February 8, 2010
Ensler's groundbreaking play The Vagina Monologues sought to start a revolution in the way women related to their bodies and their sexuality; in her latest, the author and activist seeks to do the same for teenage girls-empowering them by giving voice and value to their feelings, opinions and struggles, and teaching them to do the same for themselves. This series of monologues from teenage girls all over the world includes poetry, blog entries, anecdotes and conversations covering topics as familiar as anorexia and peer pressure, and as hard to face as sexual slavery and institutional oppression. The collection shines when dealing with more serious material (arranged marriages, genital mutilation), but those powerful pieces unintentionally overshadow the more common concerns of girls struggling to fit in or cope with the popular crowd. As such, the average American teenager should gain a good bit of perspective, though less than Ensler would like about the legitimacy of her everyday experience.
Starred review from February 15, 2010
Written in the same format as her watershed work, The Vagina Monologues (1998), Enslers latest m'lange of dramatic voices continues the mission of her philanthropic organization, V-Day, to stop violence against women. Published for adults but aimed straight at young adults, this volume provides a searing look at the inner lives of young females today in entries that explore sex, violence, love, body image, materialism, identity, family, friends, and the future. You Tell Me How to Be a Girl in 2010 begins the collection with a furious catalog of the state of a girls world, from global war to everyday heartbreak: Girls younger than me are giving blowjobs / in homeroom / and they dont even know its sex. The sobering international voices include child soldiers, young sex slaves, girls whose boyfriends hit them, and girls who starve and cut themselves. Other girls speak of honesty, tenderness, freedom, accomplishment, self-love, and defiance: My short skirt / is not an invitation / a provocation / an indication / that I want it / or give it / or that I hook. . . . My short skirt is happiness. / I can feel myself on the ground. I am here. And I am hot. With moving forewords by Carol Gilligan and Ensler, this powerful title, interspersed with shocking Girl Facts, serves as a potent call to girls to honor their emotions and to readers of all ages to uphold human rights at every level, from the boardroom to the bedroom.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)