From Amazon.com
In an era when 50 percent of all teenage girls have sex by the age of 19, discourse about teenage female sexuality remains remarkably sparse. With the important and fascinating
Venus in Blue Jeans, Nathalie Bartle and Susan Lieberman turn up the volume on this hushed discussion by chronicling the way mothers and their teenage daughters communicate about sex.
Bartle conducted comprehensive interviews with 23 pairs of adolescent girls and their mothers. The girls, some from an inner-city public school and some from a more affluent private school, vary widely in their economic, ethnic, and social backgrounds, and in their interest and participation in sexual activity. The mothers, though demographically distinct, share a strong concern--and confusion--about the best way to talk with their daughters about sex and the accompanying risks of pregnancy and disease. The portraits are vividly drawn and the conclusions are vital. Bartle and Lieberman stress that vague discussions about the birds and the bees are not enough, and offer many tactics to help girls grow up with a confident, secure sense of their own sexuality. The authors urge mothers to encourage abstinence-based education rather than abstinence-only education in order to teach their daughters to think of their sexuality and sexual desire as a natural part of womanhood, and to follow their daughters' lead while maintaining an ongoing dialogue about sex. The compassionate advice and practical strategies Venus in Blue Jeans sets forth will help mothers of adolescent girls sort through their own discomfort and reluctance surrounding this issue and support them in the effort to see their girls safely to womanhood. --Ericka Lutz
--Ce texte provient d'une édition qui n'est plus publiée ou qui est non diponible.
From Publishers Weekly
Based on a series of interviews with a diverse group of 23 teen girls and, separately, their mothers, this empathetic study deftly illuminates their fears, dreams, goals, frequent misconceptions and daily concerns as they navigate the often dangerous waters of female adolescence in the 1990s. The voices of both generations of women are honest and forthright, and nullify many myths about the mother-daughter relationship. Bartle, an Allegheny University educational psychologist, writing with Lieberman (The Real High School Handbook), reveals that while mothers may not always know everything their daughters are up to, they are very realistic about the issues and pitfalls of young womanhood, drawing on their own experiences and media portrayals of the threat of disease and violence. Their most common hopes for their daughters include "wanting the girl to enjoy good health, to develop positive self-esteem, to be well-educated, and someday have a satisfying career that would provide financial independence." They try to deliver the sex education their girls need to retain the freedom to reach these goals, with help from peers, schools, churches, girls' clubs and doctorsAbut, most often, not from fathers. With 30 years of teaching and counseling behind her (as well as her own raising of a daughter), Bartle writes from experience, and her never-condescending voice reports and comments on her findings with authority. Her advice on opening and using the lines of dyadic communication to shape the sexual choices of young women is frank, aware of differences in lifestyle and caring. Author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--Ce texte provient d'une édition qui n'est plus publiée ou qui est non diponible.