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Narrated by Therese Plummer, Nancy Jo Sales
Nancy Jo SalesUnabridged — 14 hours, 50 minutes
Narrated by Therese Plummer, Nancy Jo Sales
Nancy Jo SalesUnabridged — 14 hours, 50 minutes
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Too often, discussions of teenagers exclude teenagers themselves, and it's clear that Sales has gone to great pains to listen to her subjects and to earn their trust. These girls have a lot to say not just about the apps on their phones but also about beauty, gender, race and class, and the book is at its most fascinating when they chat among themselves, sometimes as though Sales isn't even there.
★ 02/15/2016
This intelligent, history-grounded investigation by journalist Sales (The Bling Ring) finds dismaying evidence that social media has fostered a culture "very hostile" to girls in which sexism, harassment, and cyberbullying have become the "new normal," along with the "constant chore" of tailoring one's image for public consumption and approval. With self-awareness and candor, her interview subjects, ages 13 to 19, clearly articulate the ways in which "social media is a nightmare," a strange "half-reality" that produces self-consciousness, narcissism, image obsession, anxiety, depression, loneliness, drama, and "the overwhelming pressure to be perfect" or at least "to be considered ‘hot.'" Teens value social media as a revolutionary tool for collective action, but Sales finds that across race, class, and region, social media reinforces a sexual double standard; its use reduces communication skills, and its users exhibit continual disrespect for women hand-in-hand with "an almost total erosion of privacy." She deftly analyzes the causes of this phenomenon of self-objectification—among them the "pornification of American life," the hypersexualization of teens, and broader trends towards impulse gratification—as well as its consequences, including rising rates of STDs, self-harm, exploitation, and a deterioration in girls' ability to cultivate relationships, intimacy, and a rich interior life. Solutions will be difficult, but Sales's research demonstrates that parental involvement is key to inoculating girls against the "insidious" effects of online life. Parents, educators, administrators, and the purveyors of social media platforms should all take note of this thoughtful, probing, and urgent work. (Feb.)
"American Girls is probably one of the most urgent conversation starters I’ve read in some time." —Psychology Today
“Sales digs into every aspect of girls’ online lives, revealing myriad disturbing details…If you have a teenage daughter, read American Girls. Have her read it, too.” —Newsday
“Adult readers will be shocked… [they] might be on Facebook and Twitter, but they probably haven’t even heard of most of the apps that teens use, let alone how they use them…What Sales makes clear is just how prevalent social media is in the life of an American teenager.” —The New York Post
"Based on interviews with hundreds of teens from 13 to 19, this exploration of the hypersexualized, social-media-ruled world girls grow up in today is eye-opening and sobering." —People
“Social media is life; social media destroys life. For “American Girls,” Ms. Sales spent two and a half years investigating this paradox…. and she’s exquisitely unobtrusive as she does it. Conversations that are not safe for adults seem to open like apps under her fingertips. She has sophisticated methods of infiltration.” —The Wall Street Journal
"Sales forces us to face a disturbing new reality in a book that should be required reading for parents, teachers, school administrators, legislators and the boys’ club of Silicon Valley.” —The San Francisco Chronicle
"Sales painstakingly draws on scholarly research and numerous interviews with girls from New Jersey to California to offer a harrowing glimpse into a world where self-esteem, friendships and sexuality play out, and are defined by the parameters of social media." —USA Today
“In her new book American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers, readers are afforded the opportunity to understand what is really going on in the lives of teenagers, especially our girls. ..This book stands apart from other books targeted at understanding the concerns and current plight of teenage girls… A must read for all parents.” —Examiner
"This book is an ice-cold, important wake-up call." —Kirkus Reviews
"This is an important book... It’s an essential read if you have teenagers or tweens in your life...I highly recommend American Girls for anyone who wants to understand how our ongoing revelation is playing out for teenagers." —WebInkNow
“This intelligent, history-grounded investigation by journalist Sales (The Bling Ring) finds dismaying evidence that social media has fostered a culture "very hostile" to girls in which sexism, harassment, and cyberbullying have become the "new normal," along with the "constant chore" of tailoring one's image for public consumption and approval… Parents, educators, administrators, and the purveyors of social media platforms should all take note of this thoughtful, probing, and urgent work.” —Publishers Weekly *Starred Review*
03/15/2016
Descend with Sales (The Bling Ring) into a world where sexism, pornography, and self-absorption spawn an atmosphere of one-upmanship, cyberbullying, slut shaming, and wretched hookups. These interviews with teens will arouse readers' tears, anger, and revulsion. Yet, the sample of youth Sales interviews, mostly in New Jersey, may not be representative of the United States in general. Nearly all Sales's subjects own iPhones, and there is no mention of the digital divide. Fears of phone confiscation during school hours aren't mentioned despite many schools' documented policies preventing the devices in the classroom. Moreover, Sales only interviews college students during alcohol-soaked vacations and doesn't back up her claim that sexism creates "social media Hell." The author's counterexamples show that sexism is too closely tied to individual perception for mass generalization. Readers also should consider Dana Boyd's It's Complicated, which offers a nuanced treatment of online conflict among teens, Jane Bailey and Valerie Stevens's Egirls, Ecitizens, a scholarly treatment of teenage Internet culture, and Leora Tannenbaum's I Am Not a Slut. VERDICT Although Sales sets forth a weak methodology and conclusion, her latest offering is still a compelling read for teens and those who work with them, giving voice to those who might not be heard otherwise.—Eileen H. Kramer, Georgia Perimeter Coll. Lib., Clarkston
Narrator Thérèse Plummer makes this research study on growing up female in the Digital Age sound at once enlightening, disturbing, and worthy of consideration. Based on interviews with more than 200 young women across the country ages 13 to 19, the audiobook raises questions about how sexual maturing and gender identity are being influenced by today’s X-rated social media and easy access to near-anonymous sexual partners. The balance and grace in Plummer’s performance neatly mirror the author's investigative neutrality and let this remarkable reporting speak for itself. This satisfying production provides an opportunity for people to think about how to help young people relate to each other as self-respecting individuals instead of objects of sexual entertainment or shame. T.W. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
2016-02-03
What happens to teenage girls when their social lives play out online? Teenagers have always excelled in befuddling their parents and teachers. While it's an embraced cliché for parents to discuss how different things were when they were that age, it's undeniable that social media has profoundly influenced the experience of teens in ways that older generations find difficult to comprehend. In her second book, journalist Sales (The Bling Ring: How a Gang of Fame-Obsessed Teens Ripped Off Hollywood and Shocked the World, 2013) provides an excellent primer for understanding how the crucible of adolescence has moved to the digital world. This is not the first such book, but Sales impressively balances the specifics of what is happening online currently with the broader implications for boys and girls—no simple task given the rapidly shifting digital landscape, with the next big thing consistently eclipsing the popular medium of the moment. It would be easy to suggest that, despite the different battlefield, the kids are going through the same things kids have always gone through. But the author makes a compelling case for understanding the differences in both the quantity and quality of today's online dangers. Having interviewed dozens of teenagers—mostly female—she explores a wide range of topics involving body image, the ways boys treat girls, the ways girls treat girls, and the different forms of competition generated by seemingly endless online arenas. Sales delves into the debate about which ideas constitute feminist empowerment and which are more misogynistic ploys to sell empowerment to girls while simultaneously endangering them. The author discovered that, despite conflicting statistics, there's an extremely high likelihood that most teenagers have watched pornography online—or will soon. Sales takes a broader view than simply being the scold of technology; she spoke with teens who point out the empowerment possibilities of a smartphone: being able to document injustices as they happen and broadcast them to the world. For parents with young daughters, this book is an ice-cold, important wake-up call.
| BN ID: | 2940169091496 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Penguin Random House |
| Publication date: | 02/23/2016 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
Chapter One
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "American Girls"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Nancy Jo Sales.
Excerpted by permission of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
