Books about girls are mostly written by adults, and don't consult girls about their own lived experience. Enter Tatiana Fraser and Caia Hagel, the authors of Girl Positive: Supporting Girls to Shape A New World.
The two Montreal women consulted about 400 girls in North America in writing their book, which focuses on topics including social media, sexual violence, hypersexuality and girls transforming the world as leaders.
“It's kind of the real deal instead of what adults are interpreting as the girl experience,” said Hagel.
While featuring the “lived experience of girlhood,” the book does also feature the insights of experts.
Fraser and Hagel are the guest speakers at the 22nd annual Celebrate Women event, which takes place April 11.
Three women's organizations — Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) Sudbury, YWCA and the Women's Legal, Education and Action Fund (LEAF) — partner to put on the event, which provides female Canadian authors an opportunity to feature a recent book.
“We're really looking forward to meeting the community in Sudbury and celebrating women together on this really special evening,” Hagel said. “We're excited and can't wait.”
The experiences of girls in a diversity of locations, including inner-city Detroit and Wemindji, a remote First Nations reserve in northern Quebec, are included in Girl Positive.
In Detroit, girls are grappling with poverty, but determined to become entrepreneurs and pave their own futures. Their peers in Wemindji are reconnecting with their culture in the wake of colonization.
The authors were equally impressed with the girls in both places.
“Every place we went to had a very specific and unique environment, and then the stories they told were also really different,” Hagel said.
Today's technology is being used by girls to effect change.
“They're not going to be left out any longer,” said Hagel. “They're going to stand up and have a voice and express themselves in all the ways that are authentic to them, through their ability to just turn up on the Internet and speak. That is really exciting to us.”
But technology is a double-edged sword for girls, who face issues surrounding sexuality and the Internet, such as sexting and being exposed to pornography.
Many girls also face daily sexual harassment.
“They don't actually have a language to name it, which means that they don't really have the resources and support to address that issue,” said Fraser. “It's kind of normalized in their lives.”
Although about girls, the book also has a chapter on boys, many of whom said they were feeling emotionally isolated as they tried to live up to “impossible” ideals of manhood.
“We can't talk about girls without talking about boys,” Hagel said.
The Celebrate Women event, which includes a presentation by the authors, a reception and book-signing, takes place starting at 7:30 p.m. April 11 at Laurentian University's Fraser Auditorium.
Tickets cost $10 each, and are available at Gloria's Restaurant, Apollo Restaurant, the LU Bookstore and at the door. Proceeds go to support scholarships and services for young women in Greater Sudbury.
