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Triple Bind: The Hidden Crisis Threatening Today's Teenage Girls (2009)

by Stephen P. Hinshaw(Favorite Author)

3.46 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0594003083 (ISBN13: 9780594003083)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Random House Publishing Group

review 1: I'd have to call this a waste of paper. Not because I disagree with the author. I absolutely agree that adolescent American girls are in a dreadful place. I even agree with the pressures he identifies: to excel at traditional girl stuff (empathy, concern for others, being supportive of others); to excel at traditional boy stuff (sports, grades, competition); all the while, being expected to excel at hotness as well.Unfortunately, Hinshaw is a clueless dude, barging in and telling the girls he knows how to fix things. His advice boils down to two real points: adolescent girls should become involved in something greater, something that ties them into a larger community than their own school/family sphere; and hey, you know what would be a great idea? another women's m... moreovement. I want to smack him. Although many resources are listed at then end of the book dealing with a number of specific issues, the utter cluelessness of this effort is clear in that there isn't a single feminist website or book listed. Not one. And how absurd is it to say that young women are stressed by all the demands our culture places on them, but the way to save them is to place yet another demand on them? Seriously, does anyone think the way to save girls from eating disorders and depression is to force them to get involved in community service projects? If only the girls would devote themselves to solving all the problems in the world (charity work being another traditional girl effort) it would totally free them from all the other pressure they're under to do everything beautifully and effortlessly.Okay, I'm not trying to blame Hinshaw too much for his blindered vision. I do however blame both he and his editor for not making an effort to correct that vision. That's just sloppy. Furthermore, I blame him a whole hell of a lot for not once reflecting on what he's written and asking himself what members of our society can do who are not adolescent girls nor their parents. That's where he really failed.
review 2: "The Triple Bind" is about the three contradictory tenants that the author feels all girls in today's society are subjected to: be sweet and nice like a girl, be ambitious and competitive as a boy, and be sexy but not sexual. The trick, the author says, is that girls are pressured to be all this, all the time, and perform effortlessly. I do feel the author has a point. In this "modern" age, girls and woman are told they can and should do it all. And today there is more pressure than in earlier decades to look sexy or hot. It is true the media is as vicious as ever to a girl's pyche and that parents and schools place more pressure on girls to achieve.I do not buy however, the authors premise that this "Triple Bind" is the root of all evil in our young girls' lives. I think there are many things that corrode our girls' foundations and prospects such as broken families, absent parents, too many sexual encounters that come too early in a girl's life, and a rising number of girls who have not been taught a faith in a power higher than oneself.I also felt the author fell a little flat in his analysis of some solutions to this "triple bind" phenomenon. He spends 170 pages telling us what the problem is and only 6 pages telling us in the most vague way how to attempt to fix it. That doesn't seem very balanced to me. If you are looking for a good book about helping your daughter cope in today's world I suggest "Stronger Fathers, Stronger Daughters." It was much more insightful, practical, and helpful. less

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