Sam Schulman writes in the October issue of Commentary magazine:
In Shalit’s re-creation, the vulgar sexualization against which her
heroines struggle is thus in most cases something imposed on them not
so much by their peers as by adults, in an act of imperialism de haut
en bas. It is the authorities who have gone wild, and the young who
suffer. . .
And the good news? Shalit’s evangel is that, spontaneously, many girls
are beginning to resist—rediscovering the virtues of self-assertion by
rejecting the expectations of others to be “people-pleasing bad girls."
Read the transcript of Wendy's answers on the Washington Post's Book World Live. Here's the first question:
The Toronto Star's Judy Gerstel reports on a lunch meeting with Wendy:
"An American who became a Torontonian by marriage four years ago, Shalit is the author of two thoroughly researched books about "young women reclaiming their self-respect" and rejecting promiscuity and the hypersexuality of popular culture and fashion.
Girls Gone Mild has just arrived on bookshelves. Her previous book, A Return to Modesty, was praised by Salon, The Wall Street Journal and Newsweek, which called her "a prodigy at cracking the codes of culture." Playboy, on the other hand, put it under the heading, A Man's Worst Nightmare."
Writing for the AP, Martha Waggoner quotes Wendy Shalit (Strike a pose - for virtue and modesty):
"I think what's happening is that we've reached the limit of the 'if you've got it, flaunt it,' philosophy and we're seeing the power of a little mystery and glamour," said Wendy Shalit, author of 1999's "A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue" and 2007's "Girls Gone Mild."
"When exhibitionism becomes the norm, the fact is, it gets boring ..."
The media has been catching up to Taylor Moore, a role model extensively profiled in Wendy's book. Since being featured in The Good Girl Revolution, Taylor has been interviewed in The Chicago Tribune among other publications, and brought on as a teen expert--twice--on "The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet." Way to go, Taylor!
Read the Tribune article (Shalit quoted in piece)
Join Laura Sessions Stepp, a Washington Post writer and author of Unhooked (2007), Dr. Miriam Grossman, a campus psychiatrist at UCLA and author of Unprotected (2006), Wendy Shalit, author of A Return to Modesty (1999) and Girls Gone Mild (2007), Cassandra DeBenedetto, a recent graduate of Princeton University and founder of Princeton's Anscombe Society, and Dawn Eden, the director of the Cardinal Newman Society's Love and Responsibility Program and author of The Thrill of the Chaste (2007).
A book signing and wine-and-cheese reception will follow the discussion.
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Wendy Shalit, on why tweens shouldn't have to look "sexy":
"There is no longer any mystery or power to sex--it is just expected that everything will be sexual, and so nothing is. There is nothing to wait for, or to look forward to."