.

Thirteen Movie Review

Thirteen stars the two beautiful actresses Nikki Reed and Rachel Evan Wood. If you know these two actresses, you already know that they only star in amazing movies and they make their roles so life-like.

Thirteen, directed and written by Catherine Hardwicke, was also co-written by Nikki Reed. It’s amazing how a young girl realized what other teenage girls were going through and decided to write a movie about it to show parents and teenagers how the actions in this movie will only lead to destruction. What if all girls had the opportunity to share their voices by writing a movie or a song to reach others? Last week we talked about giving young g girl’s an outlet to voice their feelings and opinions, and Nikki Reed did exactly that when she co-wrote Thirteen. This movie is a perfect movie that covers many of the issues we’ve covered in this class; drug use, stealing, teenage sexuality, self mutilation, depression, low self-esteem, and rebellion.

Thirteen is about two girls, who are just becoming teenagers and become friends, even though they come from two different worlds.

Nikki Reeds plays Evie a popular, highly energetic, super sexy, teenager that sees a girl that she can change into her little play toy when she meets Tracy. Evie is a pretty girl, that comes from a troubled past. She abuses drugs, smokes cigarettes, has sex with older guys, and lies and deceives to get her way.

On the other hand, Tracy used to be a shy girl, with low self esteem. Her mother and father divorced and her father has just started a new family in the beginning of the movie. Tracy feels abandoned by her father and to cope with her depression and stress she cuts herself.

When Tracy and Evie first meet it is not love at first sight. Tracy runs after Evie one day after school, practically beginning Tracy to be her friend. Evie invites Tracy to shop with her on Melrose Avenue and hands Tracy a fake number to call her at after school. Excitedly, Tracy runs home and tries to call Evie until she realizes that Evie gave her the wrong phone number. Even though Evie humiliates her, Tracy, once again, runs after Evie and meets her at a store where she is first encountered by Evie’s rebellion when Evie steals clothing from a store. Tracy is uncomfortable with this so she leaves the store, but turns into Evie when she is sitting on a bench and steals a lady’s purse that is sitting next to her. How quick a girl can change, when she wants to fit in with the crowd. It’s as if Tracy had to buy her way to hang out with Tracy. So maybe they both lured each other in their own way.


In this movie, Tracy’s mother is a strong, but weak character. She is a middle aged, divorced woman, who is also a recovering addict. To make matters worse, she is dating a drug addict, who often relapses, even in front of her children. Tracy’s mother does not know what to do when her daughter starts to grow up and rebel. When she sees her young daughter transforming in her eyes, in the matter of days, she doesn’t know how to act or think. Maybe she sees herself in Tracy. Like mother, Like daughter. She doesn’t want to push Tracy away or give her rules, in fear of losing her. Many mothers go through this, especially with their first daughter. Unfortunately, Tracy’s mother is going through her own problems, so she does not know how to effectively deal with Tracy’s rebellion. Young girls go through different things, than their mothers did, and this movie shows the difference between generations. It’s a great movie for a mother to watch with her daughter.

Eventually, Tracy realizes that Evie is a bad influence on her daughter, but is connived by Evie to stay around. Evie makes up a story about her mother’s boyfriend hitting her so she can stay around Tracy and the family more. One lie of the many lies that Evie tells during this movie.

An important issue facing today’s use is drug use. Even though Thirteen has been out for many years, it is a movie that every generation will be able to relate to. One scene of the movie, shows the issue of drug use that we have talked about in the class. Evie buys Acid, hangs out with the drug dealers, and introduces Tracy into a life that she has never experienced before. For a girl who has never done drugs before, Acid is a pretty hard drug to try for the first time. Evie wants to impress Tracy so much that she doesn’t care. With Evie there are no limits or boundaries. This scene brings up an important issue in the movie. Girls try to grow up too fast, and when they start experimenting with drugs, their lives are never the same. We can see this reality from Tracy’s character in this movie. I bet if Tracy could go back and never take that hit of acid, she probably would. Drugs are just the beginning in a young girl’s path of self destruction.

Teenage sexuality was a big part of this movie. Before she met Evie, Tracy had never even kissed a boy. Her first night hanging out with a guy she met through Evie, she performed oral sex on him. In another scene, Evie tries to have sex with Tracy’s next door neighbor, just because he had his own house. Even though Evie seemed confident, you could obviously see that she had low self esteem and needed attention wherever she went. This often made Tracy uncomfortable, but Tracy never spoke up. Whatever Evie wanted to do, Tracy would do too. This issue of standing up for what you believe is right, is another issue that young girls battle with. They want to fit in with the crowd, and be accepted, that they often make the wrong choices.

Tracey eventually came to her senses and realized that she wanted some time away from Evie. For months, she spent every day with Evie, until it got to be too much. Evie viewed this as the ultimate betrayal and decided to get revenge on Evie. Young girls change very fast and easily, and often turn their backs on good friends.

Throughout the movie we see a young, shy girl who had so much potential turn into a manipulating, monster. Her respect for mother diminished, and every day by her actions, she disrespected her mother. By association, Tracy went down the wrong path of self-destruction by stealing, drinking, and abusing drugs. In the end, Tracy’s mother was the only one there for her who was willing to stand by her side no matter what; something all mothers should do.

Thirteen was the perfect movie for this class. It featured many issues that young girls battle everyday and by showing the lives of thirteen year olds, who are spiraling out of control, I think this movie is very effective at showing society what our youth are going through. There needs to be a change and girls need help at younger ages. We can’t just assume that because a young girl is thirteen years old she is not being exposed to sex or drugs. Obviously, kids need to be deterred from these issues at a younger age.

"I can play baseball, you can too!"

All girls need some sort of outlet. We always have lots going on in our minds and lives, and things can get especially heavy in girlhood. If all girls were given an outlet in order to create their own cultural productions, I think it would have nothing but a positive effect. Individual girls would never have to feel as alone as they do at tiems. There would be a place for answers and self-expression when parents or best friends just don’t understand. Girls could connect and make good friends, friends that would be, as the seven-year-old feminist Ruby describes: “someone you can count on, someone who is honest with you, and someone who cares for you”. All of this could be possible, even if they were thousands of miles away. Girls could reach out for comfort when it seems nowhere to be found. Society as a whole would also benefit. It is due time that we learn to listen to children growing up in this world. They too are experiencing the changes in this world first hand, and their opinions and feelings are extremely valid. Many of the girls in the Red stories this week expressed extreme distress over what is going on in the world. Ignoring what girls have to say can often be silencing. We would not want girls to stop speaking out all together! Society continues to turn a blind eye to what young people, especially young girls, have to say and an act like that can only produce negative outcomes. I wonder if anyone ever thought that maybe the solutions might lie within the minds of the youth. There’s an idea!

It is very important to seek out and listen to girls’ voices not only for their benefit, but ours also. Girls need to know that they are important. Their feelings, thoughts, and opinions are just as vital as only one else’s. It is never good for a young girl to foster feelings of unimportance. Adults often dismiss young people’s thoughts as ignorant and uninformed. Driver describes a user info headline of a transyouth group that states, “If you don’t want to get eaten alive by the adults for saying the wrong thing when you post about something, then here is a good place to post and ask questions.” (p176) Girls need to know they will not be judged when expressing themselves. These are the women of our future, and we need to know what they’re thinking! I think that we should also seek out girls’ voices to check ourselves. As a women it is important to me to encourage young girls in knowing that they are beautiful inside and out, and that they can do absolutely anything they dream of. Like Dani Cox in “Ms. President”, it is crucial to me that all girls know they’re extraordinary. This should be a policy that everyone goes by. When listening to girls’ voices we can see how well this message is getting across, and how much the media is succeeding in destroying girls’ sense of self. A young girl always has and always will have something to say.

Cause I'm just a girl and I've had it up to here!

If girls were taught that their voices mattered to someone, that someone somewhere will read their thoughts, will listen to their voice they will have the courage to do things they would never dream of. Take Carla Perez-Gallardo from Red, she now wants to build a high school or a university because her therapist listened to her voice encouraged her thinking, made her aware of her possibilities. Now she has great dreams and has learned that “college-should be-schools should be- where you learn to be a good person, a whole human being” (266). Also we can not overlook the fact that she was enrolled in the program that allowed for the book to be created, she was able to go to a safe space with mentors to help shape her writing and creativity. We can look to the girl who formed Ikissgirls.com we can see that she needed a space to go to for the same validation and community that Carla found, Bonnie states “I started up this site after many unsuccessful attempts to find a friendly online community for young females who are attracted to other females” (Queer Girls, 180).

Online communities are wonderful tools for girls like Bonnie to go to when they need friends who understand, are looking for information on safe sex and even for girls who can not tell any one they kiss girls. However it is important to note that online access is limited to girls with a computer and internet access, which is mostly restricted to middle and upper class girls. Even if girls have a computer and internet access in the home, some families keep a close monitor on their teen’s internet use which can range from looking at the websites visited or even reading emails. This is obviously a threat to girls who seek out a safe space for themselves in the online queer community. Of course some girls can go to the library, but as a user of public library internet I know that there are usually not enough computers and a time limit that can hinder any work you want to get done.

Although I am quick to criticize class centered movements, I have to admit that positive work done for and/or by young women is a step forward. I can not underestimate how beneficial this can be for our society. When I read Go Ask Alice I found that the main character wanted attention from her parents and wanted them to actually listen to how she felt. If she were able to receive that validation from someone before experimenting with drugs at a young age, who knows what she could have accomplished. As a society let young women know what they can not do: smoke, drink, drive, vote, date, watch certain movies, stay out “late”. However we do not tell them what their age allows them: free time, new perspectives, dreams, plans. At this age the world is their oyster and they are able to shape their pearl into whatever they want, if they dream for it and work towards it. So instead of telling young women what they can’t do, we should provide more spaces to help them focus on what they dream of doing.

Book Review: "Go Ask Alice"

Is it a real diary or not? This is the question I kept asking myself throughout the whole book. “Go Ask Alice,” was first published in 1971, authored under anonymous, and was depicted as the actual diary of a young girl who gets caught up in the world of drugs and eventually loses her life to them. The book was a huge success when first published and continues to captivate readers today. However, the authenticity of the diary has come into question since its first publication. According to 1979 interview of Beatrice Sparks by Alleen Pace Nilsen, Beatrice Sparks explained that the diary “Go Ask Alice” was compiled from diaries given to her by a young girl she befriended but she also added other incidents and ideas from similar cases (Horn Book Magazine). Therefore the question still remains is “Go Ask Alice” a real diary of a young girl or is most of it a work of fiction from Sparks own imagination. No one will every truly know, but I will mention when “Go Ask Alice” was first published it was considered a work of non-fiction and as of today it can be found in the fiction reading section.
Without its authenticity does “Go Ask Alice” still have merit in the context of drug addiction? Well, as most drug stories go, they start out glamorous and end in a tragedy and “Go Ask Alice” fits the mold. The diary explores the emotional strain a drug user can have on a family and it portrays the emotional ups and downs of a real addict. The diary has phrases and paragraphs only a person on drugs or a mentally insane person might actually write, for example pg 111 she writes “I don’t know what or when or who it is! I only know that I am now a Priestess of Satan trying to maintain after a freak-out to test how free everybody was and to take our vows.” The diary depicts the writer (of the diary) as the victim of drugs, rather than the problem. It also portrays drug addiction to be a disease without actually saying that it is a disease which gives the reader the interpretation that addiction can happen to anyone, rich or poor, good or bad--no one is safe from the power of drugs. The diary also depicts the raw emotions of the girl from day to day, the reader can decipher that the girl is struggling with the demons of addiction, she hates herself for wanting and doing drugs, but her body and mind crave the feeling of drugs and at the same time she is self-loathing which creates a cocktail of destruction. Therefore the diary or Sparks interpretation of a drug addict is a very accurate and still has merit whether an actual diary or not.
Looking at the book in relation to girls studies I found many of the ideas about marriage and virginity to be relevant to the types of issues girls face today. For instance, the supposed author of the diary talks about marriage as if it were her life’s purpose. Every boy she likes or has sex with she imagines being married to him or engaged or working to help his career. She thinks of these things before she even thinks about her own career. When the neighbor Mrs. Larsen breaks her leg, the author of the diary writes how she is going to help Mrs. Larsen take care of her young child and help clean the house and cook her food because it will be good practice for the future (p163) implying that she will be a housewife, even though she is only fifteen years old. Beyond the continued thoughts of being someone’s wife the author of the diary also explores the problem of her having lost her virginity and how respectable boys would react to the truth of her actions. She never reveals her sexual history to any boy she actually likes because she does not want them to be disgusted by her actions. Also, the virginity issue becomes a huge part of her self-loathing; she doesn’t feel worthy enough to be someone’s wife because of the things she has done sexually.
I know Sparks intention was not to create a book about feminist issues, but in my interpretation she did. I say this because not only did the girl who supposedly wrote the diary have drug issues, but she also had issues of self-worth that were sparked by being a girl. Her worth was based upon her value sexually along with the value of her future husband or children. I could argue that if the supposed author from the diary had self-worth that wasn’t reliant upon someone else she never would have gone done her drug spiral. However, Sparks’s true intentions were to educate teens on the dangers of drugs, for instance the Epilogue states “The subject of this book died three weeks after her decision not to keep another diary….. Was it an accidental overdose? A premeditated overdose? No one knows, and in some ways the question isn’t important. What must be of concern is that she died, and that she was only one of thousands of drug deaths that year.”
Now I am not sure this book will change any minds about girls’ studies or how they think about girls, but I do think it gives insight into drugs and the dangers they bring to those who choose to take them. I also think this would be a good book for young girls to read and make their own interpretations.

Horn Book Magazine; Sept/Oct 98, Vol. 74 Issue 5, p587-592, 6p.

Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song :)

"I realized there is something to be scared of - but even more to excited about changing, conquering" (Goldwasser 265). These are the words of 19-year-old Carla Perez-Gallardo who writes breathlessly of her desire to impart change in this world in her essay "To Do." I start this week's post with this quote because it speaks so acutely to the feeling I experienced when confronting my own beliefs and personhood through various creative outlets, most importantly writing. For young girls in contemporary society there is so much to fear in getting involved in communities and putting the real self 'out there' for others to see and know. Yet it is a vital part of experiencing and feeling out who exactly that 'real self' is. The importance of allowing girls to live through creativity is no more obvious than in the lit-up eyes of Ruby, the 7 and 3/4-year-old girl who has already written a book about feminism and shared her creativity with Amy Poehler and the rest of the gang on a segment of the Smart Girls at the Party series. Though only in the third grade Ruby exudes a confidence and determination that is only nurtured by a home environment in which her voice means something, in which her opinion is valued, listened to and is encouraged by adults in her life.

For some girls, however, this creative outlet is one not nurtured in the home. Rather it is discovered, most often in adolescence, through outside resources, most often the Internet. This is the case with the queer girls Susan Driver studies and writes about in her book Queer Girls and Popular Culture. Driver notes the distinct online presence GLBTQ girls have, a presence that ranges from personal blogs, to collective Web sites and photo galleries where the girls "try out, play with, and perform their identities and desires through provisional combinations of images, words and narratives" (Driver 170). As for queer girls, the Internet provides an accessible medium for all girls to express themselves by starting blogs or joining sites where common interests spawn intellectual discourse as well as emotional support. Amy Poeher's Smart Girls at the Party series is one example of the Internet's effectiveness as a creative outlet, as well as the I KISS GIRLS Web site for lesbian youth that Driver details in her book. In this very class I continue to write in our public blog because our message has more of a chance of reaching out to the young woman who thirsts to participate in the type of feminist conversation that she may not hear enough of in her immediate community.

While the Internet is a useful tool for establishing creative communities for young girls I think it is important to continue establishing more personal endeavors that foster girl to girl and girl to woman relationships and creative exploration. As noted by Driver, online communities are driven largely by images and girls post pictures of themselves to garner support from commentators who note how "sexy," "adorable" or "mmmm very cute!" the girl appears (Driver 189). While this process works to "reverse and displace the negative perceptions and invisibility of masculine girls in mass media" for the birl girls of Driver's studies, I worry that the anonymity of the Internet as well as its image-driven nature puts across a message that appearance means more than words. Sure, the images spark important conversations about sexuality, gender norms, politics as well as personal dilemmas and thereby extend a community to the person. But I think the creation of face-to-face support groups and creative outlets that involve interaction are still very much important. The fact that this type of outlet is not available for all girls across the nation is something that needs to be addressed. What if I KISS GIRLS established chapters across the country for its Web site members to meet through? The Internet community should bolster the non-virtual community in most cases.

At the end of the day, though the important part of allowing girls to speak about their lives and loves and question their world is key in dismantling many of the constructs that bind them to overwhelming societal standards like standards of purity outlined by Jessica Valenti in The Purity Myth. Valenti illustrates a tough world for girls in her book but I like her determination to fight 'traditional' values that hurt women. As Valenti relates, "challenging a culture that respects young women so little doesn't have to be a larger-than-life mission. We can chip away at it, bit by bit" (Valenti 204). The key in chipping away is allowing our girls to have voices and a creativity that, as Dani Cox writes in her essay "Ms. President," allows them to "find the extra in each of our ordinary lives so that we can make a positive impact on the world we live in" (Goldwasser 230). Like the queer youth quoted throughout Driver's book, all young women "want to be heard, understood, and respected. They want their words to have broader social significance, to be part of a bigger picture in which their experiences and perspectives are taken seriously" (Driver 180). As feminists with a teensy bit more experience under our belt our number one priority needs to be nurturing these girls' voices.

Review- Mean Girls

Mean Girls to me was very real, yet way to exaggerated. The movie goes along with this class perfectly as it shows what girls do go through, The main thing I think about this movie and our class is body image. For my service learning I made a facebook group be You (tiful), I will be discussing this movie on there as it really ties in with the theme of body image.

Mean Girls is about a girl, Cady Heron, who moved to a town and is enrolled in a new school. She is a very smart girl with a lot to offer but she ends up getting in with the “plastics”. These girls consist of Regina George, Regina George, Gretchen and Karen. Regina is the leader of the plastics. She is pretty, skinny, rich and everyone idolizes her. It reminds me of how there are clicks in high school and how everyone wants to be friends with the “it” girls and look just like them. This movie plays into media image for young girls. They watch this movie and think they need to be stick thin, beautiful, drive nice cars, have a huge house to be popular, and it’s so not true. Cady finds herself in a group with the “mathletes” kids that are good at math, like her. They are not the most popular of friends, but they are true friends and great people. Their names were Damien and Janis.

Before she knew it Cady was invited to become a “plastic”, yet she was unsure because she liked her friends Damien and Janis. The two convince Cady to keep her relationship with the Plastics, so that they can find out the deep dark secrets. Cady starts doing badly on her math tests so Regina’s ex-boyfriend Aaron can help her. Before long she had a major crush on him. When Regina finds this out, she seeks revenge of Cady by taking Aaron back. When Cady finds out, what began as a game to discover secrets turns into a plan to destroy Regina. Now, Cady, Janis, and Damien try and bring the plastics down but before long she soon becomes one. The girls make a book of bad things and make fun of teachers and other students. Her math teacher who she really liked was in this boy and ends up finding out about it. Cady gives Regina Diet pills, which really were to gain weight and ruin her “image”. This movie any girl could relate to. Whether you’re the popular one cracking the jokes or at the other end being tortured everyone going through middle school and high school will or did experience some of this.

I watched this movie back when it first came out and I remembered how much I enjoyed it as I was in middle school at the time so I decided to go back and watch it for this review. Seeing it this time I had a whole different perspective and did not like it as much. It’s sad how these girls are o obsessed with their body and popularity. This is not what girls should want to be like and be molded into by watching such movies. My sister is in 8th grade now and this is her life. There is a group of about eight popular girls but they are so mean to each other and talk crap behind each of their backs. My sister is the nice one, she’s also in band and drama. Last week she was at a football game and said “hi” to another band member and another girl in her “click” said, “ewww Kirby, why are you talking to him?” and my sister simply replied, “because he’s nice and he’s my friend.” I was very proud of her for that. It’s sad to see movies like this because it only shows how real it is, yet I keep hoping there’s a few girls in each school that will break the mold and I hope my sister ends up being the one.

Give Them What They Need!

This week I felt especially drawn to the writing in Red by Dani Cox. Dani knew she was "extraordinary" from the time she was young and she made it her mission to let all the girls in the world know that they are too. I like how even though Dani realizes that there are so many bad things happening in our world today, she is certain that if we could only find the "extra in each of our ordinary lives" that we could certainly change the world. Dani says that "ordinary girls have the power to be truly extraordinary" (231), and I couldn't agree more. Ordinary girls do have the power! The power to stand up for themselves and to tell the world how it's going to be. That's why it is so important to listen to girl's voices, because they are the only ones who can really tell us what they want and need. To me, probably the greatest thing Dani said in her essay was "I understand that some girl's aren't allowed a voice, so I speak for them" (323). Realizing that there are girls out there that cannot stand up or speak for themselves is also an important step in changing the world, and I really like that Dani understands this even though there are so many adults who do not. I think Dani is rare in the fact that, at age 13, she isn’t stuck in her own little world worried only about her own problems. She is aware of the fact that girls all over the world are experiencing things that none of us could even imagine and she is willing to speak out for them! I really admire the way Dani sees that anyone can make a difference, and making a difference can start with turning a roomful of nasty glares into giggles and laughter with a simple smile.

In the section in Queer Girls, Driver talks about online communities and how important they can be for girls, especially queer girls. She says that these communities can re-invent family and community ties that are often absent in their situations (176). Being that I am straight, I can’t even imagine not having the support of my family when making decisions about love. I love and respect the opinions of my family very much, so when I was younger, it was important to me that my family liked the people I dated. My mom and I were close enough that she could be honest with me about how she felt about certain boyfriends and while at times I disagree with her, it would usually come out in the end that she had been right about them not being right for me. I was lucky to have someone who understood me, to talk to about these matters. Unfortunately MANY queer girls just don’t have that option. Even if they are blessed with understanding parents and friends, that doesn’t mean that they would understand anything about what a queer girl might be going through, and that is where these online communities come into play. Some girls have described the communities as “a second family” (176) with whom they can share feelings that they wouldn’t necessarily be able to share with their real family. This is also great way that self esteem can be rebuilt for queer girls. Another important aspect of some of these communities is that many are specifically for teens. Some girls may feel that they would be “eaten alive by the adults for saying the wrong thing” (176). Teen girls understand their sexuality very differently than adult women, so having a place specifically for them to ask questions and not feel stupid is important in their entire process of “presenting themselves as queer” (172). Again, I think that listening to what girls have to say is so important because only then can we as a society give them what they need, and not just what we think they need.

Film Review: Mean Girls

I chose to do the film review on Mean Girls because quite simply girls are mean! This movie humorously and accurately portrays the life of a teenage girl in high school. The movie stars Lindsay Lohan(who oddly enough is not the best of role models for girls) who plays Cady. Cady was raised in Africa by her parents who are zoologists in which she humorously applies the thought of survival of the fittest throughout the movie. She goes from being in the Jungle to the Jungle of high school, which is metaphoric in itself. Anyone who has ever stepped foot into a high school can attest to the theory of survival of the fittest. Cady befriends Janis and Damien, who are considered to be pretty low on the popularity totem pole. Janis could be stereotyped as a Gothic, wearing black, black hair, and dark makeup. Damien is the very feminine, gay, lovable friend.

Cady being of above average beauty immediately catches the attention of the popular girls in school. These girls are known as the “Plastics”, which is made up of 3 girls who fit the beauty ideal to a tee, they are pretty, skinny, rich, and dress well. Regina (Rachel McAdams) is the ring leader of the Plastics, Gretchen is basically Regina’s puppy who follows her around, and Karen fits the typical dumb, pretty blonde mold. Janis and Damien encourage Cady to hang with this group of girls, because Janis has her own personal vendetta with Regina who she use to be best friends with in middle school, until Regina spread a rumor she was a lesbian and totally ruined her teenage life. At first all seems peachy within the Plastic group, until Cady starts to like Regina’s ex-boyfriend Aaron. Everything starts to go downhill after a Halloween party. Regina is supposed to talk to Aaron for Cady, but instead tells him lies and kisses him; it is at this moment that Cady realizes Regina is not a true friend. It is this point where Cady, Damien, and Janis plan to get revenge on Regina in a scheme where she will lose her “man candy”(Aaron), her “hot body” and friends as they put it “army of skanks”. It is interesting to see a sheltered girl from Africa go from being quiet and innocent to almost single handedly ruining several people’s lives including her enemy Regina, through lies and a burn book.

This film portrays just about every aspect we have covered in this course including sexuality, education and the purity myth. But, the major theme covered in this movie was body image, which is also in my opinion the biggest issue girls’ face on a daily basis. You have the Plastics, who are literally Barbie dolls, all the girls are jealous of them and all the boys are in love with them. But, continuously throughout the movie they are unhappy with the way they look especially Regina, who obsessively diets. I could not help but thing how ridiculous she was being at times, but the reality is girls obessess like this everyday. In Meike Schleiff’s story “The Beautiful Cause of Death That Had Me Dying for a While” she talks about how her obsessive dieting almost cost her the ultimate price, her life. She recalls counting calories fanatically and lost a third of her body weight (Red 31). Regina from the beginning of the movie was on a quest to lose three pounds, when she clearly did not need to. At one point they go to Regina’s house where Regina, Gretchen, and Karen immediately run to the mirror and pick at themselves pointing out the flaws they see. Cady watches them almost in confusion and states how she thought there was only such a thing as “skinny or fat”. This reminded me of one of the stories we read in this course by Amy Hunt called “Sleeves”, where she states that “it is absolutely pathetic how girls our age ac as if being skinny is what makes the world go round(Red 3). But, sadly it is the true, she goes on to say she gets to a point where all she can think is “if I were skinny this if I were skinny that(Red 5)”. When you are a teenager being skinny is everything, it is the deciding factor in whether you are deemed beautiful or not.

I think this theme opens girl’s eyes and challenges them to look at the way they view themselves. It is so easy to look at others and see how absurd it is when they pick at their body, but the reality is that all girls do. It is very hard to find a girl that is happy with her body or believes she is thin enough, it seems as though all girls constantly want to lose weight, whether it is 3 pounds or 30. But, when we see girls like Gretchen and Regina call themselves fat, we realize how silly they are and maybe how extreme we have taken it ourselves, and that perhaps we need to take a much better look in the mirror. I applaud this movie for representing this beauty ideal in a satirical way, because that is what it is. Girls have become obsessed with fitting into what society views as beautiful, and it just shows that no matter how perfect you are, you will never be flawless, there is always going to be something you wish you could change.

Week 13: I Am Girl...Hear Me Roar!

First off I absolutely loved the video “Ruby the 7 ½-year-old Feminist” and the whole “smart girls have more fun” production. Ruby was so full of life; I believe we are only going to see more and more young girls interested in feminism like Ruby. It is so important that we listen to young girls and mentor them from early on. Too often I believe we miss out on opportunities when we oppress the voices of young girls, they can offer insight into things we have not even imagined. I believe that if all girls were given an outlet to create their own productions we would see a generation of girls that are confident, powerful, creative, innovative, and would change the world. Allowing girls an outlet to express their thoughts, feelings and creativity would empower and encourage girls. I think we would see a support system like never before among girls that bridges the gap of race, sexuality, and class. I think we would also see a decline in destructive habits that girls get involved in due to not feeling like they fit in such as self mutilation and eating disorders. We would see a generation of girls who will use their talents and wit to influence all aspects of society from the political system, to the job market, and to social settings.

Having an outlet for girls will help ward off the negative influence of the mainstream media, instead we can use mainstream media to our advantage. Jessica Valenti outlines great ways for feminists to use the media to our advantage such as the Real Hot 100 campaign that showcases young women’s important work across the country and counters the negative image of young women in pop culture(204). Valenti also talks about the convenience and influence of blogging. She points out that blogs allow for more voices and opinions to be heard, voices that otherwise would not be heard(205). One great organization that does this as Professor Preston pointed out earlier in the semester is the Independent Girls website http://www.independentgirls.org. This is a new website that provides positive role models for girls. Real women are bloggers and share their stories of self-esteem, body image, puberty, healthy relationships, eating disorders, healthy eating, exercise, and much more. When this opportunity arose I immediately jumped on it and switch my Service Learning project to this. I see so much potential in this website that will give girls a platform to learn and to share issues they are facing. We live in a technological age, where girls are so computer savvy and spend more time on the internet than anywhere else, so I believe this is the best way to reach them and the best platform for their voices to be heard as Valenti pointed out.

We have something to learn from girls, whether we want to admit it or not and their perspective on the world is worth hearing. As I was reading I was captivated in particular by Danielle Norman’s “Repeat”. She starts off with the statement “I wonder why the human race is so stupid (Red 242).” Something we all should wonder. She goes on to point out how we refuse to learn from history and that we continue to fight over the same things, over and over again, we never learn. Danielle made many valid points that have never even occurred to me like why people wonder how someone can harm a child yet swear at their spouse in front of their children, or why do we feel sympathy for those on TV but don’t acknowledge the hurt in the ones right next to us(Red 243)?

Throughout this course my heart has been touched and my eyes have been opened through the stories of girls, many of which you would have no idea they were teenagers if there was no mention of their age. Children are no longer sheltered from what goes on in the world around them and just like us they have an opinion even at times a solution. As feminists we continually say, or at least I do, that I want to pave the path and make the world a better place for our daughters, yet we do not do a good job at listening to what they have to say. It is time that we stop speaking for girls and allow them to speak for themselves; they have a voice that needs to be heard.

Taking Action Can Be As Easy As Educating The People In Yor Life ABout The Issues You Care About!!

I feel that we need to listen to these girls. They have feelings and experience many things that people are unaware of. We need to listen to all girls so that they have a chance to get their voice out there also. On page 180 Driver states that “Queer youth want to be heard, understood, and respected. They want their words to have broader social significance, to b part of a bigger picture in which their experiences and perspective are taken seriously.” This applies to everyone. The world is changing and we need to listen to everyone and that be the norm whether they are gay/straight, bi, black, white, hispanic. On page 24 of red, Danielle states in her opening sentence, ´I wonder why the human race is so stupid”. To me this girl is smart, she goes on t tell how we are constantly changing and controlling the world we live in. “we refuse to learn from history, fighting over the same things over and over again. Starting at a young age, with small, repeated bikers over the same toy, this continues far into our lives. We fight in junior high over friends and boyfriends… Europe fights over royalties.. America has entangled itself in a war what is now being compared to Vietnam.” As I read I kept wanting to quote everything as she had true meaning to it all.

It is so very important to listen to these girls as they are our future, they are what’s going to bring change in so many years. They are of an age that they know what is right and wrong and they are aware of what they want. I think that the boys school be educated also, as they can break the mold and be the change we wish to see in the world also. If they are educated they would not be”women haters” or treat women any differently than themselves. On Page 207 of the Purity Myth, it states; “it’s not enough just to pay attention to the news and blogs and take action when abstinance education is up for refunding, we have to be more proactive.” It then further down the page says, “taking action can be as easy as educating the people in your life about the issues you care about.” This really hits home for me. I feel that even in our class we have become more aware of situations and have furthered and bettered ourselves from the readings and from reading each other's blog postings. If everyone took initiative to talk to people they know about an issue then that person would tell people and that person would tell more people, word would spread and hopefully things would start changing. As I say this, we all must listen to each other and this includes these young women. As for Ruby, I give her a high five! She is such a strong little girl! She explains her views with such confidence this proves that these girls should have a voice!

Ruby is a Gem

Wow, I love love love Ruby!! She is so smart for a 7 and ¾ year old, and she is so confident with everything she says. There is no hesitation when she is asked to sing in public or explain her views. What a strong example of a little girl, and of the potential they can exhibit when encouraged and given a chance to speak their minds. Could you imagine if all young girls were raised with that sort of confidence? We would take over the world in a second J I had no idea Amy Poehler had created a show like this, and I applaud her for it. Go Amy!

The readings this week were interesting. Jessica Valenti mainly wrote about activism through blogging. I never realized there were so many bloggers- and blog readers- or that legislation has actually been changed because of the on-line response through blogs. It is apparent that the internet is one of the most powerful resources we have to express our voices and our opinions. This easily segues into the blog prompt: If girls had a medium with which to express themselves, and could create their own media, undoubtedly the image (and therefore the pressures) of young women would change. Since primary sources would be available on-line, girls’ own stories of woes and triumphs, it would end the objective talk of young women. Statements like, “ending abstinence only education teaches all girls to be promiscuous” would become hard sells, considering the fact that you could go on-line and instantly find 20 examples that contradict that statement. Also, the work and accomplishments of young girls would be highlighted, so as to focus on their actions and good works, as opposed to the status of their “virginity”. When you look at girls like Ruby, or women like Amy Poehler, it is hard to believe that whether or not they have (or will) have pre-marital sex, or the number of partners they have had (or will have) actually matters.

I was surprised at how insightful the stories in RED were this week, especially to read how many girls are still strongly feeling the effects of 9/11. I was most astounded to see that half of these eloquent writers this week were only 13! They speak and write well, and hold in-depth perspectives of the events going on in the world around them. They are more than fully capable of creating strong, positive media and forums for young girls their age. It upsets me to think that these young, intelligent women might some day dislike themselves for being overweight or sexually active, just because society tells them that neither of those are okay. I don’t want these girls’ voices to be stifled because there is a myth, as Valenti points out, that girls should be passive, soft spoken, and obedient to men.

Although on-line forums are an important focus of girl communities, Queer Girls brings up a good point: “…it is important not to romanticize the unity and sameness of online girl participants as they establish provisional community identities and relations” (Driver, 171). Driver also brings up the point that the high suicide rate of queer youth is due to a hopelessness that stems from a loss of social networking, friends, and feeling of community. This is why on-line forums and girl/queer positive media are so important. If girls felt like they belonged, than the issues they have to deal with might feel less heavy or severe. It’s important to point out that websites like iskissgirls provide a sort of ideal community of openness, where sexual preference does not define who a girl is, but is simply one more piece to the larger puzzle. Also, the response Driver got when she asked if she could use some of the girls’ quotes on-line was strong: they all want to be heard and are delighted to feel like their opinions are of significance. I never thought about that aspect of being lesbian/queer/bisexual- some people shut you out and don’t care what you have to say. I think it’s important to show these women that they matter, as do their feelings, opinions, and desires.

My Service Learing Project

Please check out my website God's Truth For Women. I am trying to ge tmy class members to complete a survey on how they believe the site can help girls and women going through rough times. Please take the time to view it and complete the survey. Thanks. Good luck on all of your Serice Learning Projects.

http://thenessashow.tripod.com/home.html

Survey

Do you think the website gives hope to girls and women?
What was your favorite part of the website?
Are you religious?
Do you think incorporating God's word in these isuues is effective?

Thanks!

Feeding the Homeless on Thanksgiving

When I was a littel girl I always wanted to feed the homeless on Thanksgiving. I never understood why we should make so much food that turns into leftovers that turn into trash in the garbage in a few days, when we could share the food witht he homeless. Every Thanskgiving my church goes downtown to Paramore and feeds DELICOUS meals to the homeless. If anyone would like to attend please send me a message at thenessashow@yahoo.com

101 N Paramore Avenue Orlando,Florida 10 a.m.- 1 p.m.

PUSH - soon to be a feature film

Sapphire's PUSH

This book is a first-hand account of a young girl living in an urban area dealing with a mother who uses her and neglects her, and a father, hardly there, who uses for his sexual pleasure. An intense story detailing her experiences stuck in the demoralizing and abusive home life, she also manages to find an escape. Though she is illiterate and unnoticed, a teacher discovers her talent for writing and opens up doors and opportunities for Precious, who would be a high school junior if it were not for the challenges caused by her non-nurturing living situation, that is her disgusting and hateful mother, as well as her revolting and abusive father. She becomes pregnant with her second child at the age of 12, both children of incest, and the baby was born with Downs Syndrome. Ignorance almost becomes a character itself in the story, as is the reason for much of Precious' suffering. Her mother accuses her of being a "fat whore" and tells her how useless and stupid she is.
Precious' story is a brash portrayal of the life of one unfortunate inner city girl, growing up in the vicious cycle of ignorance and domestic violence. It becomes hopeless for Precious to survive the cards she was dealt. Until she joins a special school with other students in difficult positions. Precious discovers she is not as stupid as her mother accuses her, and even though she lacks the formal education, she displays a knack for poetry and an intelligence that shines. The unresolved narrative told in Precious' dialect is a unconventional, albeit dark and unresolved, story of redemption. She manages to find an escape from the nightmare that is her life through a journal, as well as support groups she finds through her school, and the like-minded friends she finds along the way.
The film adaptation of the novel was already released at the Sundance Film Festival and features famous individuals such as Monique, Mariah Carey, and Lenny Kravitz.

YOU Must Be The Change You Wish To See In The World

I feel that we need to listen to these girls. They have feelings and experience many things that people are unaware of. We need to listen to all girls so that they have a chance to get their voice out there also. On page 180 Driver states that “Queer youth want to be heard, understood, and respected. They want their words to have broader social significance, to b part of a bigger picture in which their experiences and perspective are taken seriously.” This applies to everyone. The world is changing and we need to listen to everyone and that be the norm whether they are gay/straight, bi, black, white, hispanic. On page 24 of red, Danielle states in her opening sentence, ´I wonder why the human race is so stupid”. To me this girl is smart, she goes on t tell how we are constantly changing and controlling the world we live in. “we refuse to learn from history, fighting over the same things over and over again. Starting at a young age, with small, repeated bikers over the same toy, this continues far into our lives. We fight in junior high over friends and boyfriends… Europe fights over royalties.. America has entangled itself in a war what is now being compared to Vietnam.” As I read I kept wanting to quote everything as she had true meaning to it all. It is so very important to listen to these girls as they are our future, they are what’s going to bring change in so many years. They are of an age that they know what is right and wrong and they are aware of what they want. I think that the boys school be educated also, as they can break the mold and be the change we wish to see in the world also. If they are educated they would not be”women haters” or treat women any differently than themselves. On Page 207 of the Purity Myth, it states; “it’s not enough just to pay attention to the news and blogs and take action when abstinance education is up for refunding, we have to be more proactive.” It then further down the page says, “taking action can be as easy as educating the people in your life about the issues you care about.” This really hits home for me. I feel that even in our class we have become more aware of situations and have furthered and bettered ourselves from the readings and from reading each other's blog postings. If everyone took initiative to talk to people they know about an issue then that person would tell people and that person would tell more people, word would spread and hopefully things would start changing. As I say this, we all must listen to each other and this includes these young women.

NOW's Love Your Body Week Events

NOW's Love Your Body Week


We promote healthy body images of women and men, so come out and support the National Organization for Women at UCF's Love Your Body Week! Events for the week include...

Tuesday: "Bigger, Stronger, Faster" screening
5 -730pm
Student Union 218AB

Wednesday: Panel discussion - Body image
3 - 5 pm
Student Union 316CD

Thursday: Love Your Body day of action (yours truly will be speaking!)
10am - 2pm
In front of the student union

Wally Lamb's "She's Come Undone"

She’s come undone. The phrase brings the image of an unraveled woman, like a ball of yarn, to mind. That is exactly how I would describe the main character of Wally Lamb’s “She’s Come Undone”. Dolores Price’s unraveling begins when her father leaves and she and her mother move in with her grandmother. She spends the next few years finding comfort in junk food and TV. Dolores experiences traumatic events, relationships, and deaths early in her journey through life. In the midst of all of this she comes into womanhood at 257 pounds. Dolores Price is a character hard to forget.

One of the major points that Lamb brings to attention is that we all have imperfections that we must embrace, or they will tear us down, as he proves early in the life of Dolores. Once she reaches her peak weight, it becomes an attribute that consumes her. She has trouble making and keeping friends, and her insecurity about herself manifests into a hard-edged cynical attitude. Dolores seems to shut everyone out, and these introvert habits drag her even closer to hitting bottom. She begins to trust no one, and believe that no one is on her side. From this obstacle Lamb reminds us that well all need help from those around us from time to time, and of course we all need love. It is only when Dolores has professional help or finds caring friendships in people like Roberta, the tattoo artist across the street, that she has a reprieve from her inner demons.

Lamb also argues for the importance of the mother daughter relationship. Dolores and her mother do not have the very best relationship for most of the book. Lamb explains her poor mothering skills by introducing us to Dolores’ grandmother, who is a devote Christian, and is strictly against talking and/or promoting anything that might be considered immoral. Dolores’ mother keeps everything light and never tries too hard to have open, honest conversations with her daughter. Instead she tries to win her love by presenting her with little gifts of junk food, which ends up aiding in creating one of the major obstacles in Dolores’ life. Later, when she has worked through a lot of her issues, Dolores releases her feelings of blame toward the central women figures in her life when she realizes they were only trying to do what they thought was best for her. Her mother was only being the best mother she knew how to be.

I tried to think of shortcomings of this book, but I honestly can’t. The strongest point of “She’s Come Undone” was undoubtedly the author’s approach. It is unbelievable to think that this book was written completely from the female viewpoint by a man! Lamb writes so convincingly in the voice of a female. From age 4 to 40 I really felt like I was watching the life and hearing the insights of a female. Never does he go anywhere near the typical stereotypes of girlhood and womanhood. I was beyond impressed. Lamb reached into the emotions of a female and put them right on the page to entertain, and relate accurately to his audience.

This book proves that girlhood is an important stage in a female’s life, which is something that is often overlooked by society. Dolores Price’s life was not an easiy one. It got harder and harder with no reprieve, and she became the direct victim of everyone’s choices. What do you expect when after a fight with her father, Dolores’s mother notices that she is bleeding through her clothes (her daughter’s first experience with menstruation) and says, “That’s great Dolores. Thanks a lot. That’s Just what I need right now.” (p28) In events like this, and some even worse, Dolores often becomes the victim, and it is usually not her fault. She does not have strong support figures early on in life, and this causes her to have major difficulty later on. She does not know how to deal with hardship properly. In girlhood, outside influences play a major role in learning how to cope with how hard life is sometimes. It is a fragile time where major ideas, opinions, and behaviors are formed. The girlhood experience is crucial to the overall outcome of a female’s life.

There is a Dolores Price in all of us. Our imperfections tend to haut us every time we look in the mirror, whether it is weight, features to small or to big, or even genetics. Through Dolores, Wally Lamb shows us that we can all over come these so called “imperfections” and rise up above them. Our imperfections do not define us, and as Dolores discovered, and we all deserve the very best regardless of what we think is wrong with us on the outside. I know I will never forget Dolores Price.

Book Review - Push by Sapphire

Raw. Chilling. Courageous. These three thoughts and emotions arose throughout my reading of Push by Sapphire. The story narrated in first person by Claireece Precious Jones can be thoroughly described by the three aforementioned words, just in how it was written alone. The blunt descriptions and phrases, as well as the abundance of grammatical errors all as portrayed through the eyes of Precious added to the theme of realism throughout the novel. The tragic experiences of Precious were laid down in a grim manner- this helped with the raw effect of the story itself. This novel pinpoints an entire girl’s girlhood experience through her own eyes and the positive things she made of it despite the horrible environment that she had endured.

When talking about girlhood in the Women’s Studies class, many aspects of this were explored throughout the assigned readings and videos. Push depicted one girl’s point of view and explored her actual girlhood at its very worst. The novel went straight into the detailed descriptions of the rape and incest that Precious endured as a young girl, as well as uncovering her thoughts on her experiences throughout the novel. She goes on later in the novel to say that what her unsupportive mother and father think and do doesn’t matter to anymore, and doesn’t affect the great progress she made by the end of the novel.

Precious wrote crudely as the protagonist, however this adds to the aforementioned concept of realism that the book portrayed. Precious noted her thoughts in real time, as the events in her life were unfolding, and as a reader it was easy to almost visualize these thoughts forming inside of her head. She uses harsh words, “Only motherf**kers I hate call me Claireece” (Sapphire 12). However, she displays innocence in her thoughts, such as when she was talking about getting pregnant for the second time. She’s talking about knowing how to get pregnant, going on to say, “I didn’t know how long it take, what’s happening inside, nothing, I didn’t know nothing” (Sapphire 12). Although Precious comes off tough-using crude language and threatening to hit the social worker at her old school- she is not old and wise. There are many things that are normal for a girl in her adolescence to not be aware of that Precious is not aware of in this novel. This bout of innocence displays a real-life aspect of what girls do experience in girlhood. It is a very realistic depiction of any girls’ thoughts about topics such as sex and pregnancy.

Throughout the book, Precious gave the reader her own thoughts of hope for herself and her dreams. She expressed a liking for school, especially math class. One of the main parts of the novel, possibly the climax, was when Precious went by herself to check out the alternative school. The fact that she went in the first place showed that she was passionate about her future and expected herself to build a future on her own. Having endured getting pregnant by her own father as well as beatings from her mother and a not-so-great childhood, this decision to want to attend alternative school showed great passion from Precious. Some girls come from this type of environment, some are lucky enough to come from somewhere better. Precious represented strength for all girls that come from anywhere similar to the type of horrible environment that she had to live with every day. To me, this was the “happiest” part of the novel. Precious says, “I’m alive inside. A bird is in my heart. Mama and Daddy is not win. I’m winning” (Sapphire 131).

Precious learns she has H.I.V. later on in the book. She has two babies and a mother who doesn’t support or believe in her. She still continues her learning and life lessons at the alternative school. Precious becomes a better writer, a better communicator, and more at peace with herself. It’s hard for me to imagine a life where I’d half to take on even half of what she had to deal with, and still wanting to learn and make something of her life. Precious in every way depicts real girls in the truest form. She describes her experiences not in a positive or a negative light, but in the truest light possible. Real girls are in this situation today; real girls have to endure bigger problems than boys and clothes.

Precious’s story showed that strength has to come from within. Her story says to any girl reading that no matter what the circumstances in one’s life, anything is possible if that’s what you set your mind to. Sapphire told a story that may be based on true events, but that is not what’s important. Although the story may not have a particularly happy ending, the story as a whole sheds a positive light on a girl who made the most of her terrible situation. Precious said, “I want to live so bad” (Sapphire 137). She sure did, and deserves to hold her head up high.