Here it is. My go-to list.
I feel like so many parents are feeling anxious and panicked about the world our daughters currently live in. Every day we’re faced with screaming headlines about teenage sex. Binge drinking. Eating disorders. Depression. Risky online choices. ARGH!
But let’s not panic. As someone who is regularly in high schools talking to teenage girls — the girls I get to meet are smart and funny and strong BUT that’s not to say they don’t need help navigating this new world we’re in. (I cannot tell you how glad I am that smart phones didn’t exist when I was 14). So what I’ve listed below are just some of the terrific websites, books and docos I would recommend to anyone who has a tween or teen girl in their life.
The most important thing I can say to you is that there is no ONE conversation to have with your daughter about online choices (or friendships or sex or whatever for that matter). All of these topics are BIG and it’s about having lots of conversations all the time. Start a running dialogue which includes items in the news, storylines in books or movies or TV shows and other issues that come up day to day. Keep talking. Everything is a “teachable moment”. Think back to what it was like being in high school. And practice listening to your daughter.
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For older teens I recommend Eva Cox because she not only knows her stuff she is able to cut through some very important issues for Indigenous Australians. Many of these issues directly impact on girls and women and their lives. I noticed this list had some remarkable people and I am not a visitor of all the sites which may make my comment wrong but I think it was too heavy on the mono cultural perspectives. There is a lot of diversity in Australia. Our children's primary school had at least 36 ethnicities and most of the children want to see girls and women they can relate to or at the very least talking about cultural variety.
My other favourite is daysforgirls.org. It is a worldwide movement for girls and women to receive reusable, sustainable sanitary products to allow them to go to school, avoid sexual exploitation (not having to ask the principal for pads in return for pads), improves girls and womens' participation in the community instead of being outcast and dirty during bleeding. There is nothing more empowering for our young girls in Australia to learn the power of being a woman and helping other girls reach their full potential. I feel it also helps to de-stigmatise periods The power of a pad!
For fiction, I highly recommend Tamora Pierce. The representation is awesome and she keeps working on improving it. I would also recommend her tumblr. Also a website called markreads.com and markwatches.com. Mark Oshiro reviews books chapter by chapter and it is hilarious. His responses are funny, touching and really make you think about the texts you're reading.