by Sarah Mirk
34–35 Gemma Hartley, “Women Aren’t Nags—We’re Just Fed Up,” Harper’s Bazaar, September 27, 2017, https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a12063822 /emotional-labor-gender-equality.
35 Dana Dovey, “Pretty Pretty Princess: Overexposure To Disney Culture May Affect Girls’ Perceptions Of Body Image Throughout Life,” Medical Daily, June 24, 2016, https://www.medicaldaily.com/pretty-pretty-princess-disney-princess-body-image-self-esteem-gender-390494.
35 Kelsey Miller, “Study: Most Girls Start Dieting by Age 8,” Refinery 29, January 26, 2015, https://www.refinery29.com/2015/01/81288/children-dieting-body-image.
35 “Girls’ Attitudes Survey 2016,” Girlguiding, accessed July 2018, https://www.girlguiding.org.uk/globalassets/docs-and-resources/research-and-campaigns/girls-attitudes-survey-2016.pdf.
37 Stacy Smith et al, “Inequality in 900 Popular Films,” USC Annenberg Media, Diversity, and Social Change Initiative, July 2017.
38 Emily Nagoski, Come as You Are (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015), 159.
38 Nagoski, 161.
40–41 Pam O’Brien, “How Camila Mendes Stopped Fearing Carbs and Broke Her Dieting Addiction,” Shape, October 11, 2018, https://www.shape.com/celebrities/interviews/camila-mendes-riverdale-overcame-fear-carbs-stopped-dieting.
59 James Myhre and Dennis Sifris, “Why HIV Rates Are High in African American Communities,” VeryWell Health, accessed April 30, 2019, https://www.verywellhealth.com/why-hiv-rates-are-high-in-african-american-communities-4151837.
90–91 Anonymous, “I Was 16, Just Turning 17 at the Time,” MyAbortionMyLife.org, July 1, 2018, https://www.myabortionmylife.org/single-post/2018/07/01/I-was-16-just-turning-17-at-the-time.
91 Anonymous, “Our Lives Are Created by the Choices We Make and Those That Are Made for Us,” MyAbortionMyLife.org, February 28, 2017, https://www.myabortionmylife.org/single-post/2017/02/28/Our-lives-are-created-by-the-choices-we-make-and-those-that-are-made-for-us.
Selected Bibliography
Bell, Ruth. Changing Bodies, Changing Lives: A Book for Teens on Sex and Relationships. 3rd ed. New York: Harmony, 1998.
Dusenbery, Maya. Doing Harm: The Truth about How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick. New York: HarperCollins, 2018.
Hasler, Nicole. Sex: An Uncensored Introduction. San Francisco: Zest Books, 2015.
Katz, Jackson. The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 2006.
Keyser, Amber, ed. The V-Word: True Stories about First-Time Sex. Hillsboro, OR: Beyond Words, 2016.
Marcus, Eric. Making Gay History: The Half-Century Fight for Lesbian and Gay Equal Rights. 2nd ed. New York: Harper Perennial, 2002.
Myhre, James and Dennis Sifris. “Why HIV Rates Are High in African American Communities.” VeryWell Health. Accessed January 2019. https://www.verywellhealth.com/why-hiv-rates-are-high-in-african-american-communities-4151837.
Owens-Reid, Danielle, and Kristin Russo. This Is a Book for Parents of Gay Kids: A Question & Answer Guide to Everyday Life. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2014.
Ryan, Christopher, and Cacilda Jetha. Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships. New York: Harper Perennial, 2011.
Stryker, Kitty, and Carol Queen. Ask: Building Consent Culture. Portland, OR: Thorntree, 2017.
Traister, Rebecca. All the Single Ladies. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2016.
Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used against Women. 2nd ed. New York: Harper Perennial, 2002.
Further Information
Twenty-Plus Great Real-Life Stories to Read
Arceneaux, Michael. I Can’t Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I’ve Put My Faith in Beyoncé. New York: Atria, 2018.
Baker, Jes. Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls: A Handbook for Unapologetic Living. New York: Seal, 2015.
Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007.
Blow, Charles M. Fire Shut Up in My Bones: A Memoir. Boston: Mariner Books, 2015.
Bornstein, Kate. Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 1994.
Brosh, Allie. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened. New York: Touchstone Books, 2013.
Chung, Nicole. All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir. New York: Catapult, 2018.
Conley, Garrard. Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identity, Faith, and Family. New York: Riverhead Books, 2017.
Cronn-Mills, Kristin. Transgender Lives: Complex Stories, Complex Voices. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2015.
Gay, Roxane. Hunger. New York: HarperCollins, 2017.
Irby, Samantha. We Are Never Meeting in Real Life. New York: Vintage, 2017.
Khakpour, Porochista. Sick: A Memoir. New York: Harper Perennial, 2018.
MariNaomi. Kiss & Tell. New York: Harper Perennial, 2011.
McBee, Thomas Page. Man Alive: A True Story of Violence, Forgiveness and Becoming a Man. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 2014.
Mock, Janet. Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More. New York: Atria Books, 2014.
Newlevant, Hazel. Comics for Choice. Cupertino, CA: Alternative Comics, 2017.
Noah, Trevor. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood. New York: Penguin Random House, 2016.
Rae, Issa. The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl. New York: 37 Ink, 2016.
Robinson, Phoebe. You Can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain. New York: Penguin Books, 2016.
Slater, Dashka. The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2017.
Valenti, Jessica. Sex Object: A Memoir. New York: William Morrow, 2017.
West, Lindy. Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman. London: Quercus, 2017.
Ten YouTube Channels to Watch
Feminist Frequency
https://www.youtube.com/user/feministfrequency
Created and hosted by Anita Sarkeesian, Feminist Frequency is an ongoing series that explores gender representations, myths, and messages in popular culture media—especially in video games.
Jake Edwards
https://www.youtube.com/user/JakeFTMagic
Edwards is a nonbinary, bisexual, panromantic human who sings songs and talks about their life.
Kati Morton
https://www.youtube.com/user/KatiMorton
This licensed therapist educates viewers about mental health disorders and answers tough questions about topics such as anxiety, eating disorders, and depression.
Kiera Rose
https://www.youtube.com/user/ScarletSaintOnline
Rose talks about houseplants, thrift store finds, and vegan recipes. She also delves into discussions of her bisexuality and mental health disorders, including several videos on the compulsive disorder dermatillomania.
MTV Decoded
https://www.youtube.com/user/mtvbraless
MTV Decoded is a weekly series where the fearless Franchesca Ramsey talks about race, pop culture, immigration, and gender. She is funny and thought-provoking.
Pidgeon
https://www.youtube.com/user/pidgejen
Pidgeon grew up believing they were the only intersex person in the world. They talk about their experience being diagnosed and undergoing operations as a child and then coming to terms with being intersex, queer, and nonbinary as an adult.
Princess Joules
https://www.youtube.com/user/princessjoules
Julie Vu, a.k.a. Princess Joules, is a Canadian transgender woman who gives fashion and makeup tutorials while also talking about transgender issues.
SkylarkEleven
https://www.youtube.com/user/skylarkeleven
In 2009, at the age of seventeen, Skylar started documenting his transition from female to male, showing his experiences injecting testosterone, getting gender
confirmation surgery, and hearing his voice drop. He also makes music and shares his art.
Stevie Boebi
https://www.youtube.com/user/SassiBoB
On her YouTube channel, Stevie discusses body positivity, gives lesbian sex advice, and tells funny stories.
Vox’s Strikethrough
https://www.youtube.com/user/voxdotcom
Hilarious host Carlos Maza analyzes media.
Ten Instagram Accounts to Follow
Amplifier Foundation
@amplifierart
Dedicated to changing the world through art, the Amplifier Foundation hires artists to make iconic political posters.
Bex Taylor-Klaus
@Bex_tk
The gay, nonbinary actor featured in films such as Dumplin’ and Discarnate often struts down the red carpet in classy custom suits and poses for upbeat selfies.
Gemma Correll
@gemmacorrell
An illustrator who loves pugs and puns, Correll often also shares relatable drawings about mental health.
LGBT History
@LGBT_History
This account shares historic photos of LGBT activism and activists in the United States with lengthy captions that explain the backstory.
Mona Chalabi
@monachalabi
Visual journalist Mona Chalabi makes colorful graphs and charts that show things such as the average body hair and the history of interracial marriage.
Project Consent
@projectconsent
Through words and pictures, Project Consent supports sexual assault survivors to end violence.
Ruben Guadalupe Marquez
@broobs.psd
The queer artist immortalizes people who are his heroes in beautiful collages.
Them
@them
This magazine highlights LGBTQ fashionistas, artists, and creators from around the world.
The Vulva Gallery
@the.vulva.gallery
A collection of illustrations of bodies that showcases realistic and artistic drawings of vulvas.
You’re Welcome Club
@yourwelcomeclub
This illustrator’s body-positive account centers on celebrating diversity.
Ten Podcasts to Listen To
Call Your Girlfriend
https://www.callyourgirlfriend.com
Long-distance best friends Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman dish on this week in pop culture and highlight women who are agents, creators, movers, and shakers who have smart, interesting things to say.
Code Switch (NPR)
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch
A team of journalists fascinated by the overlapping themes of race, ethnicity, and culture explore how they play out in Americans’ lives and communities.
Gender Reveal
http://gender.libsyn.com/
Nonbinary host Molly Woodstock interviews LGBTQIA+ artists, activists, and educators; analyzes current events; and get a little bit closer to understanding what the heck gender is.
Latino USA (NPR and Futuro Media Group)
http://latinousa.org
Veteran journalist Maria Hinojosa shares stories about Latino people in the United States.
Making Gay History (Pineapple Street Media)
https://makinggayhistory.com
Host Eric Marcus shares tear-jerking oral histories recorded with LGBTQ pioneers in the 1980s.
Nancy (WNYC)
https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/nancy
Two queer Asian American hosts share funny, sweet, and compelling stories about LGBTQ experiences in the United States.
Pod Save the People (Crooked Media)
https://crooked.com/podcast-series/pod-save-the-people
Host DeRay Mckesson is an activist and community organizer who has deep conversations about social, political, and cultural issues.
Popaganda (Bitch Media)
https://www.bitchmedia.org/feminist-podcasts
This feminism and pop culture podcast digs deep on issues of race, class, and gender in movies, books, music, films, and TV.
Queery (Earwolf)
https://www.earwolf.com/show/queery
Comedian Cameron Esposito chats with high-profile LGBTQ guests, including actors, drag queens, and movie producers.
Unladylike
https://unladylike.co/podcast/
From abortion rights to Lisa Frank, research-obsessed hosts Cristen Conger and Caroline Ervin delve into feminist issues.
Ten Websites to Check Out
Bedsider
https://www.bedsider.org
Bedsider is an online birth control support network for women eighteen to twenty-nine that works to ensure that every young person has the power to decide if, when, and under what circumstances to get pregnant.
Bitch Media
https://www.bitchmedia.org
Over its twenty years as a magazine, Bitch has connected the dots between feminism and representation in pop culture.
Everyone Is Gay
http://everyoneisgay.com
This site offers friendly advice and insight on what it’s like being an LGBTQ young person, including answering reader questions.
Go Ask Alice!
https://goaskalice.columbia.edu
Go Ask Alice! is a health question and answer internet resource featuring anonymous questions submitted by readers and curious minds.
It’s Your Sex Life
http://www.itsyoursexlife.com
MTV’s public information campaign about health and sexuality aims to reduce unintended pregnancies and prevent the spread of STIs.
Muslim Girl
http://muslimgirl.com
Muslim Girl publishes writings by young Muslim women on fashion, family, and politics.
Remezcla
http://remezcla.com
Remezcla is a youth-focused publication about Latin music, culture, and entertainment.
Rewire
https://rewire.news
If you’re looking for independent, fact-based journalism about social issues such as reproductive rights and LGBTQ rights, Rewire is the place to go.
Scarleteen
http://www.scarleteen.com
Scarleteen hosts the internet’s most thorough and inclusive information about sexuality and relationships geared toward teens.
Teen Vogue
https://www.teenvogue.com
Teen Vogue covers politics, movies, fashion, and all other topics teens care about, with an eye on diversity and inclusion.
Index
abortion, 82, 89–91, 105
history of, 89
hotline, 89
medication, 89
reasons for, 85, 90
surgical, 89
abuse, 33
emotional, 97–98
helping friends with, 102
hotline for, 97
LGBTQ and, 27, 101
loveisrespect, 97
physical, 62, 69, 97–98
signs of, 100–101
substance, 31, 100, 104
agender, 14, 22, 25
anatomy
biological, 14–15, 22
gender and, 22
infographics, 16–17, 19
anorexia, 40
artificial insemination, 14, 84
asexuality, 24
Bechdel Test, 36
binge eating, 40
biological sex, 14, 22
birth control, 50–51, 80, 82, 86
condoms, 85–87
douching, 54, 85
hormonal implant, 88
hormonal shot, 88
infographic, 88
intrauterine devices (IUDs), 50–51, 86–87
the Pill, 50–51, 86–87
Plan B One-Step, 87
rhythm method, 85
tubal ligation, 88
vaginal rings, 50–51, 88
vasectomy, 88–89
withdrawal method, 84
bisexuality, 7, 24–25, 27, 36
body shame
counseling, 39
dieting, 39
in media, 37
social media, 38, 71
breaking up, 69–70, 92, 102–105
breasts, 9, 23, 50, 59, 85
development of, 46–47, 49, 51
hair on, 28–29
shape and size of, 13, 20, 28–29, 35, 38, 80
bulimia, 40
catcalling, 7
circumcision, 18, 54
cisgender, 14, 25, 27
clitoris
infographics, 16–17
and sexual pleasure, 17, 76–78
coercion, 92.
See sexual assault
consent, 7, 15, 66, 80, 89, 96
definition of, 4–8, 91
guidelines, 8–10
physical, 10
saying no, 9, 65
sexting and, 12, 72–74
verbal, 9, 78, 84
counseling, 23, 39, 41, 89–90, 97, 102–103
(see also mental health)
dating. See relationships
discrimination, 32–34
ableism, 32–33, 37
classism, 32
dating and, 33
homophobia, 26–28, 32–33, 37
racism, 32–33, 36–37
sexism, 31–36
speaking up against, 33–34
transphobia, 32
douching, 54, 85
emotional labor, 34–35
emotions, 23–24, 45, 47, 70, 96–99, 103
expressing, 39, 62, 64–65, 74
masculinity and, 30–31, 34
sex and, 10, 75
erections, 18–19
female anatomy
cervix, 14–17, 49, 57, 84, 89
clitoris, 16–17, 76–78
hymen, 17
labia majora, 15–17
labia minora, 15–17
ovaries, 14, 16, 23, 46–48, 50, 88
urethra, 16–17, 54
uterus, 15–17, 23, 47–50, 84, 87–89
vagina, 14–17, 49–50, 54–55, 57–59, 77–79, 84–89
vulva, 14–18, 20, 54–58, 77
feminism, 32
gender-confirmation surgery, 23, 47
gender expression, 7, 20–22, 27
androgynous, 21
butch, 21, 27
feminine, 20–21, 22, 35
femme, 21
masculine, 20–21, 22
gender fluid, 22, 25
gender identity, 14, 22, 25, 27–28, 32
