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At adolescence, says Mary Pipher, "girls become 'female impersonators' who fit their whole selves into small, crowded spaces." Many lose spark, interest, and even IQ points as a "girl-poisoning" society forces a choice between being shunned for staying true to oneself and struggling to stay within a narrow definition of female. Pipher's alarming tales of a generation swamped by pain may be partly informed by her role as a therapist who sees troubled children and teens, but her sketch of a tougher, more menacing world for girls often hits the mark. She offers some prescriptions for changing society and helping girls resist.
Book Description
The phenomenal #1 New York Times bestseller. More than 1.5 million copies sold. Now available from Riverhead.
This is the groundbreaking work that poses one of the most provocative questions of a generation: Why are American adolescent girls falling prey to depression, eating disorders, suicide attempts, and dangerously low self-esteem? Dr. Pipher posits that it's America's sexist, look-obsessed "girl-poisoning" culture-one in which girls are constantly struggling to find their true selves. In Reviving Ophelia, these girls' uncensored voices are heard from the front lines of adolescence. Personal and painfully honest, this is a compassionate call to arms, offering strategies with which to revive these Ophelias' lost senses of self.
Customer Reviews:
Reviving Ophelia.......2007-09-28
Required reading for parents and grandparents of young girls. I give it as a gift. Gives a fresh look at pressures that drive young girls to behave in ways that mask their true personalities very early on. In other words, how they are driven to manipulative behaviors to gain the approval of men and what it costs them if it begins too soon. The strongest concept in the book is allowing girls to retain their "authenticity" as they mature by encouraging them to follow interests that engender a belief in their unique abilities. I don't think I've read the entire book which is a series of case histories because it seems somewhat repetitive toward the end.
ophelia - an eye opener.......2007-08-27
This book is both startling and hopeful in its portrayal of young adolescent women and the trials they face in today's world. I have recommended it to my friends and family who have daughters ten and older. The stories are heart-wrenching, frightening, but also promising. Some of the young women whose cases are presented face terrible obstacles, yet they not only survive adolescence, they thrive. The author gives us a shockingly honest glimpse into the physical, mental and spiritual lives of our daughters growing up in a world that worships physical beauty. It shows us the inner sense of betrayal and anger that girls feel when pressured to look and behave contrary to their true selves and how this anger is often manifested in dangerous choices and the rejection of their loved ones at a time when they most need their protection.
Gender Gap.......2007-07-27
Since the inception of psychology, the differing characteristics of females have been ignored until more recent times. While I commend Dr. Pipher in her effort to explore adolesence from the female perspective, I sometimes found myself disagreeing with her thesis. Even with the flaws that I perceived, I found this book to be valuable reading.
The main thesis behind this book is the difficulties of contemporary adolescent females on two fronts: neglect of unique female needs in schools and a media which exhibits unreasonable expectations of females. Even after reading her explanations of the problems in schools, I am not certain that I agree with Pipher. Schools can not force a person to learn. I really believe the cultural expectation for a girl to be pretty and find a good husband is dying. Females now compose a greater percentage of college enrollment. In all my years of education, I have never observed a trend of girls squandering their time in school more than boys. If anything, I believe girls are much better students in junior high and high school. Pipher's other argument regards the unreasonable expectations of females brought about by media. While I would agree with this assessment, my problem is the responsibility for creating this quandry. Girls pose for these pictures and allow themselves to be exploited. When this stops happening, the media will change. This is a process any rights movement must go through.
Working in both inner city and rural schools, I have never seen the "abuse" toward females that Pipher claims occurs regularly. Supervising the halls as most teachers do, this behavior would never be tolerated. I can not speak for what happens in off-school or unsupervised settings, but I believe Pipher may be using her cases to label the whole of society. But knowing what happens in isolated situations, I would agree that the adolescent boys need "softening".
Though much of my review reflects my disagreements with Pipher, I believe her case stories gave me a new perspective on what may be happening in the lives of adolescent girls. In this way, this book is a valuable resource for teachers and parents.
First Aid or Preventive Medicine.......2007-07-08
Mary Pipher gives clear analysis and healthy advice to parents of adolescent girls, teachers and others. "Reviving Ophelia" is written with diction that is comprehensible to kids as well as adults, so the subjects of physiological, intrapersonal and social growth can be discussed with girls (or boys). Issues such as sex, drugs, anorexia, bullemia, overeating, bullying, violence, and other delicate subjects are dealt with anecdotally and analytically. I enjoyed reading it, including some parts with my 12-year-old, who has been asking me lots of questions, most of which are talked about in the book.
Classic for teens.......2007-05-29
I read this book when it first came out and thought of it again because my elder granddaughter is turning 12 shortly. She is leaving those carefree preteen years where mum and dad and sister have been the biggest part of her world. And she is now heading into the years where her peers will be much more important. The pressures she faces are so different to those I faced and even very different to those her parents faced. I hope her mother will read the book, and that she will read it too. I believe it will help her to remain her own happy and confident self, whatever pressures she faces. This book is a classic and its contents are just as helpful now as they were a decade ago.
Book Description
THREE YEARS ON THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST
AND MORE THAN 1.5 MILLION COPIES SOLD
When Reviving Ophelia was first published nearly a decade ago, the response was extraordinary–and Dr. Mary Pipher became one of the most sought-after speakers in the country. She posed the provocative question: Why are American adolescent girls falling prey to depression, eating disorders, and suicide attempts at an alarming rate? The answer hit a nerve. We live in a look-obsessed, sexist “girl-poisoning” culture. And despite the advances of feminism, girls continue to struggle to find their true selves.
Here are girls’ unmuted voices from the front lines of adolescence, personal and painfully honest. By laying bare their harsh day-to-day reality, Reviving Ophelia issues a call to arms and offers parents compassion, strength, and strategies with which to revive these Ophelias’ lost sense of self.
Customer Reviews:
Does Ophelia NEED to be revived?.......2004-04-01
This is the stupidest book I have ever read- including Dr. Seuss! I think that Mary Pipher has some childhood issues that need to be worked out, because she stereotypes girls at a certian age as being something they usually aren't. I really can't say that it was worth the time I spent reading it.
An important look at societal pressures on adolescent girls.......2003-12-03
This book is a much-needed first step in looking at the effects of modern society on young girls. Why do I call it a first step? While it is a very insightful book, the sample of girls Dr. Pipher includes is not large enough or diverse enough. Throughout the book, there is a general lack of attention to girls of color - African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Latin Americans, etc. The statements Pipher makes in her book are very, very important, but for the most part they take into consideration only the experiences of white girls. Societal pressures take different forms for girls of varied ethnic backgrounds, and these differences need to be acknowledged in order to conceptualize modern American culture.
Nevertheless, "Reviving Ophelia" is a book I would highly recommend, and not only to adolescent girls and their parents. All of American society, and Western society in general, needs to be made aware of what it is doing to its female youth. Adolescent boys, too, should read this, as well as adults that do not have children. These people, too, send messages to our young women, and therefore need to become conscious of what the effects of those messages are. Dr. Pipher uses the stories of her own clients to paint a vivid picture of the environment our young girls live in, and it's not a pretty one.
Not quite as good as it could have been.......2003-11-18
This is an important book. It's a book teenagers should read, it's especially a book their parents should read, and it's a book educators, politicians, publishers and artists should read.
So why do I only give it three stars?
For a book this celebrated, it is just far too narrow. Yes, we do live in a look-obsessed, sexist, girl-poisoning culture. Yes, it is extremely damaging and harmful to women, and can plausibly be linked to eating disorders, self-mutilation, and depression, as well as to violence and sexual abuse. Yes, we should be worried, and educate ourselves and others.
But this book answers the question of why American girls are falling prey to depression, eating disorders and suicide at such alarming rates with only one answer, when the real answer is undoubtably a complex mixture of causes. In her anxiety to take the blame off the parents, the author doesn't have much to say about all the cases where the parents ARE even partly to blame for their teenagers depression. Hundreds of thousands of teenagers live with abusive home situations. Others suffer from clinical depressions which although they might be triggered in part by environment, can not be entirely explained by them and may need medical treatment; others suffer from appalling poverty, or racism, or other problems we don't see addressed.
I wish this book were more comprehensive. I wish it included other teenage voices, to give a more complete picture. The voices it shares with us are ones which need to be heard - but they are far from being the only ones, and I finished this book with the feeling that they had drowned certain other voices out.
Of a rare quality.......2003-10-24
I used this book, taken from a list provided, as the subject of a term paper for a college psychology class. This was about 3 years ago, and it still takes my mind to a place of deep thought and reveals new insights. This book was interesting to read, and the author discloses information (that is difficult to know of) in an objective manner which is not devoid of kindness and respect for all involved. I admire this author's work because it facilitated an authentic communication for me. It allowed me to have a candid audience with teenage girls, and get a glimpse of what goes on in the mind, that before I had only seen the results of. It helped me to understand what is behind the behavior. I was so impressed with this book that I told one of the high school counselors about it. He has the book now, I gave it to him. This book isn't about blame and shame, it is about understanding and knowing.
HS isn't the same as when we were kids.......2003-10-19
You must read this to truly understand today's adolescent girls. Pipher respects her clients and doesn't blame the parents. She gave me hope and positive solutions to try. Her case studies are heart wrenching but need to be told.
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Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. (book reviews): An article from: Journal of Leisure Research
Lynn S. Anderson
Manufacturer: National Recreation and Park Association
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ASIN: B00098851O
Release Date: 2005-07-28 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Leisure Research, published by National Recreation and Park Association on March 22, 1998. The length of the article is 3642 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. (book reviews)
Author: Lynn S. Anderson
Publication:
Journal of Leisure Research (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 1998
Publisher: National Recreation and Park Association
Volume: v30
Issue: n2
Page: p291(8)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. (book reviews): An article from: Women and Language
Cheryl Bartholomew
Manufacturer: George Mason University
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
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ASIN: B00096Q6SU
Release Date: 2005-07-28 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Women and Language, published by George Mason University on September 22, 1996. The length of the article is 966 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. (book reviews)
Author: Cheryl Bartholomew
Publication:
Women and Language (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 1996
Publisher: George Mason University
Volume: v19
Issue: n2
Page: p53(2)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Customer Reviews:
Euell Gibbons is da man!.......2006-08-14
Not only is this book full of recipes for wild plant dishes, but it includes wild animals as well. I like his attitude towards the things that many people won't touch - I mean this dude ate a bobcat and had a buddy there eating it with him. Where do you find these kind of people? I don't know anyone who would eat bobcat unless money was involved.
Not a field guide.......2006-03-31
Euell Gibbons was master forager, or at least among those that are also authors. His book is absolutely fascinating, and he makes the reader aware of a multitude of wild plants and animals that few have ever tasted, or even been aware of for that matter.
There are countless useful recommendations for the preparation of foraged foods, many of which would be unpalatable or even inedible without using the provided suggestions. His stories are great and he relates many tales from his days as a forager.
The problem I have with the book is that it is first and foremost a cookbook. It has drawings and descriptions of most, but not all, of the wild edibles he talks about. This is hardly a good method for identifying plants. On the back cover it even suggests you could live off the plants and animals described in the book. This is possible, but not likely, particularly if you cannot even properly identify the plants! And considering that there are numerous poisonous plants in any given locale, you had best not delve to deeply into the world of foraging without tagging along with an expert or at least having a detailed field guide.
Take the book for what it is - an excellent resource for preparing wild edibles and opening a whole new world for the outdoorsman.
Bret
Stalking the Wild Asparagus.......2005-09-29
I have known this book for over 20 years. I has been almost a bible for my foraging. I used to borrow it from the library several times a year. Then the county libraby removed it from the shelf to make room for newer books. I was very dissappointed. I had to borrow the book from a library 2 counties away. I was delighted to discover that Amazon carried Stalking the Wild Asparagus. The book is a wonderful reference tool, personable, acurate, and has detailed illustrations.
The Forager at Work .......2005-07-10
I was always interested in survival and eating wild foods and I tried several (with indifferent results) during my boy scout days. Thus, it was that "Stalking the Wild Asparagus" was a revelation to me when I first encountered it as a young man. Somebody else in the world was interested in eating wild plants! Quite a few somebodies, it developed, because this book ran through a lot of printings and Euell Gibbons became a folk hero and TV star.
Gibbons identifies and discusses the culinary virtues of about 50 different wild plants and animals. Among the familiar plants he identifies are dandelions, cattails -- the "supermarket of the swamp" -- and daylilies. He tosses in a few animals worthy of pursuit and ingestion by the modern day hunter/gatherer: bluegills, turtles, frogs, and carp. One is immediately impressed that Gibbons knows what he is talking about. He tells you what you need to do with the plant or animal, gives you a recipe or two for its preparation, and adds a bit of personal experience and folklore about the plant. He even gives you menus for wild-food feasts.
There is something of the primeval in the attraction of children to gathering their own food, even if is only raspberries growing beside a road. For a few, such as Gibbons, it becomes a lifelong passion. His strength as a writer is infectious enthusiasm. I usually find nature writers to be preachy and sanctimonious. Gibbons isn't. He seems impervious to the thought that he might be considered as crazy as a loon (not one of the animals he proposes for eating). He can say with a perfectly straight face, "Let's go nutting."
"Stalking the Wild Asparagus" has found a permanent place on my bookshelf and due recognition as a nature classic.
Smallchief
A Classic- Like a Thoreau, Will Rogers & Mark Twain Blend.......2005-05-12
Euell Gibbons (1911-1975) had an adventurous life to say the least. His first intro to wild foods was due to his family's poverty when they lived in New Mexico. At 12 years old, Gibbons went out in the surrounding country-side to forage for edibles to help feed his family and a life-long love of wild food got off to a pragmatic start. One of his first discoveries was wild asparagus, hence the book title namesake.
This book is lyrical, yet practical and covers a sizeable array of wild foods- location, preparation, uses, etc. Recipes are given all through the book as well as some medicinal use info. One of Gibbons' favorite plants was the Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). He relates how the Dandelion has been one of humanities longest known and useful wild foods and medicines and laments the assault by lawn care chemical manufacturers in trying to demonize this beautiful, helpful gift from Nature.
Gibbons traveled the world lecturing on the benefits of wild foods and was often seen on popular talk shows along with becoming a pitch-man for Post Grape Nut Cereal commercials where he treated America to hilarious daily line: "...taste like wild hickory nuts!". Gibbon's came across like a modern-day cross between Mark Twain, Will Rogers and Henry David Thoreau.
Those familiar with Thoreau's recently published last manuscript, "Wild Fruits" will see the close resemblance to "Stalking the Wild Asparagus"- both now classics and useful guides to Nature's cornucopia of wild edible gifts.
Product Description
Field guide edition for locating wild foods.
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Stalking the Wild Asparagus
Manufacturer: David McKay Co., Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GRC33Y |
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STALKING THE WILD ASPARAGUS
Manufacturer: David McKay Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HG5N9U |
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