In all the years I've been working with adolescent girls and their moms, I have not found a single book that I could recommend to both, until now. Eve Ensler's latest masterpiece is so powerful that every mom and her teen daughter should have her own personal copy. I Am an Emotional Creature is a captivating collection of fictional monologues, poems and stories inspired by girls around the world, whom Ensler listened to over the last five years. It is a call to action for every girl to find, use and celebrate her authentic voice. For every mother, it is a call to ensure the opportunity and safety for her daughter to do so. At a time when the average American girl's self esteem peaks at the age of 9 and then plummets, the need for a book like this has never been greater.
The introduction alone is worth the twenty bucks. Don't believe me? Walk into the next bookstore you come across, ask for the book and take 5 minutes to read Ensler's profound opening words and declaration of intent.Even though it is profound, it's an easy read. Your schedule and your daughter's attention span will be able to handle the 148-page book because the presentation is not particularly dense. That said, the subject matter is not light and a breather may be required every now and then.It will shift self-perception. 7 out of 10 American girls believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way. With this in mind, it can only be a good thing for every teen girl to read a book that declares: "You are one of our greatest natural resources. You possess a necessary agency and energy that if unleashed could transform, inspire and heal the world." In my experience, most grown women I know could use this reminder, too.It will shed light. Part of what makes adolescence difficult for both mom and daughter is the feeling of dealing with the unknown. This book fills in important blanks in its powerful illustration of what it's like to be a teen girl in 2010. You'll both feel less in the dark and less alone. Every girl and every woman (who, of course, has been a teenage girl) will hear a voice that is familiar to her. Ensler's collection of poems, letters, Girl Facts and questions represent the voices of girls all over the world dealing with everything from peer pressure, pregnancy and eating disorders to rape, female genital mutilation and sex slavery. If the latter scares you, remind yourself that it serves no one to keep these important realities in the dark. A combination of perspective and getting behind a cause, on behalf of other girls, could be transformative for your daughter.We could all use a little reflection on the difference between pleasing and loving. Ensler declares that the book is "a call to question rather than to please." Imagine your daughter setting the goal of assessing, defining and fulfilling her own self and needs, rather than pleasing her friends, boys, fashion standards and even you. Imagine the woman she might be when she enters the adult world if she is encouraged to do so. How different would your life be if you committed to do the same?It will inspire the potential for global healing and empowerment of girls and women, one reader at a time. The impact would be staggering if we collectively learn to start saying "no" to silence, inequality, verbal abuse, dating violence, abstinence-only sex education, false standards for beauty, domestic violence, rape, sex slavery and female genital mutilation.It will rouse your fierceness as a woman and mother. Each page of the book will call you to protect your daughter's right to be her authentic self, to have a voice, to say "yes" or "no" as her instincts dictate and to be all that she has the loving, brilliant, creative potential to be. It will call your daughter to protect herself.You will realize that you are indeed an emotional creature. And as Ensler takes you on a ride through the lands of exhilaration, frustration, joy, anger, hope, fear, optimism, contempt and love, you'll be celebrating the fact that you are.
Photo via Uplift Magazine.
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