Ozumba
Emily Wylie
Cydney Pullman
ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTORS TO THE CURRICULUM
Yalitiza Garcia
Lisa Beth Miller
Nicole Butterfield
Jennifer Gandin Le
Maureen Ferris
Christopher Gandin Le
GIRL FACT SOURCES
Your left lung: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, National Insitutes of Health, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, “Diseases and Conditions Index: Lung Diseases: How the Lungs Work” ( www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/hlw/hlw_all.html ).
One in five U.S. high school girls: Girls Inc. press release, “The Super-girl Dilemma: Girls Grapple with the Mounting Pressure of Expectations,” October 12, 2006.
Despite years of evaluation: Douglas Kirby,
Emerging Answers: Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy
(Washington, D.C.: National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, 2001); Peter S. Bearman and Hannah Brückner, “Promising the Future: Virginity Pledges and First Intercourse,”
American Journal of Sociology
, 106(4) (2001): 859–912; Hannah Brückner and Peter Bearman, “After the Promise: the STD Consequences of Adolescent Virginity Pledges,”
Journal of Adolescent Health
, 36(4) (2005): 271–278.
Six in ten American teens: Ellen Goodman, “The Truth About Teens and Sex.”
The Boston Globe
, January 3, 2009.
In Africa, about three million girls a year: Nahid Toubia,
Caring for
Women with Circumcision: A Technical Manual for Health Care Providers
(New York: Research, Action and Information Network for the Bodily Integrity of Women [RAINBO], 1999).
Research has shown: Sumru Erkut and Allison J. Tracy,
Sports as Protective of Girls’ High-Risk Sexual Behavior
(Wellesley, Mass.: Wellesley Centers for Women, 2005).
When a group of children who were interviewed: Sandra Solovay,
Tipping the Scales of Justice: Fighting Weight-Based Discrimination
(Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 2000).
The mortality rate associated with anorexia nervosa: South Carolina Department of Mental Health, “Eating Disorder Statistics” ( www.state.sc.us/dmh/anorexia/statistics.htm ).
About one in three: Alabama Coalition Against Domestic Violence ( www.acadv.org/dating.html ).
Girls between thirteen and eighteen: Unicef, “Gender Equality: The Situation of Women and Girls: Facts and Figures” ( www.unicef.org/gender/index_factsandfigures.html ).
Barbie was based: Russ Kick,
50 Things You’re Not Supposed to Know, Volume 2
(New York: The Disinformation Company, 2004).
A new report says: Save the Children, Especially Vulnerable Children: Child Soldiers ( www.voanews.com/english/archive/2005-04/2005-04-25-voa27.cfm ).
An estimated one hundred million girls: International Labour Organization, International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour, “World Day 2009: Give Girls a Chance: End Child Labour” ( www.ilo.org/ipec/Campaignandadvocacy/WDACL/WorldDay2009/lang–en/index.htm ).
More than 900 million girls and women: Plan’s “Because I Am a Girl” campaign, “The Facts” ( www.plan-uk.org/becauseiamagirl/thefacts ).
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
If you’ve been inspired by reading
I Am an Emotional Creature
, consider talking about the book with your friends or even starting a discussion group. The guide below is intended to help readers explore the book, and reflect and discuss the text as it pertains to themselves and their community. Want to learn more about discussion groups or connecting with others who loved the book? Check out www.v-girls.org .
YOU TELL ME HOW TO BE A GIRL IN 2010
What is it like to be a girl today?
What makes you angry? What inspires you?
How can you create change in the world?
Do you see a division between the “haves” and the “have nots” in the world? How does that make you feel? Do you see a solution?
Learn more about references in the monologue that you are unfamiliar with and share what you have learned with your group.
LET ME