Review: Redefining Girly - Melissa Atkins Wardy

Redefining Girly: How Parents Can Fight the Stereotyping and Sexualizing of Girlhood, from Birth to Tween by Melissa Atkins Wardy

Rating : {★★☆☆☆} 

It was just Okay...

There were no great revelations in this book, no important secrets were unveiled.

Yes, it is important for our girls to grow up knowing that they can be whatever they want to be and they can go after anything they set their minds on. BUT! it's also Okay if they want to like the colour pink or identify with something 'girly' whereas this book just seemed to vilify anything like that. What is wrong with being beautiful? If my daughter wants the blue bike instead of the pink bike, she's welcome to it, but it's also equally fine if she wants the pink bike with the sparkly tires and tassels on the handlebars. What's wrong with the colour pink anyways?

We all want our children's self worth to come from within, but I think it's important that this is true for both little boys and little girls.

Honestly, there was so much repetition and such a failure to engage me I'm struggling to keep this rating as high as 2 stars... I have to confess I skimmed a lot of this book. The underlying topic is a good one, but I think this author has just taken it too far. The last thing our girls need are their mothers pushing them towards traditionally male toys, professions and colours just to prove a point.

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