The secret lives of girls : what good girls really do -- sex play, aggression, and their guilt / Sharon Lamb.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lamb, Sharon.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Girls.

Girls--Psychology.

Girls--Sexual behavior.

Aggressiveness in children.

Physical Description:

xvi, 255 pages ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Free Press, [2001]

Summary:

An eye-opening look at the complex world of the pre-Ophelia generation. The result of more than 125 interviews with pre-teens, teens, and adult women, Lamb uncovers the way girls use their minds and bodies for private sexual play, hidden aggression, and mischief, revealing a remarkable resilience and complexity too often ignored by adults.

Contents:

Introduction: Good Girls versus Real Girls 1

Part I The Sexual Lives of Girls 11

Chapter 1 "I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours" 15

Zeroing In On: Play. What is Play? What is Sexual Play? 25

Chapter 2 Just Practicing: It's in Her Kiss 27

Chapter 3 Feminine Ideals: Make-up, Midriffs, and the Pleasures of Being Objectified 39

Chapter 4 Naked Barbies 48

Zeroing In On: Childhood Innocence and the Shaming of Sexuality 54

Chapter 5 Bodies and Pleasure: If It Feels Good, Why Is It so Bad? 59

Chapter 6 Playing Dead but Feeling Tingly 66

Chapter 7 Wanting It and Not Wanting It 70

Chapter 8 Two Kinds of Guilty Pleasure 77

Chapter 9 African-American Girls and Their Secrets 85

Chapter 10 Periods, Pubic Hair, Boobies, and Bodily Torture 96

Chapter 11 Guilty Minds and Sexual Obsessions 104

Chapter 12 Too Sexual Too Soon 116

Chapter 13 Unwelcome Intrusions: Sexual Coercion in the Lives of Girls 123

Chapter 14 Raising Sexual Girls: A Few Words to Parents 134

Part II Aggression, Destruction, and Being Mean

Chapter 15 Aggression in Girls 141

Chapter 16 A Good Girl Doesn't Do That 147

Zeroing In On: Tomboys 155

Chapter 17 Dear Diary, I Hate Her! Secret Anger in Girls 159

Chapter 18 The Aggressive Acts of Good Girls 166

Zeroing In On: Pranks, Mischief, and Little Meannesses 173

Chapter 19 Feeling the Power 178

Chapter 20 Getting Physical: Girl Athletes 189

Chapter 21 Class, Clothes, and Cutting Her Down to Size 198

Zeroing in On: Language and Loudness 204

Chapter 22 "I'm No Sucker": Fighting and Fighting Back 209

Chapter 23 Raising Aggressive Girls? 221

Chapter 24 Welcoming Sex, Power, and Aggression into the Lives of Girls 227.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [231]-247) and index.

ISBN:

0743201078

OCLC:

48223236