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The Triple Bind: Saving Our Teenage Girls From Today's Pressures (Hardcover) (2009)

by Stephen P. Hinshaw(Favorite Author)

3.46 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0345503996 (ISBN13: 9780345503992)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Ballantine Books

review 1: My daughter is not even a tween (scary our society needs this word today) but I can already see some of society's pressures at work on her. She is very aware of fashion, weight, and social acceptance. I try so hard to convince her that people come in all sizes, shapes, colors, abilities, etc. but I can still see those wheels turning in her head as she gets messages from our culture. Also, I see how she is drawn to inappropriate fashion (which I can win on now because I am buying the clothes) and her love of Braatz dolls (UGH)! Even though I am trying to raise her with Christian morals, society as a whole is competing with me. Even sometimes I wonder how I am sabatoging her - I am concerned with my weight and I try to look my best when I step outside. I am trying not ... moreto pass my perfectionistic personality on to her, but I see it rearing its ugly head from time to time. As the book stated, I would like for my daughter to be pretty, sweet, nice, athletic, and get good grades, but I don't want her to feel that she has to be impossibly perfect which is the triple bind in this book. I wish there were more solutions presented in this book other than one quick chapter, but I guess that being aware of the pressure today's girls face will hopefully make me more aware of my daughter's needs as she grows.
review 2: An interesting look at the potential causes for rising depression, anxiety, suicide, eating disorders, etc. rates among teen girls. The Triple Bind is basically this: girls are expected to be pretty, sexy, etc. ("girl" qualities), successful and competitive ("boy" qualities), and make it all look effortless (be perfect at both). This sets an impossibly high bar that many a hormonal, young, and emotionally inexperienced girl can't handle. The author also broached the topic of depression and its role in the lives of girls who have very empathetic personalities thus making them more susceptible to the illness. Very interesting. This book was a bit repetitive, did not offer much of a "solution" to the Triple Bind and pointed the finger (not surprisingly) at media a lot but for the most part I feel I learned something. Plus Dr. Hinshaw is the chair of the Psychology dept at my alma mater. less

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