Orenstein, Peggy

In this lively, funny memoir, Peggy Orenstein sets out to make a sweater from scratch shearing, spinning, dyeing wool and in the process discovers how we find our deepest selves through craft. Orenstein spins a yarn that will appeal to everyone. The COVID pandemic propelled many people to change their lives in ways large and small. Some adopted puppies. Others stress-baked. Peggy Orenstein, a lifelong knitter, went just a little further.

A generation gap has emerged between parents and their girls. Even in this age of helicopter parenting, the mothers and fathers of tomorrow's women have little idea what their daughters are up to sexually or how they feel about it. Drawing on in-depth interviews with over seventy young women and a wide range of psychologists, academics, and experts, journalist Peggy Orenstein pulls back the curtain on the hidden truths, hard lessons, and important possibilities of girls' sex lives in the modern world.

Investigates what the author calls the "girly-girl" culture, with its emphasis on princesses and the color pink, in an effort to understand whether a focus on beauty and play-sexiness is harmful to growing girls, and argues that parents need to determine their values, set reasonable limits, and encourage dialogue with their daughters in order to soften the influence of consumer culture and materialism.

Investigates what the author calls the "girly-girl" culture, with its emphasis on princesses and the color pink, in an effort to understand whether a focus on beauty and play-sexiness is harmful to growing girls, and argues that parents need to determine their values, set reasonable limits, and encourage dialogue with their daughters in order to soften the influence of consumer culture and materialism.

Discusses why many American girls fall into the traditional patterns of low self-image and self-censorship.

Discusses why many American girls fall into the traditional patterns of low self-image and self-censorship.