A volume based on more than 1,300 studies challenges common assumptions that girls are treated equally in public schools and cites examples of discriminatory behavior in the classroom while noting the negative effects of such behaviors. Original. IP.

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR When Peggy Orenstein's now-classic examination of young girls and self-esteem was first published, it set off a groundswell that continues to this day. Inspired by an American Association of University Women survey that showed a steep decline in confidence as girls reach adolescence, Orenstein set out to explore the obstacles girls face--in school, in the hoime, and in our culture. For this intimate, girls' eye view of the world, Orenstein spent months observing and interviewing eighth-graders from two ethnically disparate communities, seeking to discover what was causing girls to fall into traditional patterns of self-censorship and self-doubt. By taking us into the lives of real young women who are struggling with eating disorders, sexual harrassment, and declining academic achievement, Orenstein brings the disturbing statistics to life with the skill and flair of an experienced journalist. Uncovering the adolescent roots of issues that remain important to American women throughout their lives, this groundbreaking book challenges us to change the way we raise and educate girls.

Explains how girls' efforts in the classroom are subtly discouraged. Stresses the need to promote self-esteem in female students.

An updated and revised edition of the controversial classic—now more relevant than ever—argues that boys are the ones languishing socially and academically, resulting in staggering social and economic costs. Girls and women were once second-class citizens in the nation’s schools. Americans responded with concerted efforts to give girls and women the attention and assistance that was long overdue. Now, after two major waves of feminism and decades of policy reform, women have made massive strides in education. Today they outperform men in nearly every measure of social, academic, and vocational well-being. Christina Hoff Sommers contends that it’s time to take a hard look at present-day realities and recognize that boys need help. Called “provocative and controversial...impassioned and articulate” (The Christian Science Monitor), this edition of The War Against Boys offers a new preface and six radically revised chapters, plus updates on the current status of boys throughout the book. Sommers argues that the problem of male underachievement is persistent and worsening. Among the new topics Sommers tackles: how the war against boys is harming our economic future, and how boy-averse trends such as the decline of recess and zero-tolerance disciplinary policies have turned our schools into hostile environments for boys. As our schools become more feelings-centered, risk-averse, competition-free, and sedentary, they move further and further from the characteristic needs of boys. She offers realistic, achievable solutions to these problems that include boy-friendly pedagogy, character and vocational education, and the choice of single-sex classrooms. The War Against Boys is an incisive, rigorous, and heartfelt argument in favor of recognizing and confronting a new reality: boys are languishing in education and the price of continued neglect is economically and socially prohibitive.

Despite decades of effort to create fair classrooms and schools, gender bias is alive and well, and in some ways growing. School practices continue to send boys and girls down different life paths, too often treating them not as different genders but as different species. Teachers and parents often miss the subtle signs of sexism in classrooms. Through firsthand observations and up-to-the-minute research, Still Failing at Fairness brings the gender issue into focus. The authors provide an in-depth account of how girls' and boys' educations are compromised from elementary school through college, and offer practical advice for teachers and parents who want to make a positive difference. The authors examine today's pressing issues -- the lack of enforcement for Title IX, the impact of the backlash against gender equity, the much-hyped "boys' crisis," hardwired brain differences, and the recent growth of singlesex public schools. This book documents how teaching, current testing practices, and subtle cultural attitudes continue to short-circuit both girls and boys of every race, social class, and ethnicity. Hard-hitting and remarkably informative, Still Failing at Fairness is "a fascinating look into America's classrooms" (National Association of School Psychologists).

This study investigates secondary school students' experiences of sexual harassment--and all the bullying, teasing, and touching it entails--and compares the results with those of the 1993 study "Hostile Hallways: The AAUW Survey on Sexual Harassment in America's Schools." Topics in the survey include students' knowledge and awareness of sexual harassment, personal experiences with sexual harassment in their school lives, and the emotional and behavioral impact of these experiences. A nationally representative sample of 2064 public school students in 8th through 11th grades was interviewed. Using self-administered questionnaires, 1559 students were surveyed during an English class, and 505 students were surveyed online. Students' answers were analyzed, where possible, to identify any difference by gender, race/ethnicity, grade level, and area of school. As in 1993, nearly all students say they know what sexual harassment is, and they provided their own definitions when asked. Major findings reveal the following: significant numbers of students are afraid of being hurt or bothered in their school lives; sexual harassment is widespread in school life; school sexual harassment has a negative impact on students' emotional and educational lives; students today are more likely than those in 1993 to say their schools have a policy or distribute literature on sexual harassment; nearly all students surveyed know what sexual harassment is; the most upsetting examples of sexual harassment in school life involve speech as well as actions; a sizeable minority of students reports high levels of sexual harassment in school; most experiences involve students harassing students, although many experiences involve school adults harassing students; and slightly more than half (54%) of students say they have sexually harassed someone during their school lives. Contains 29 figures and an afterword. Appended is the research methodology with additional figures. (BT)

This groundbreaking reference work presents more than 100 articles by 98 high-profile interdisciplinary scholars, covering all aspects of girls' roles in American society, past and present. In this comprehensive, readable, two volume encyclopedia, experts from a variety of disciplines contribute pieces to the puzzle of what it means—and what it has meant over the last 400 years—to be a girl in America. The portrait that emerges reveals deep differences in girls' experiences depending on socioeconomic context, religious and ethnic traditions, family life, schools, institutions, and the messages of consumer and popular culture. Girls have been commodified, idealized, trivialized, eroticized, and shaped by the powerful forces of popular culture, from Little Women to Barbie. Yet girls are also powerful co-creators of the culture that shapes them, often cleverly subverting it to their own purposes. From Pocahantas to punk rockers, girls have been an integral, if overlooked and undervalued, part of American culture.

This handbook summarizes the progress, current status, and future directions relevant to feminist multicultural perspectives in counseling psychology. It emphasizes enduring topics within counseling psychology such as human growth and development, ethics, ecological frameworks, and counseling theory and practice. Intersectionality, social justice, and the diverse social identities of women and girls are featured prominently.