Schoolgirls
by Peggy Orenstein
List Price: $14.95
Pages: 368
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0385425767
Publisher: Anchor
Some statistics from
SchoolGirls
* By high school, nearly half
of the boys say they are "happy the way I am," as opposed to less than
a third of the girls. Boys are also far more likely than girls to reject
negative characterizations such as "I wish I were somebody else" and "I
don't like myself."
* Two-thirds of girls have
a negative body image. Girls with a negative body image are more likely
to suffer from depression and to develop eating disorders. Teenage girls
are twice as likely as boys to say they feel sad and hopeless, and four
to five times more likely to attempt suicide.
* The number of girls under
the age of twelve seeking help for severe eating disorders doubled in
the late 1980s. Up to 40% of nine-year-olds today are dieting.
* Up to 55% of middle and
junior high school students have had sexual intercourse. Girls who have
sex as young teenagers regret their decision at twice the rate of boys.
Young sexually active girls have lower self-esteem than their non-active
counterparts, but boys show no such difference.
* Physically active girls
have higher self-esteem than their non-active counterparts. Yet when sports
activities are coed -- such as in school gym class -- girls' confidence
in their athletic abilities plummets.
* 85% of girls say they are
sexually harassed at school; one third of girls who have been harassed
report not wanting to go to school because of the harassment; one third
of harassed girls say they do not want to speak up in class because of
harassment. More than half of students who are harassed say the incidents
occur during class.
Excerpted from Schoolgirls © Copyright 2008 by Peggy Orenstein. Reprinted with permission by Anchor. All rights reserved.
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