Enough As She Is

Enough As She Is

Adult nonfiction
"For too many girls today, the drive to achieve is fueled by
brutal self-criticism and anxiety that they will fail. We are raising
a generation of girls who may look exceptional on paper but are often
anxious and overwhelmed in life--who feel that no matter how hard they
try, they will never be smart enough, successful enough, pretty
enough, thin enough, well liked enough, witty enough online, or sexy
enough. No matter how many achievements they accrue, they feel that
they are not enough as they are. This book is about to help your
daughter refine success and pursue it on healthy terms, not
sacrificing her self-worth, and to be well and whole in a world that
often isn't."
Rachel Simmons' Enough As She Is is a book I wish had been
published when my daughters were in middle and high school. I am
finding it very helpful in my Higher Ed masters program. The rates of
anxiety and depression are rising far too quickly on college
campuses. All too often I see charming, capable, likeable students
drowning in despair. The questions on my mind constantly are "Why?"
and "What can I do to help?"
Simmons gives us plenty of reasons. They include:
*the College Application Industrial Complex that pushes girls to look
(on paper) extraordinary in every way, to see peers whose friendships
they need as not-to-be-trusted rivals, and to have a life passion
before having much of a chance to live;
*the demands of social media for a flawless on line persona followed
faithfully by hundreds of friends;
and *a thin-worshipping, fat phobic culture that practices body
objectification of girls.
Luckily for those of us parenting daughters or working with
female students from middle school through college, Simmons has
excellent ideas for counteracting society's toxins. I highly
recommend this book. It's a must acquire for public and college
libraries.
Simmons' personal narrative shows beautifully where her passion
for advocating for girls comes from. She won a Rhodes Scholarship two
years after her college graduation. A lot of people and her alma
mater adored her. She went to Oxford University for two years of grad
school and found herself bored and lonely. Nine months later she
dropped out and went home. In the process of winning awards and the
admiration of others, she'd lost sight of who she was and what she
valued.
Simmons discovered that she had to discover what really mattered
to her. Thinking about a bullying incident from early childhood led
her to research girls' aggression, then relatively unstudied, and
write Odd Girl Out (another must read BTW).
On a personal note, my class in assessment looks like it's going to be
the cat's pajamas!!! It won't be sit 2 1/2 hours and take notes.
We'll get to work in groups. I have very smart classmates. We have
some pretty cool homework assignments. I'll get to design a work
related survey and be in a long term group project that Bodwell Center
actually plans to use. (How cool is that?) Leah (prof) wants us to
think critically and tie class in with work and other life stuff.
That's how I operate.
A great big shout out goes out to Leah and my classmates as we embark
on a voyage of discovery!!!
jules hathaway


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