Sexism & Sensibility

By: Jo-Ann Finkelstein

An invaluable guide to understanding and dismantling sexism for parents trying to raise confident and powerful girls in a culture that often demeans them.

We live in a world of mixed messages for women: You can be anything you want to be, but don’t expect to be paid equally for it. It’s what's inside that counts, but be sure to wax, bleach, and slim down what’s outside first. Most parents find it easier to tell girls how strong and equal they are than to talk about how the world can be particularly difficult or scary for them. But when we don’t address the challenging or disturbing experiences most girls endure, we contribute to the problem.

Jo-Ann Finkelstein, a Harvard-educated psychologist who has worked with girls of all ages for two decades, unpacks the universal experiences that girls live with and helps parents safeguard and fine-tune their daughters’ natural “sexism detectors.” Full of concrete solutions for helping girls understand and confront sexism in all its guises, Sexism and Sensibility includes:

• How to talk to girls about chauvinism, gender stereotyping, objectification, bodily autonomy, and consent.
• How to help girls resist internalizing limited and distorting cultural messages.
• How to teach girls what to do when their boundaries have been crossed.
• How to help guide girls to identify and contest the microaggressions they face in school, in the media, in relationships, and in public.
• How to notice and combat sexism in our own parenting.