Schoolgirls: Young Women, Self Esteem, and the Confidence Gap [Paperback]

Peggy Orenstein (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 1, 1995

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR

The classic account of the hurdles facing adolescent girls in America--now reissued with a new Foreword, to coincide with the award-winning author's new book on women and identity.

Inspired by a study by the American Association of University Women that showed girls' self-esteem plummeting as they reach adolescence, Peggy Orenstein spent months observing, interviewing, and getting know dozens of girls both inside and outside the classroom at two very different schools in northern California. The result was a groundbreaking book in which she brought the disturbing statistics to life with skill and flair of an experienced journalist.

Orenstein plumbs the minds of both boys and girls who have learned to equate masculinity with opportunity and assertiveness, and femininity with reserve and restraint. She demonstrates the cost of this insidious lesson, by taking us into the lives of real young women who are struggling with eating disorders, sexual harassment, and declining academic achievement, especially in math and science. Peggy Orenstein's SchoolGirls is a classic that belongs on the shelf with the work of Carol Gilligan, Joan Jacobs Brumberg, and Mary Pipher. It continues to be read by all who care about how our schools and our society teach girls to shortchange themselves.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Following a 1990 poll which found that girls suffer plummeting self-esteem and reduced expectations as they enter adolescence, journalist Orenstein visited two California middle schools to take a more personal look at the statistics.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Troubled by the 1990 American Association of University Women report on the loss of self-esteem by American girls between the ages of nine and 15, journalist Orenstein sought the human stories behind the statistics. She worked for a year with girls from two California schools, interviewing students, their families, teachers, and the administrators of the two schools. She also observed classes, school ground behavior, and home life. Not aiming for an academic study, Orenstein places information from various studies in footnotes to the children's narratives. Her text focuses instead on situations ranging from subtle but definite discouragement of female students to a blatant devaluing of all students. Although there were other factors involved, she concentrates on the stories from school in describing the wrenching and all-too-typical conditions many girls face. Recommended for public libraries, high school libraries, and academic libraries with women's studies or education collections.
Sharon Firestone, Ross-Blakley Law Lib., Arizona State Univ., Tempe
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Anchor; Anchor Books ed edition (September 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385425767
• ISBN-13: 978-0385425766
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #140,349 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #65 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Psychology & Counseling > Adolescent Psychology

More About the Author

Peggy Orenstein is the author of the New York Times bestseller Waiting for Daisy: A Tale of Two Continents, Three Religions, Five Infertility Doctors, an Oscar, an Atomic Bomb, a Romantic Night, and One Woman's Quest to Become a Mother and Schoolgirls: Young Women, Self-Esteem, and the Confidence Gap. A contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine, she has been published in, among others, USA Today; Vogue; Parenting; O, The Oprah Magazine; Salon; and The New Yorker. Orenstein lives in Northern California with her husband and their daughter, Daisy.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Girls' High School Basketball Coach/AD [e-mail] July 14, 2000

By Jed Davis

Format:Paperback

To read Peggy Orenstein's SchoolGirls is to take a journey into a world 1) that any man with a conscience is ashamed to remember ( because of the way boys treated girls ) and 2) that for high school girls and women to remember, is to recall the pain of being punished, physically abused, humiliated and emotionally beaten down for simply being born female. But before going into the book in depth, one important point must be made: While Orenstein's portrayal of girls and boys is accurate, it should not be taken as a message that all middle school girls are good but get shortchanged, or that all boys engage in destructive behavior when it comes to girls. There are wonderful adolescent boys and nightmarish middle school girls. And some girls do have a very positive experience. Unfortunately, Orenstein's portrayal is the norm and it is accurate. What Orenstein did was to go into two vastly different schools, one in a solidly white middle class community and the other located in an urban black and Hispanic neighborhood. Both schools were located in Northern California. She observed and interviewed the girls ( as she gained their trust ) for an academic school year to see what they were experiencing with regard to their academic, home and social lives. Although the cultural environments were vastly different, the dynamics of both groups' experiences turned out to be strikingly similar in many respects. I remember all too well what went on in junior high school in the 60s.... I was not aware that while the same basic social structures exist today, the pressures and dangers are much greater than they were 30 years ago: Sixth grade boys pressuring their pubescent female peers into intercourse and the girls feeling trapped between fear of rejection and being labeled a slut; boys who treat girls' bodies like it is public property to be pinched pulled and fondled in public; boys' totally dominating the classroom to the point where girls give up, lose interest and start failing classes that they could easily have gotten As in; constantly bombarding girls with the thought that they are bad at sports. But even more incredible are the administrators who can effect change. Teachers and counselors work hard to enforce newly created sexual harassment laws only to have the administrators nix the effort out of laziness or personal sexist beliefs -- " If he grabbed you like that you must have asked for it . " This is not a fun exciting read. But as someone who coaches teenage girls in basketball and is very dedicated to changing their lives for the better, I feel that this book ( although at times depressing ) has helped me to understand, better than ever before, what it is like to be a teenage female at the turn of the millennium. Don't read this book if you are searching for justification for adolescent boys. But by all means, do read this book if you really want to know how middle school girls are abused and shortchanged in America. Read more ›

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An unforgettable read, impeccably reported and fair November 29, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I've read SchoolGirls several times and bought countless copies for friends. It's a fantastic read, one that in moments had me trembling, recalling some of my own experiences and feelings during those middle school years. I applaud Orenstein for undertaking a large-scale piece of writing and reporting. I disagree entirely with those who are calling for more on boys: good books are by necessity specific.

Because there's been a recent spate of books oriented toward boys' experiences at the same age, it seems both cheap and easy for new readers of SchoolGirls to question why boys aren't covered more thoroughly here. The book was written in response to a study whose results revealed startling statistics about girls. As a 32-year-old woman and a young mother, I find Orenstein's reporting and synthesis among the most powerful and helpful of tools given to me. I recommend this book heartily to those concerned about children of both genders.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Helps understand complexities of adolescence. November 26, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

This is an expose of a "hidden curriculum" in our schools. It explores the effect it has on our children as schools help reinforce stereotypical gender roles, whether they intend to or not. The book is based on a study that suggests that as they reach adolescence, a girl's self-esteem drops and performance in school is compromised. Girls and boys adopt the traditional gender stereotypes with assertiveness being seen as masculine and restraint and compliance seen as feminine. Because Peggy Ornestein is not a trained adolescent psychologist, her conclusions may be suspect, but through anecdotal stories and interviews Ornestein adds a human dimension to survey data. She brings the problem to life and makes it difficult to ignore. Ornestein gives the reader reason to care about what happens to April and Lisa, two of the girls she profiles in the book. Pervasive gender inequity in teaching is one of many difficulties facing educators, students and families attempting to improve today's education system. The observations in this book can go a long way toward understanding the complexities of adolescence and toward improving the learning environment.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreaking May 8, 2005

By Anyechka

Format:Paperback

It's heartbreaking to read this book and realise that things haven't much changed in the decade since it's been published, and how too many young women in America act, think, and believe, not because it's their integral nature but rather because they've been pushed to it by messages from the media, Hollywood, teachers, parents, male classmates. The girls Ms. Orenstein interviewed are all around my age (I was also in seventh grade during the 1992-93 schoolyear), so it was easy to relate to them and what they were going through, what things were like when they were in junior high and sixth grade. The girls at Weston, the largely white school, had problems with teachers calling on boys who hogged and demanded attention, to the exclusion of girls in the class, body image, sexual harassment, teachers who had a double standard when it came to boys and girls (boys who call out answers before being called on or who loudly whine to be called on are rewarded with attention, while girls are ridiculed if they have a wrong answer or not called on at all; there was also the teacher who called a boy disruptive, with a friendly laugh, while making the same remark to a female student in a very cold negative disparaging voice), parents who reinforce this double standard, the sexual double standard, and messages that you have to fit in and be perfect. These girls even pretended to be afraid of spiders so that boys would think they were feminine and desirable as girlfriends, not pariahs who wouldn't run screaming from a spider but instead act like a boy and ask to hold it because it looks so neat. It's sad to read that in this day and age many young women think that a woman isn't allowed to be assertive, pushy, or aggressive, or that a girl can't be a lawyer because she's too "cute...." The girls at Audobon, the mostly urban minority school, also had those problems, but they were submerged by more pressing problems of poverty, gangs, street violence, drugs, falling-apart families, crime, and teachers who were past the point of caring or treating students with respect. The book wraps up with a look into a gender-fair class back at Weston, where the tables are turned and both sexes learn about women and other minorities, where boys sometimes have to make speeches from the pov of famous women, the type of class there would be everywhere if women were the gender that had traditionally held power in America.

Apparently some people didn't like this book because it brings to light what goes on at many schools, how boys treat girls and misuse power, how they get away with a lot of bad things. It's the same reason why a lot of the boys in the gender-fair classroom initially didn't like the class, because they felt excluded and discriminated against. It must hurt them to have their traditional position of male authority challenged and exposed for what it really is. These boys had no problem with being in classrooms that taught mostly about famous men, yet when they had to learn about more women than men, they took it personally and got offended. Presenting a fact, even if it's a negative unflattering fact, is not the same as "bashing." Read more ›